Django vs. Laravel | Top 5 Most Remarkable Differences to Learn
Web frameworks like Django and Laravel allow you to create web applications without getting into the complexities of the under-the-hood mechanisms.
Plus, you get access to readymade and tried-and-tested codes and snippets that save time, effort, and money. They can be particularly useful in backend development, which requires greater in-depth technical know-how.
While you can hire Laravel developers or take it upon yourself to learn and use Laravel (or vice versa), the first step is all about choosing the right technology.
So, if you are stuck in the Django vs. Laravel debate or simply want to know the differences between the two, you’ve come to the right place. Sit back as we walk you through it.
What is Django?
Django is a Python-based open-source web framework used on the server side. Since it is a high-level framework, it offers a high degree of abstraction, making development quick, easy, and almost effortless. So you can opt for Django development services if still hesitating.
Key Features and Benefits of Django
Some notable features and benefits of Django include:
- Open-source and free
- MVT architecture
- Rapid development and deployment
- Secure
- Scalable and fully loaded with ready-to-use libraries
- Versatile and flexible
- Easily extensible and expandable
Typical Django Applications
Django is a great choice for projects involving large amounts of content or media files or those that attract heavy traffic. Also, since it is Python-based, they come in handy for AI and ML-driven applications too. As such, you will find Django in the following:
- Custom CRM solutions
- Retail and eCommerce websites
- Booking or appointment management platforms
- Document or database management solutions
- Financial calculators that perform data-driven analysis
Popular examples of Django in action include Instagram, The Washington Times, Mozilla, Pinterest, Bitbucket, etc.
What is Laravel?
While Django is a Python-based web framework, Laravel is based on PHP - more specifically, it draws inspiration from Symfony. This server-side framework is also open-source and aimed at easing and expediting development.
Key Features and Benefits of Laravel
Here are some key features and benefits of Laravel:
- Open-source and free
- MVC architecture
- Artisan CLI
- Eloquent ORM
- Templating engine
- Highly modular
- Query builder
Typical Laravel Applications
Since Laravel is based on PHP, it finds greater use in website and application development. Its features come in handy, particularly for:
- Single Page Applications (SPAs) and Multi-Page Applications (MPAs)
- eCommerce websites
- Social networking websites
- Enterprise level applications
- Portals accepting information
Websites like 9GAG, BBC, PayZip, and Pfizer, to name a few, use Laravel, which illustrates its wide scope.
Django vs. Laravel: Key Differences
Now that you have a general idea of Django and Laravel let’s dig deeper into the differences between them. Here are a few differentiating categories:
Application Architecture
You may have noticed that in the Django and Laravel feature lists, we have mentioned MVT and MVC, respectively. This difference in architecture is one of the most defining distinctions between Django and Laravel.
Laravel follows the MVC pattern, which includes the Model, View, and Controller, with Controller acting as the interface between the Model and View components. This is a fairly well-known architecture that divides developer roles to facilitate parallel development on the front and the back ends by isolating the different segments.
Django takes a fresh approach to MVC by converting it into MVT - Model, View, and Template. The replacement of Controllers with Django Template Language and HTML makes it more convenient and offers room for personalization. Plus, Django developers can introduce instant changes regardless of the app size.
Microservices
Microservices break down a monolithic application build to make it more modular and composable. Since Django is compatible with microservices architecture, you will find it useful in deploying large, versatile, and complex applications rapidly and reliably.
You can even use Django to introduce AI and ML capabilities within the application or web solution. Although Laravel also manages to support the microservices architecture, you will have to use Lumen, a lighter version of Laravel, to get the best results.
REST API
With RESTful APIs becoming increasingly critical, it is vital to take them into consideration while comparing Laravel vs. Django. Django does not have an inbuilt feature supporting API creation and deployment. As a result, you will have to use third-party libraries to use APIs in Django.
Laravel, however, offers built-in API support, with Laravel returning queries to JSON by default. So, if you are looking to integrate tools and platforms using APIs, then Laravel is the better choice.
Documentation
Documentation is your mentor and guide while working with any web development framework or programming language. Django has detailed, easy-to-follow, and informative documentation. The contents are logically organized and easy to navigate. You can also access their tutorials and guides, rich with practical use cases, to solve any problems.
Unfortunately, Laravel leaves much to be desired when it comes to documentation. It is perhaps because of the accelerated rate at which Laravel has grown and improved. Regardless, it is not very enlightening and pales in comparison to what Django has to offer.
Performance
Performance is a critical consideration when choosing a backend web framework.
Django scores some solid points in this department, as Python is known for lightning-fast code compilation and execution. While the serialization/deserialization of JSON strings, conversion of database queries into objects, etc., may cause some amount of slowdown, these are solvable problems.
On the other hand, Laravel has been consistently working on improving speed and performance. Their efforts have been more tangible since PHP 7. However, it is yet to reach the benchmarks set by Django.
Closing Thoughts
While Django and Laravel have a good amount of similarities, both being open-source server-side web frameworks and all, they also carry their differences. Django is well-documented, while Laravel is natively compatible with APIs - and so on. While such differences (including the ones above) are broadly universal, some developers may have varying experiences with them.
For instance, someone would think that Laravel is easy to learn than Django - when the consensus is otherwise. That difference is fairly subjective.
That being said, both Laravel and Django deliver excellent results when it comes to backend development. All you need to do is pick the right framework depending on your requirement.
