What is the key advantage of PyDist over Artifactory/bintray ? That's the system most companies I know of use, and I was wondering what makes PyDist compelling.
PyDist is specifically for Python packages, so it's 1) a better fit in this niche (for example, it mirrors PyPI so you can install public and private packages through a single index, and you won't be broken by packages deleted from PyPI), and 2) it's much cheaper if you don't need everything else Artifactory offers.
I believe Artifactory proxies and caches PyPi as well via remote repos.
Ah, looks like you can set that up. But it's not as convenient, because 1) you have to provision the remote repository and 2) instead of transparently installing from PyPI, you have to specify the remote repository each time you install from it.
It is exactly as convenient (if not more). You set up a set of 3 repositories (local for your modules, remove to proxy the PyPI, and virtual, which unifies them under a single URL (which solves the #2 you mentioned).