Overview

Firebase

Stacks42.2K

Followers36.0K

Votes2.0K

Django REST framework

Stacks2.0K

Followers2.1K

Votes312

Django REST framework vs Firebase: What are the differences?

Introduction:

Django REST framework and Firebase are both popular platforms used for building web applications. While they serve similar purposes, there are key differences between the two.

Integration with Existing Infrastructure: Django REST framework is a versatile tool that can be easily integrated with existing Django projects. It provides extensive support for database migrations, user authentication, and other Django features. On the other hand, Firebase is a standalone backend-as-a-service platform that provides a complete infrastructure for developing web and mobile applications. It offers real-time database, user authentication, storage, and other services, making it a convenient all-in-one solution.
Scalability: When it comes to scaling applications, Firebase offers more flexibility and scalability compared to Django REST framework. Firebase provides horizontal scalability out-of-the-box, allowing applications to automatically handle increased traffic and load. Django REST framework, on the other hand, requires additional configuration and scaling techniques to handle high volumes of requests.
Real-time Features: Firebase is known for its real-time capabilities, which enable developers to build applications with live and synchronized data updates. Firebase's real-time database and real-time cloud messaging services make it ideal for applications that require instant updates and notifications. In contrast, Django REST framework does not natively support real-time features. Developers would need to use additional technologies like WebSockets or third-party libraries to implement real-time functionality.
Community Support: Django REST framework has a vibrant and active community with a wide range of resources, including tutorials, documentation, and third-party packages. The framework has been around for a longer time, making it a mature and stable option for building RESTful APIs. Firebase also has a growing community but may not have as extensive resources as Django REST framework. However, Firebase's official documentation is comprehensive and provides a good starting point for developers.
Authentication and Authorization: Django REST framework provides robust authentication and authorization mechanisms out-of-the-box. It supports various authentication methods and allows developers to define fine-grained permission rules for accessing API endpoints. Firebase also offers user authentication but follows a different approach. It provides pre-built authentication methods like email/password, social media login, and anonymous authentication. Firebase's authentication is tightly integrated with its other services, making it easy for developers to handle user authentication and authorization.
Development Flexibility: Django REST framework allows developers to have more control over the development process. It provides a highly customizable framework with support for advanced features like custom middleware, serializers, and renderers. Developers have the freedom to choose their preferred tools and libraries to enhance the development experience. Firebase, on the other hand, offers a more opinionated and streamlined approach. It provides a set of predefined features and services that simplify and speed up the development process. While this can be beneficial for rapid prototyping, it may limit the flexibility for advanced customization.

In summary, Django REST framework is a flexible and customizable framework that integrates well with existing Django projects, while Firebase is a complete backend-as-a-service platform offering scalability, real-time features, and a simplified development experience. The choice between the two depends on specific project needs, existing infrastructure, and development preferences.

Advice on Firebase, Django REST framework

Jared

Contractor at Insight Global

Aug 9, 2019

Reviewon

Firebase

I started using Firebase over 5 years ago because of the 'real-time' nature. I originally used to use Real Time Database, but now I use Cloud Firestore. I recommend using the Google Firebase PaaS to quickly develop or prototype small to enterprise level web/mobile applications. Since Google purchased Firebase, it has exploded and it growing rapidly. I also find some level of comfort that it is Backed by Google.

271k views271k

Comments

Noam

Jul 16, 2020

Needs adviceon

Node.js

ExpressJS

React

We are starting to work on a web-based platform aiming to connect artists (clients) and professional freelancers (service providers). In-app, timeline-based, real-time communication between users (& storing it), file transfers, and push notifications are essential core features. We are considering using Node.js, ExpressJS, React, MongoDB stack with Socket.IO & Apollo, or maybe using Real-Time Database and functionalities of Firebase.

1.15M views1.15M

Comments

Kristan Eres

Senior Solutions Analyst

Jul 30, 2020

Needs adviceon

Django

Python

Flask

My journey to developing REST APIs started with Flask Restful, and I've found it to be enough for the needs of my project back then. Now that I've started investing more time on personal projects, I've yet to decide if I should move to use Django for writing REST APIs. I often see job posts looking for Python+Django developers, but it's usually for full-stack developers. I'm primarily interested in Data Engineering, so most of my web projects are back end.

Should I continue with what I know (Flask) or move on to Django?

