Is A* the best pathfinding algorithm?

Question

It is generally said that A* is the best algorithm to solve pathfinding problems.

Is there any situation when A* is not the best algorithm

Answer 1

I see question is old but probably this practical solution will be useful for someone. Recently I found very nice open source code written in python

code contains next pathfinding algorithms:

• A*
• Dijkstra
• Best-First
• Bi-directional A*
• Breadth First Search (BFS)
• Iterative Deeping A* (IDA*)

changing the matrix size and values allows to feel difference between different path finding algorithms. As it is mentioned on Wikipedia: "A* is complete and will always find a solution if one exists"