Choosing Between Django and Laravel: A Guide for Web Developers

Any business house needs a strong web framework to build a scalable, flexible, performance-oriented, traffic-withstanding and microservices-compatible app. Web frameworks form the skeleton or foundation of applications. Two of the most chosen frameworks are Django and Laravel. They are hot favourites for building backend systems and therefore, it’s important to know some details about them so that companies can choose the one which satisfies their business model.

Let us know more about the custom web development frameworks and their role in web apps.

Unlocking the Power of Web Frameworks

A web framework is a software that offers a base and structure for the application and supports the quick building of web apps. They have pre-template structure, libraries, and standard code, which new developers can use to build a fully-featured application, without coding every piece of the app. All they have to do is apply the business logic, modify the code and create a professional application. There are frontend and backend development frameworks that support the fast development of the User Interface and backend part of the app.

Exploring the Benefits and Advantages of Web Frameworks

Web frameworks are useful in creating all kinds of websites – be it blogs, community forums, forms, CMSs, and fully functional websites. They help developers save a huge chunk of time spent creating modules, structures, and repetitive tasks.

Major Benefits of Web Frameworks

• SEO-friendly URLs: Modern-day frameworks help you create optimized websites. They have in-built code for URL mapping, and SEO support, which helps in site indexing. So, you not only create attractive web pages but also get them ranked easily.
• Offers high-end security: Frameworks written in open-source languages have a vast community of developers that keep coming up with solutions for any loopholes in it. This gives rise to a secure framework that helps to build a safe website.
• Cost: Open-source frameworks like Django and Laravel reduces the cost of development. The base software is free and can be customized to create a robust web application. This reduces the overall cost of the project.
• Efficient web development: Developers can use pre-built structures and code for features and components of the application. This reduces the time and effort required for development and adds flexibility to the process of project development.
• Support: Open-source frameworks like Django and Laravel have a vast community of developers that offer support whenever you are stuck up with developmental issues. This facilitates developers with a helping hand whenever needed.

With an array of available frameworks and tools, businesses get confused about which one to choose for their project.

They need to know which will simplify development for their application requirements.

Django VS Laravel [Comparing Django and Laravel Back End Frameworks]

Django: An Overview of Key Features

Written in Python, the Django framework was launched in 2005. It follows MVT (Model View Template) architecture and SQLite database to support the rapid development of web apps. Being open source, it is supported by the global community of Django developers.

Prime Features of Django

• Documentation: It is very well documented so, developers can easily spot answers to their questions.
• SEO friendly: Websites using Django have the additional advantage of SEO optimization. Django maintains URLs on the server so, getting ranks on search engines becomes easier for the website made with this framework.
• Scalability: Used by social media giants like Instagram and Pinterest, Django offers immense scalability.
• Security: It is secure and gets support from an open-source community of developers.
• Quick development: It ensures the rapid development of applications, websites, blogs, and CMSs.

Uses of Django Web Framework

Django framework is used for applications that demand a robust backend system that handles huge volumes of text, immense traffic, complicated media files, etc. Most big businesses choose this for highly scalable applications like that of financial institutes, healthcare facilities, eCommerce websites, social media sites, etc.

Django is used for the following kinds of requirements…

• B2B CRM applications and internal coordination of big enterprises.
• High-traffic eCommerce websites
• iOS and Android web apps
• Document management applications
• Real estate websites
• Business and legal communication apps
• Applications with high-tech features like massive emailing lists, data analysis tools, etc.

Who Uses Django?

Companies and business houses use Django for creating web applications of all sizes, medium and large. Some of the world’s biggest technocrats and social media platforms like The Washington Post, NASA, Pinterest, Instagram, Udemy, Reddit, etc. use Django for building their highly scalable web applications.

Laravel: An Overview of Key Features

Written in PHP, Laravel is an open-source framework that follows MVC (Model View Controller) architecture, with GitHub as a host for its source code. It is used to make large-scale web applications like News sites, CMSs, and more.

