Django vs Flask vs FastAPI
Comparing most famous Frameworks in python. Learn what are those frameworks? which one should I learn as a beginner? which one should I use for my project? before everything what is frameworks? Lets learn one by one and compare each other, At the end of this blog you will get a clear picture which Framework you should go for your project. Let’s Begin.
What is Framework? Why we need it.
Let’s Assume you want to cook a complicated recipe Such as Gajar ka Halwa. One way is to try on your own with varies techniques, multiple proportion and trying with different ingredients and making your kitchen more messy. Second way would be go to YouTube, type the dish name and follow the instruction provided. Which is the easiest way, second one right?
Instead reinventing the common task that is already well written and documented we can focus on decorating and adding more flavors to our Halwa to make it unique. Same way Frameworks is a pre-build, structured set of tools, libraries and guidelines that provides foundation to our web application.
Hence we have foundation now, we can majorly focus on solving the problem and offers the developers structured approach to build application. Some of the most popular web frameworks are Django, Flask and FastAPI. Lets discuss pros, cons and which framework needs to be used under what condition.
Django
Django is free and open source framework based on python. Django follows MTV [Model-template-view] architecture. It is more popular because of its robust and straight forward behavior's. This framework was used by big Tech giants such as Instagram, YouTube, etc.,
Fun Fact: Django was named after the famous Jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt
Pros
- Helps Developers : Django saves lots of developers time. It has a strong community guidelines, templates and libraries. Django also provides great admin panel that allows for progression and scalable application.
- ORM support : This framework contains object-relational mapper, web templating system and URL dispatcher.
- Great Performance : Django’s performance was awesome and it is used by high traffic websites and application and also it has more than 3000 packages with the solution of the problem on which this does not work. This packages would be helpful for extending the features of this framework.
- Django REST : Django rest is the powerful tool for building web api’s. Django REST provides modular and customizable architecture.
- High Security : Django helps in major security issues such as cross-site request forgery [CSRF], SQL injection attack, cross-site scripting.
Cons
- Not suitable for small projects : Django generally used for bigger projects and not suitable for smaller ones because it has more features build in with the framework.
- Prior knowledge required : Beginners may find difficult to learn Django, Because it is bit complex it requires prior knowledge of ways that framework work.
FLASK
Flask is a micro web framework written in Python. It is easy to setup and can be used in minimalistic web application and also it is used in micro service based applications. It has no database abstraction layer, form validation. Flask was used by most popular web applications such as Pinterest and LinkedIn.
Fun Fact: Flask was originally created as a April fool’s prank by its founder Armin Ronacher. Surprisingly it has became popular enough to be made as a serious application.
Pros
Minimalistic : Flask is simple and flexible, We can alter most part of the framework. We can add changes to any step of the development cycle.
Lightweight : Design of the flask application is simply lightweight without compromising its functionality. It can be split into multiple modules and each modules can work as a micro service to the bigger application.
Beginner Friendly : If a developer is well aware of Python programming then it is very much easy to learn Flask framework.
Great with small projects : Flask has smaller codebase size, As it is more flexible unlike Django it can be used in any smaller projects.
Cons
Security : As Flask is lightweight for each modules we need to import third party involvements which may cause security issues. Flask has no CSRF Protection.
Community : We all need a community to solve any problems, which is very much important as it saves lots of time to get to the solution. Flask has very small community compared to Django.
FASTAPI
FastAPI is modern and very recently developed web framework. First advantage I can see here is no one will ask 5+ years of experience with FastAPI while you are applying for the interview as It was first released on 2018 — Jokes Apart —
FastAPI is really high in performance due to Starlette and Pydantic. It is the framework that is very fast to code with fewer bugs. Primary focus of FastAPI is as its name suggest to provide High and fast performance, Fast development, Very lesser bugs.
Pros
Automatic docs : I have seen in my experience there any few projects which use fastapi only for this advantage. FastAPI comes up with Open AI [Swagger] and JSON Schema. Developers don’t need to worry any more to document the application. They can focus more on the code.
Async programming : Most exciting feature of FastAPI is Async programming. It allows the application to efficiently manage and reduce the execution time which comes with this framework using async/await keyword.
Easy, Short, Fewer bugs : Easy to learn the framework. To pick one to explain the fewer bugs, FastAPI validates data type even in deeply nested JSON requests.
Cons
Community : Very little external education material, even though it has detailed documentation FastAPI has very less community compared to other frameworks.
Conclusion
I hope you had great learning and comes up with the solution which framework to use in your next application or which framework to learn if you are a new developer.
Still confused..
I will put it in simple words, In summary USE
DJango, if you want to build a robust full-stack websites it has several functionalities and many more inbuild libraries to help with the solutions.
Flask, if you want to build a quick and easy web application which can be very smaller application.
FastAPI, if speed and complexity is your only goal for the application.
Hope You Enjoyed the article, Thanks for Reading.
