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Muhammad Atif Iqbal
Muhammad Atif Iqbal

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What is difference between Django and DRF ( Django REST Framework )

#django #drf #python #programming

🔹 1. Django

  • What it is:
    Django is a full-stack web framework for Python.
    It helps you build websites and web apps (with HTML templates, forms, authentication, ORM, admin panel, etc.).

  • Main focus:
    Django is designed to create server-rendered web pages (like traditional websites).

  • Example use case:

    • Blog website
    • E-commerce site
    • Admin dashboard with HTML pages

  • Typical flow:

    Browser → URL → Django view → HTML template → Browser displays webpage.

🔹 2. Django REST Framework (DRF)

  • What it is:
    DRF is a third-party library built on top of Django.
    It’s not a separate framework — it extends Django to build REST APIs.

  • Main focus:
    DRF is designed to send and receive data (usually JSON), not HTML.
    It turns your Django models into RESTful API endpoints.

  • Example use case:

    • Mobile app backend (iOS/Android need JSON, not HTML)
    • SPA frontend (React, Vue, Angular) that fetches data via API
    • Exposing APIs to third-party developers

  • Typical flow:

    Mobile App / React Frontend → API Request → DRF view → JSON Response.

🔹 3. Key Differences

Feature Django DRF (Django REST Framework)
Purpose Build websites (HTML templates) Build APIs (JSON, XML, etc.)
Response Type HTML (via templates) JSON / other API formats
Views views.py with HttpResponse/render() APIView, ViewSet, GenericViewSet
Serialization Not needed (works with templates) Required (Serializer converts model → JSON and back)
Authentication Session-based auth (cookies) Token/JWT/OAuth (API-friendly)
Front-end Integration Tightly coupled (Django renders HTML) Decoupled (React, Vue, Flutter, Mobile apps use APIs)

🔹 4. Example

Django View (HTML) 

# views.py
from django.shortcuts import render
from .models import Article

def article_list(request):
    articles = Article.objects.all()
    return render(request, "articles.html", {"articles": articles})
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This returns an HTML page.

DRF API View (JSON) 

# views.py
from rest_framework.response import Response
from rest_framework.views import APIView
from .models import Article
from .serializers import ArticleSerializer

class ArticleListAPI(APIView):
    def get(self, request):
        articles = Article.objects.all()
        serializer = ArticleSerializer(articles, many=True)
        return Response(serializer.data)
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This returns JSON like:

[
  {"id": 1, "title": "Hello World", "content": "First article"},
  {"id": 2, "title": "Another Post", "content": "Second article"}
]
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🔹 5. When to use which?

  • Django only → If you’re building a traditional website where backend renders HTML (like WordPress-style blog, admin dashboards).
  • Django + DRF → If you’re building a backend for mobile apps, SPAs (React, Vue), or APIs for third-party use.

✅ In short:

  • Django → Web pages
  • DRF → APIs (JSON)

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