Framework Comparison

Framework Comparison

A comparison of Python frameworks supported by this repo to help you choose the right one.

Quick Comparison

Feature	FastAPI	Django	DRF	Flask
Type	Async API	Full-stack	REST API (Django)	Lightweight API
Async native	✅	Partial	❌	❌
ORM	SQLAlchemy 2.x	Django ORM	Django ORM	SQLAlchemy
Validation	Pydantic v2	Django Forms	DRF Serializers	Marshmallow/Pydantic
Auto docs	✅ (OpenAPI)	❌	✅ (drf-spectacular)	❌ (needs Flask-RESTX)
Admin panel	❌	✅ Built-in	✅ Built-in	❌
Learning curve	Low	Medium	Medium	Low
Performance	⚡ High	Medium	Medium	Medium
Best for	Microservices, APIs	Full-stack apps	Django REST APIs	Internal tools, small APIs

Technology Stack by Framework

FastAPI (skills/fastapi/SKILL.md)

Layer	Library
Framework	FastAPI 0.111+
Server	Uvicorn + Gunicorn
ORM	SQLAlchemy 2.x async + Alembic
Validation	Pydantic v2
Auth	python-jose / PyJWT + passlib
HTTP Client	httpx (async)
Task Queue	Celery + Redis or ARQ
Settings	pydantic-settings

Django (skills/django/SKILL.md)

Layer	Library
Framework	Django 5.x
ORM	Django ORM (built-in)
Migrations	Django migrations
Settings	django-environ or pydantic-settings
Static Files	WhiteNoise
Task Queue	Celery + Redis
Caching	django-redis
Admin	Django Admin + django-jazzmin

DRF (skills/drf/SKILL.md)

Layer	Library
Framework	djangorestframework 3.15+
JWT Auth	djangorestframework-simplejwt
Filtering	django-filter
Schema/Docs	drf-spectacular (OpenAPI 3)
Pagination	DRF built-in + custom
Throttling	DRF built-in

Flask (skills/flask/SKILL.md)

Layer	Library
Framework	Flask 3.x
ORM	SQLAlchemy 2.x + Flask-SQLAlchemy
Migrations	Flask-Migrate (Alembic)
Validation	marshmallow or pydantic v2
Auth	Flask-JWT-Extended
Settings	python-decouple / pydantic-settings
CLI	Click (built-in)

When to Choose What

Scenario	Recommended Framework
New async API / microservice	FastAPI
Full-stack app with admin panel	Django
REST API on existing Django project	DRF
Small internal tool / prototype	Flask
High-performance async workloads	FastAPI
Rapid prototyping with ORM + admin	Django
Lightweight API, minimal dependencies	Flask
Team already knows Django	DRF

Architecture Patterns

All frameworks in this repo follow the same layer discipline:

API Layer (routes/views)
    ↓
Service Layer (business logic)
    ↓
Repository Layer (data access)
    ↓
Model Layer (ORM models)

This is enforced via the skill files regardless of which framework you choose.

Shared Standards (apply to all)

• 4 spaces indentation, full type annotations
• structlog for logging (never print())
• pydantic-settings for configuration
• pytest + factory_boy for testing
• 80% minimum test coverage
• All endpoints authenticated unless explicitly public
• Domain exceptions with HTTP mapping