Prime Features of Laravel

• Open source: Laravel is an open-source web development framework. It is freely available and therefore, the development cost reduces to a bare minimum.
• Syntactically sound: Laravel is syntactically profound so, developers can have an easy time with repetitive things. They don’t have to bother about coding for every small component or element of the web app.
• Availability of modular packages: Laravel offers technical tools like Bundles and Composer that support the quick building of PHP packages and modules.
• Artisan CLI: Another powerful feature of Laravel is its Command Line Interface (CLI), which helps to create and manage database migrations, package assets and more components of the app, with ease.
• Template Engine: Laravel has an array of lightweight templates which can be used to create dynamic, engaging User Interfaces. There are numerous JS and CSS code-based widgets readily available to create a solid website. Web developers can use them to create stunning UIs.
• Security: Laravel is extensively used to create robust applications, as it provides a high level of security. The use of hashed and salted passwords and the Bcrypt Hashing algorithm ensures the safe storage of encrypted passwords in the database.

Uses of Laravel Web Framework

When we talk about Django vs. Laravel, it is important to know that both frameworks have their merits. Laravel is preferred when they want a full-stack web framework with the base of PHP. It facilitates server-side processes involving HTML, caching, authenticating, routing, etc.

Laravel is used for the following kinds of requirements

• When you want large and secure web apps
• PHP-based customized applications
• Multilingual, multinational sites, CMSs, and blog sites
• Static and dynamic web pages
• SaaS applications and social media sites
• eCommerce websites
• Fully functional enterprise applications
• Web portals for news, jobs and community interaction

Who Uses Laravel?

Any business that scales across geographies and enterprises which demand high-end web applications use Laravel for backend development. Sectors including IT, SaaS, Retail, Travel, Healthcare, Education, etc. use this framework to create rock-solid applications.

Popular companies like BBC, FedEx, Asgard CMS, Lenovo, etc. use Laravel as their backend framework.

Quick Comparison [Django vs Laravel: Features and Functionality]

Features	Django	Laravel
Developed By	Adrian Holovaty, Simon Willison	Taylor Otwell
Language	Python	PHP
Architecture Used	MVT	MVC
Routing	Difficult	Easy
Database Support	MySQL, Oracle, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, and SQLite database support	MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQL, and SQLite database support
API Support	Doesn’t have API support	Has in-built API support
Licence	3-Clause BSD	MIT

Django vs Laravel [An In-Depth Look]

When you have a fair idea about both the frameworks and their strong points, let us help you compare and contrast them to check which one is suitable for your requirements. It helps to know them in-depth to decide the better of the two for your project.

Performance – Which one is better in performance? – Django or Laravel?

When we talk about performance, Django scores higher than Laravel. As Django uses Python, it gets performance and speed from its very source. It reduces development time and offers exceptional performance to the web application. However, post the release of PHP7, Laravel has showcased an upsurge in performance.

Difference in Application Architecture

Laravel follows MVC architecture as opposed to Django which uses MVT architecture. MVC is highly beneficial when you have to make changes without disturbing other parts of the application. It gives more control to developers when compared to Django which uses more template-based architecture, that is suitable for all app sizes.

Which One is More Scalable?

Both of them are highly scalable frameworks and offer peak performance even for traffic-flooded applications. Laravel applications are easy to scale with AWS cloud, MySQL, caching mechanism, etc. Django does this with Cloud and CDN solutions. Both can be fine-tuned to offer high-end scalability.

Which One Possesses a Large Community?

When you have a strong development community as your support system, you can resolve any issues during development and after it. Both these backend frameworks have an ever-evolving and growing community of developers. While Django has around 82k members on Reddit, 66.9k Stars, and 28k Forks on GitHub; Laravel has credentials of 46k active users, 18k threads, 71.2k GitHub Stars, and 23k GitHub Forks.

Django vs Laravel – Which one offers support for REST API?

