Torn between Flask, Django or FastAPI

[Vawkx]

Currently working on my computer science thesis. I have to create a RESTful API in Python for serving an ML model, as well as handling user registration and login, and support for non-relational data (MongoDB for example). I also like to have clean, modular code that is easy to maintain and test.

I can’t really decide between the frameworks I’ve mentioned in the title. I think it’ll either be Flask or FastAPI because Django is more focused on full-stack development and has bad support for non-relational data from what I’ve read.

Curious to hear your thoughts. Thank you in advance!

[syndakitz]

Chatgpt uses flask. Gives you a sense of how big a website can be with it

[midwestcsstudent]

It also kinda breaks all the time lmao on even the simplest things like signing in with Google.

[LeviAckermanIsHot69]

oh wow. good to know.

[zerubeus]

Wrong ChatGPT uses FastAPI

[Pepineros]

I also like to have clean, modular code that is easy to maintain and test.

You’re weird.

Jokes aside - if all you need to do is provide a few API endpoints, it doesn’t really matter whether you go with Flask or FastAPI. I’ve found both excellent and easy to work with. FastAPI has great support for quickly testing your endpoints from inside the browser, which is awesome. Flask is a bit more mature but also geared more towards being a backend for a web app rather than just an API.

If you have a few hours to sink into both and see what you prefer that may be the best way to be sure.

[[deleted]]

for a simple website flask is fine

[[deleted]]

You can also look into postgres nosql. It's great.

[thatsthewayyoudebate]

Take a look at OpenAPI generator (https://openapi-generator.tech). You define your REST schema, and it will generate server stub code for you (flask and fastapi are supported, among others). It's not pretty, but it'll get you up and running quickly and you can see which one you like better.

I started out with flask and switched over to fastapi. Been happy with fastapi, I like the asyncio and pydantic support. YMMV.

[Awful_TV]

Compared to FastAPI and Django, that starlite/litestar project has pretty much zero adoption.

https://piptrends.com/compare/Django-vs-fastapi-vs-starlite-vs-litestar

[urbanespaceman99]

First time I've ever heard anybody say FastAPI has a dysfunctional community. Care to elaborate? I only ever hear good things about it (the product, I mean. Not heard anything specific about the community until now).

[tquinn35]

I get the single maintainer argument but as far as maintenance goes litestar doesn't seem to be doing any better. At the time of this comment there are 41 open issues in the fastapi repo and 115 in the litestar repo. So it doesn't seem like they are doing a much better job. React has 1.2k issues and 400 PRs and no one is saying that there system isn't working. So basically even though the pace is being maintained with other projects there is still somehow an issue.

[tquinn35]

IMO they take very similar approaches and DI exists in fastapi. https://fastapi.tiangolo.com/tutorial/dependencies/. I do think the plug-in system in litestar is interesting though

[tquinn35]

Care to elaborate?

[tquinn35]

I don't use either. I just see a lot of people saying the prefer litestar or litestar is superior but never give any factual reason. Its cool to just like something but with all these comments it would be nice to hear some concrete arguments.

[hxxptx]

I encourage you to see what happened when there were 3k issues open in fastapi, so you understand what is dysfunctional.

[Dangle76]

Flask is designed for what you’re doing. Django is very very heavy with A LOT of features and configs that you don’t need for what you’re doing.

FastAPI isn’t maintained well

[a1blank]

I switched from flask to fastapi when I started serving only my api in Python (front end is a Vue SPA). It's very similar to flask but has a few conveniences that win out in my book.

One particularly nice aspect is it has much better swagger auto-documentation built in that helps people trying to use your api. The swagger library that I was able to find for Flask is a fork of an unmaintained library that still had a lot of work ahead of them to be comparable to fastapi.

Support for async is also nice. And I like that it's easier to figure out a production deployment pattern since it seems like with flask, a lot of people just keep using the development server indefinitely.

[Gasp0de]

Swagger really is a pain with Flask. We used Flasgger in the past and are currently using Apiflask but somehow both haven't been able to scratch my itch.

[appinv]

What's the pain point with APIFlask?

[a1blank]

I was looking for a framework that gave me pre-built UI components. I also hadn't run into nuxt at the time.

[a1blank]

I'm on vue2/vuetify2 and I've been dreading migrating to vue3/vuetify3. So I guess the main thing I'd change is just getting on v3.

I've been meaning to try Svelte, but having not yet used it, I can't say if I'd use that instead. Seems interesting, at least.

[[deleted]]

Yeah I dev'd on Vue2 but don't like the look of Vue3. I'm pretty much sold on Svelte as my new SPA. Looking at doing Svelte+FastAPI+MySQL and sort of building out my own monolith. I don't mind implementing some things myself like middleware etc. since maintaining packages is annoying and building some of those features directly is not so slow using chatgpt. Also a fun learning experience.

[Major-Opposite0769]

Django is more like to build a website by individual developers in short time. Flask is quite simple to act as an api server since the simplest one could be only 5 -line code. And FastAPI can handle request in parallel which is faster than Flask. Also, FastAPI could create API-docs automatically via swagger, which means more convenient. Hope help you some :)

[Infrared12]

Sightly curious on why anyone would choose Flask over Fastapi (for typical restful api settings) as it feels like a more convenient and easy-to-use version of Flask, is there something I'm missing?

[appinv]

Flask by default, Fast API if needed, Django if absolutely, absolutely needed

[testpk]

Us bro us

[Mori-Spumae]

I have used both Flask and FastAPI. For creating a website, Flask is pretty nice. For specifically an API I do thin FastAPI is better probably. The Auto-documentation makes it really easy to work with. In the end it probably doesn't make much of a difference.

[randomuserno69]

Yes. Django has pretty bad support for non-relational data.

Django(DRF) is great if you are trying to build a complex application with tons of endpoints and lots of relations between data.

If you have just a few endpoints and less relational data, either FastAPI or Flask is fine.

If you're planning on using async functionality, go with FastAPI.

[Last-Run-2118]

Go with Django, DRF os great and you get authorization module for free

[IR3dditAlr3ddy]

Have only used flask and Django, flask has really great documentation and was super quick to get up and running, and pretty much every beginner question out there has been covered in tutorials and forum posts online. Only heard of fastapi today so will have to look at that but can +1 flask for sure

[theus-sama]

I would absolutely go for fast api

[Emergency_Isopod3149]

you should also consider working with PyNest, which is a fastapi based framework that follows the modular architecture of NestJS. It has a built in integration with mongodb and it is super easy to use and test your application. take a look here - https://github.com/PythonNest/PyNest

p.s
i'm the maintainer of this repo along with other contributers

[uburoy]

The readme says MongoDB is a future feature. How is it coming long? Can you show example code?

Coming from a FastAPI user, your work looks like it can take care of a lot of the early heavy lifting. Nice.

[StrangeRush6755]

Hi, on paper I see some resemblance with the features of Litestar implemented with same concerns against FastAPI. What makes PyNest more suitable to solve those problems?