391k views391k

Comments

Detailed Comparison

Firebase	Django REST framework
Firebase is a cloud service designed to power real-time, collaborative applications. Simply add the Firebase library to your application to gain access to a shared data structure; any changes you make to that data are automatically synchronized with the Firebase cloud and with other clients within milliseconds.	It is a powerful and flexible toolkit that makes it easy to build Web APIs.
Add the Firebase library to your app and get access to a shared data structure. Any changes made to that data are automatically synchronized with the Firebase cloud and with other clients within milliseconds.;Firebase apps can be written entirely with client-side code, update in real-time out-of-the-box, interoperate well with existing services, scale automatically, and provide strong data security.;Data Accessibility- Data is stored as JSON in Firebase. Every piece of data has its own URL which can be used in Firebase's client libraries and as a REST endpoint. These URLs can also be entered into a browser to view the data and watch it update in real-time.;Real-time Synchronization- Firebase takes a new approach to the way data is moved around an app. Rather than using a traditional request & response model, it works by synchronizing data between devices. Whenever your data changes, all clients are immediately notified within milliseconds. The synchronized data is also persisted, allowing new clients to be immediately updated.;First-class Data Security- Traditional applications intermix security code with application code, whereas Firebase treats security as a first-class feature. You define your security policies in one place using a flexible rules language, and Firebase ensures that they are consistently enforced across all parts of your application. Having all your security logic in one place allows for easy auditing and helps you avoid security mistakes. The safety and security of your data is our top priority.;Automatic Scaling- The Firebase API is built from the ground up for performance and scale. Whenever your data changes, Firebase calculates the minimum set of updates required to keep all your clients in sync. In addition, all Firebase API functions are designed to scale linearly with the size of the data being synchronized. More importantly, Firebase handles all of the scaling and operations for you. Your app will scale from its first user to its first million without any code changes.;Servers are Optional- Firebase can provide all of the data storage, control, and transmission needs of most apps. In many cases, Firebase can completely replace your server and server-side code. This means you no longer need to build complicated backend software and can instead focus on your application logic and your customers.	The Web browsable API is a huge usability win for your developers.;Authentication policies including OAuth1a and OAuth2 out of the box.;Serialization that supports both ORM and non-ORM data sources.;Customizable all the way down - just use regular function-based views if you don't need the more powerful features.;Extensive documentation, and great community support.;Used and trusted by large companies such as Mozilla and Eventbrite.
Statistics
Stacks 42.2K	Stacks 2.0K
Followers 36.0K	Followers 2.1K
Votes 2.0K	Votes 312
Pros & Cons
Pros 371 Realtime backend made easy 270 Fast and responsive 242 Easy setup 215 Real-time 191 JSON Cons 31 Can become expensive 16 No open source, you depend on external company 15 Scalability is not infinite 9 Not Flexible Enough 7 Cant filter queries	Pros 67 Easy to use 65 Browsable api 53 Great documentation 51 Customizable 42 Fast development Cons 2 Bad documentation 2 Reimplements Django functionality 1 No support for URL Namespaces 0 Bad CSRF handling
Integrations
Trigger.io Famo.us Backbone.js Ember.js AngularJS React	Rollbar Sentry Django Stream Kloudless

What are some alternatives to Firebase, Django REST framework?

Node.js

Node.js uses an event-driven, non-blocking I/O model that makes it lightweight and efficient, perfect for data-intensive real-time applications that run across distributed devices.

Rails

Rails is a web-application framework that includes everything needed to create database-backed web applications according to the Model-View-Controller (MVC) pattern.

Django

Django is a high-level Python Web framework that encourages rapid development and clean, pragmatic design.

Laravel

It is a web application framework with expressive, elegant syntax. It attempts to take the pain out of development by easing common tasks used in the majority of web projects, such as authentication, routing, sessions, and caching.

.NET

.NET is a general purpose development platform. With .NET, you can use multiple languages, editors, and libraries to build native applications for web, mobile, desktop, gaming, and IoT for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and more.

ASP.NET Core

A free and open-source web framework, and higher performance than ASP.NET, developed by Microsoft and the community. It is a modular framework that runs on both the full .NET Framework, on Windows, and the cross-platform .NET Core.

ExpressJS

Express is a minimal and flexible node.js web application framework, providing a robust set of features for building single and multi-page, and hybrid web applications.

Symfony

It is written with speed and flexibility in mind. It allows developers to build better and easy to maintain websites with PHP..

Spring

A key element of Spring is infrastructural support at the application level: Spring focuses on the "plumbing" of enterprise applications so that teams can focus on application-level business logic, without unnecessary ties to specific deployment environments.

Spring Boot

Spring Boot makes it easy to create stand-alone, production-grade Spring based Applications that you can "just run". We take an opinionated view of the Spring platform and third-party libraries so you can get started with minimum fuss. Most Spring Boot applications need very little Spring configuration.