Laravel has built-in API support so, it is beneficial for any project that requires API integration. This feature is missing in Django which has to import third-party libraries to include API support. REST API offers secure services between customer requests and servers. Laravel is good at integrating this API and, hence, apt for apps that need integration with REST API.

Security – Which is more secure, Laravel or Django?

Django is more secure than Laravel as it uses the robust Python language. Contrary to this, Laravel has a higher risk of security as it is written in PHP. However, Laravel offers features like storage of encrypted passwords, Bcrypt Hashing Algorithm and a sure shot mechanism to avoid cyberattacks like XSS, cookies, SQL injection, etc.

Django vs Laravel – Which One is Better for Testing and Debugging?

Both frameworks have excellent tools for testing and debugging. While Django has tools that simplify the process of test-writing, Laravel has several tools to test the application at different stages. Both frameworks are good for Quality Assurance.

Documentation – Which One is Easy to Understand?

Django offers better documentation than Laravel. This makes it much easier for developers, who can know every intricacy of the framework and customize it easily with the help of documentation.

Which of the Two Offers Microservices Compatibility?

Written in PHP, Laravel offers total compatibility with microservices. It helps developers to break the app into smaller chunks and modules that interact with APIs. This approach makes it highly compatible. The recent popularity of Laravel Microservices proves its efficiency in this regard. Django uses microservices for scaling and incorporating machine learning features in the application.

Django vs Laravel vs WordPress

WordPress is the global leader in CMS development, blogging sites, enterprise applications and custom web apps. However, Django and Laravel are fast gaining popularity and are giving tough competition to other web development technologies and platforms.

Django vs WordPress

Both are used to create CMS applications, however; you don’t need coding skills for WordPress while Django sites demand knowledge of Python. Django offers ease of creating a custom look and feel of the application, while that is limited to modifying the countable themes of WordPress. As opposed to very few plugins in Django, there are more than 55K plugins on WordPress.

Laravel vs WordPress

Again, you need knowledge of PHP to work on Laravel and skip coding to create WordPress sites. Laravel has far better in-built features and offers higher performance when compared to WordPress. Laravel is secure, scalable and easily manageable, but has a more complex CMS than WordPress.

When to Choose Django and Laravel?

Well, with the merits and demerits of each framework at your disposal, you can decide which one is better for the requirements of your project. To simplify your process, let us list down a few points on the usability of each of these two frameworks.

Choose Django for:

• You want to create highly viewed social media sites.
• You require developing apps that involve a lot of Machine Learning.
• You want a secure, scalable app for the B2B model.
• You plan to build data-oriented apps for popular sectors like travel, healthcare, education, etc.
• When you need data analysis and end-to-end personalization.

Choose Laravel for:

• Interactive websites and advanced applications.
• Customized apps with widgets and API integrations.
• SEO-friendly web applications.
• Secure web apps with huge traffic.
• Quick web app development supported by OOPs-based libraries.
• When you want to develop apps with PHP Data Objects.

Frequently Asked Questions – Django vs Laravel

Which Type of Frameworks are They? Front-End or Back-End?

Both are backend development frameworks that offer strong server-side coding that deals with business logic and database management.

Is Laravel Relevant in 2023?

It is gaining popularity with every passing year. It is useful for building complex and fast web applications. Not only that, but it has a huge community for support and other features that make it an in-demand framework.

Comparing Django and Laravel: Which Is Better?

It really depends on the project. While Both Django and Laravel are powerful web frameworks, Laravel is more focused on the end-user experience, while Django places more emphasis on the development process. While Django does not have as many features out-of-the-box as Laravel does, it has excellent scalability and can easily handle complex applications. Ultimately, the choice between Django and Laravel comes down to which framework better suits your specific needs.

Final Words

Enough is said about the comparison and contrast between Django and Laravel. Still, if there is any confusion, discuss your concept with a web development company and check which framework will be suitable for your project.

KrishaWeb is an ace web development company that offers website design and development in various frameworks and technologies like WordPress, Laravel, Drupal, and more.

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