The latest articles on DEV Community by Kalil de Lima (@kaozdl). https://dev.to/kaozdl https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F439772%2F30c72f24-374a-4099-ad55-45e5ec5052fc.png https://dev.to/kaozdl en Kalil de Lima Wed, 21 Apr 2021 21:22:44 +0000 https://dev.to/kaozdl/django-vs-flask-which-one-should-you-choose-45hb https://dev.to/kaozdl/django-vs-flask-which-one-should-you-choose-45hb <h1> Django vs Flask: which one should you choose for your project? </h1> <p><a href="https://www.djangoproject.com/">Django</a> and <a href="https://flask.palletsprojects.com/en/1.1.x/">Flask</a> are among the most popular Python web frameworks.<br> In this article we're going to review their main strengths and weaknesses to help you decide which one is the better fit for your project.</p> <h1> Django </h1> <p><a href="https://www.djangoproject.com/"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/practicaldev/image/fetch/s--nZlLN0mz--/c_limit%2Cf_auto%2Cfl_progressive%2Cq_auto%2Cw_880/v1/images/flask-vs-django-django-logo.png" alt="django-logo"></a></p> <h2> Approach </h2> <p>Django opts for an all batteries included approach.<br> From a powerful ORM to an authentication system or a templating engine, Django takes care of it all without the need to learn any extra libraries.</p> <p>It also has the concept of pluggable apps, that means that you can drop an app folder inside your project and get its functionality right away<br> with very little configuration.</p> <h2> Main features </h2> <ul> <li>Django has a very powerful ORM that exposes a lot of SQL to the python programming language.</li> <li>Authentication and Authorization built in, without any extra configuration.</li> <li>A built in admin site.</li> <li>A built in mailing system.</li> </ul> <h2> Pitfalls </h2> <ul> <li>Tightly coupled with its toolset, Django is sort of difficult to use in combination with other tools (replacing the form library for example).</li> <li>The default scaffolding, while not bad for small projects, does not scale without modification when trying to manage things such as multiple environments.</li> <li>It implements the Model View Template pattern, and requires some effort to implement other architecture types with it.</li> </ul> <h1> Flask </h1> <p><a href="https://flask.palletsprojects.com/en/1.1.x/"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/practicaldev/image/fetch/s--VsaLsOAG--/c_limit%2Cf_auto%2Cfl_progressive%2Cq_auto%2Cw_880/v1/images/django-vs-flask-flask-logo.png" alt="flask logo"></a></p> <h2> Approach </h2> <p>Born as a combination of an http server with a template engine zipped together, Flask opts for a very minimalistic approach.<br> It provides some minimal structure, but leaves the decisions up to you.<br> This makes flask very easy to extend with practically whatever you want.</p> <h2> Main features </h2> <ul> <li>Very lightweight.</li> <li>It requires little to no configuration.</li> <li>Not opinionated, you have total freedom to decide the project structure, from a single file to an elaborate folder system.</li> <li>When you need some structure, you have blueprints to structure your app.</li> <li>Easy to integrate with other python libraries.</li> </ul> <h2> Pitfalls </h2> <ul> <li>Since it's very lightweight, while the framework itself doesn't need any special configuration, the used libraries often do require config.</li> <li>You have to mix and match libraries to get the desired functionality. This also means that different parts of your project have different support from the community.</li> <li>The lack of opinion can lead to complicated architectures, or to very big single file projects.</li> </ul> <h1> Wrapping up </h1> <h2> Django is a good idea for… </h2> <ul> <li>Quickly validating business ideas.</li> <li>Ecommerce sites with standard features.</li> <li>Information systems in general where reporting is important.</li> </ul> <h2> Flask is a good idea for… </h2> <ul> <li>Lightweight applications.</li> <li>Microservices.</li> <li>Non MVT or MVC projects.</li> </ul> <h1> So... Which one should you choose? </h1> <p>To properly answer this question you need to take into consideration all the project requirements and make a decision based on that.<br> If development speed is the most important thing because you need to go to the market fast, then Django probably will be the better choice,<br> since you get a more complete feature set out of the box.<br> If you need a more custom solution, or your project features are out of the ordinary Flask might be the better choice.<br> At the end of the day, you should choose the framework that adjusts more into your project idea and particular situation,<br> taking into consideration their strengths and weaknesess.</p> <p>Do you have any experience that you want to share with any of these frameworks?<br> Are there any extra pros or cons that you feel are missing?<br> If you do I invite you to discuss them in the comment section.</p> <p>Thanks for reading.</p> django python webdev