Flask vs. Django

Django and Flask are the web frameworks of Python. As we know, Python is the most versatile programming language which provides a wide range of web framework. A web developer has the option to choose from these frameworks. A programmer has the flexibility to take advantage of the full-stack Python web frameworks. It enhances the development of complex web applications. Python also provides an option to choose for micro and lightweight Python web frameworks to build simple web applications without putting extra time and effort.

Both Django and Flask are the popular frameworks of Python. Each framework has a unique quality, and we can use it according to the project requirement. Django is a full-stack web framework, which is used for large and complex web application, whereas Flask is a lightweight and extensible web framework. Django comes with the batteries included approach and provides the most amazing functionality.

It is developed based on two POCO projects. The first one is the WSGI (Web Server Gateway Interface) toolkit and the Jinja2 template engine. Let’s have a look at the brief introduction of Django and flask.

What is Django?

The official definition of Django is, “Django makes it easier to build better Web apps more quickly and with less code”. It is used as a full-stack web framework, and it performs many tasks on its own. The SQLite database is already inbuilt in this framework.

Companies that use Django

The followings are the giant companies that are using Django as a framework:

Instagram
Pinterest
Udemy
Coursera
Zapier

What is Flask?

A Flask is a micro web framework written in Python programming language. It provides flexibility, simplicity, and fine-grained control. The word “micro” means Flask focuses on keeping the core extensible but straightforward. Working with flask is totally up to you; it won’t decide for you, such as which databases to use. It determines such as what templating engine to use.

Companies that use Flask:

Netflix
Lyft
Reddit
Zillow
MailGui

Comparison between Flask and Django

The web developers need to know the difference between these frameworks because both frameworks have their own functionalities. Let’s have a look at the difference between these frameworks based on the following points:

Basic Information

Flask was released in 2010, created by Adrian Holovaty and Simon Willison. It was made by using around 10000 lines of source code. It is used to develop simple web applications, microservices, and “serverless” platforms. It provides URL routing, request & error handling, and a development server.

Django was released in 2005 and made by using 240000 lines of source code. It takes less time & effort to develop a more sophisticated web application. It has a well-established, huge community that is working towards the enhancement of framework functionality.

Functionality

Django is a full-stack Python web framework that follows a batteries-included approach. This approach makes Django easier for a web developer to create basic web development tasks such as user authentication, URL routing, and database schema migration. Django also provides a built-in template engine, ORM system, and bootstrapping tool, which is very helpful in custom web development.

Flask is a simple, lightweight, and easy to use a framework. It includes less built-in functionality than Django. But it provides facility to a web developer to keep the core of a web application extensible and straightforward.

Database

Flask doesn’t have a database layer, no ORM, supports NoSQL, perform database operations through SQLAlchemy.

Django provides an ORM system to perform standard database operations without writing lengthy SQL queries.

Security

Flask has built-in security against the number of common threats such as CSRF, XSS, and SQL injection.

Django is more secure in comparison with other web frameworks. It consists of a much smaller codebase, so there is less possibility of getting attacked by an unauthorized person. To make it more secure, it is needed to evaluate and monitor third-party libraries and extensions.

Flexibility

Django follows the batteries included approach, which helps developers to build a variety of web applications without using third-party tools and libraries. But developer can’t make changes to the modules which are provided by Django. We have to build a web application using these available libraries.

On the other hand, Flask is a micro and extensible web framework. It provides flexibility to develop the web app according to their requirement by using web development tools and libraries. Flask is a preferable framework for beginners due to its simple and customizable architecture.

Built-in Bootstrapping Tool

Django comes with the built-in Bootstrapping tool named –django-admin. Without using any external input, the developer can build an application easily. We can divide a single project into several applications. The developers can use django-admin to create a new application within the project, whereas Flask doesn’t consist built-in bootstrap tool.

Speed

Both Django and Flask work with the same speed. A programming language or web framework is never responsible for the slow speed. Instead, any website can be slow because of the database queries, lack of caching, or not using a CDN for front-end assert.

Features

Django

It has robust documentation.
Wide Community across the world.
It consists of a built-in admin.
Asynchronous capabilities.
It is more secure than the other framework.

Flask

It is a lightweight and extensible WSGI web framework.
It provides a non-relational database.
It has a lightweight codebase.

Hello World Program Comparison

Let’s display the Hello World on the webpage using both frameworks.

Flask

First, install the flask by using pip install flask command, and it will download the whole configuration of the flask in your system, create a new file hello_flask.py. The program is given below:

  from flask import Flask, escape, request    app = Flask(__name__)    @app.route(‘/’)  def hello():      name = request.args.get(“name”, “World”)      return f’Hello, {escape(name)}!’  

Then start the Flask server from the command line:

  $ env FLASK_APP=hello_flask.py flask run  * Serving Flask app “hello_flask.py”  * Environment: production  WARNING: This is a development server. Do not use it in a production deployment.  Use a production WSGI server instead.  * Debug mode: off  * Running on http://127.0.0. 1:5000/ (Press CTRL+C to quit)  

Click on the above link, and it will print Hello World on a webpage.

Django

First, install the django by using pip install django command; create a hello_django.py with the following code:

  from django.conf import settings  from django.core.handlers.wsgi import WSGIHandler  from django.core.management import execute_from_command_line  from django.http import HttpResponse  from django.urls import path    settings.configure(      ROOT_URLCONF=__name__,      DEBUG=True,  )    def hello_world(request):      return HttpResponse(“Hello, Django!”)    urlpatterns = [      path(”, hello_world)  ]    application = WSGIHandler()    if __name__ == “__main__”:      execute_from_command_line()  

Type following command in your terminal:

  Watching for file changes with StatReloader  Performing system checks…    System check identified no issues (0 silenced).  December 17, 2019 – 13:48:54  Django version 3.0, using settings None  Starting development server at http://127.0.0.1:8000/  Quit the server with CONTROL-C.  

When you click on the above link, it will display the Hello World on a webpage.

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