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  1. Stackups
  2. Application & Data
  3. Microframeworks
  4. Microframeworks
  5. ExpressJS vs Flask vs Spring-Boot

ExpressJS vs Flask vs Spring-Boot

OverviewDecisionsComparisonAlternatives

Overview

Flask
Flask
Stacks19.3K
Followers16.2K
Votes60
ExpressJS
ExpressJS
Stacks35.1K
Followers24.0K
Votes1.6K
Spring Boot
Spring Boot
Stacks26.7K
Followers24.3K
Votes1.0K
GitHub Stars78.9K
Forks41.6K

ExpressJS vs Flask vs Spring-Boot: What are the differences?

Key Differences between ExpressJS, Flask, and Spring-Boot

ExpressJS, Flask, and Spring-Boot are popular web development frameworks used to build scalable and efficient web applications. While they serve a similar purpose, there are key differences that set them apart.

  1. Architecture: ExpressJS is a minimalist and unopinionated framework built on top of Node.js, allowing developers to have more control over the application architecture. Flask, on the other hand, is a microframework in Python, providing only the essential tools to get started quickly. Spring-Boot, built on top of Java, follows the convention-over-configuration principle, providing a predefined application structure that promotes code organization and scalability.

  2. Language: ExpressJS is built using JavaScript and is mainly used for server-side development. Flask is a Python framework and is preferred for its concise and readable code. Spring-Boot, developed using Java, provides a robust and scalable environment for enterprise-level applications.

  3. Community and Ecosystem: ExpressJS has a large and active community, with a wide range of plugins and libraries available to extend its functionality. Flask, although it has a smaller community, is known for its simplicity and ease of use. Spring-Boot, backed by the vast Java ecosystem, has extensive community support with a wide range of tools, libraries, and frameworks available.

  4. Scalability: ExpressJS provides a flexible architecture that allows developers to easily scale their applications. Flask, being a microframework, is lightweight and suitable for small to medium-sized applications. Spring-Boot, with its robust architectural design, is well-suited for large-scale enterprise applications that require high scalability and performance.

  5. Development Speed: ExpressJS is known for its simplicity and minimal setup, allowing developers to quickly get started with building web applications. Flask, being a microframework, also enables rapid development with its minimalistic design. Spring-Boot, although more structured and opinionated, offers a wide range of starter projects and code generators that speed up development time.

  6. Integration with other Technologies: ExpressJS has extensive support for various middleware and third-party libraries, allowing seamless integration with other technologies. Flask, being a Python framework, seamlessly integrates with other Python libraries and tools. Spring-Boot, being part of the Java ecosystem, integrates well with a wide range of Java technologies and frameworks.

In summary, ExpressJS provides flexibility and control, Flask offers simplicity and readability, and Spring-Boot provides a robust and scalable environment for enterprise-level applications. The choice of framework depends on the specific project requirements, development speed, and the technology stack involved.

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Advice on Flask, ExpressJS, Spring Boot

Eva
Eva

Fullstack developer

Jul 28, 2020

Needs adviceonJavaJavaSpring BootSpring BootJavaScriptJavaScript

Hello, I am a fullstack web developer. I have been working for a company with Java/ Spring Boot and client-side JavaScript(mainly jQuery, some AngularJS) for the past 4 years. As I wish to now work as a freelancer, I am faced with a dilemma: which stack to choose given my current knowledge and the state of the market?

I've heard PHP is very popular in the freelance world. I don't know PHP. However, I'm sure it wouldn't be difficult to learn since it has many similarities with Java (OOP). It seems to me that Laravel has similarities with Spring Boot (it's MVC and OOP). Also, people say Laravel works well with Vue.js, which is my favorite JS framework.

On the other hand, I already know the Javascript language, and I like Vue.js, so I figure I could go the fullstack Javascript route with ExpressJS. However, I am not sure if these techs are ripe for freelancing (with regards to RAD, stability, reliability, security, costs, etc.) Is it true that Express is almost always used with MongoDB? Because my experience is mostly with SQL databases.

The projects I would like to work on are custom web applications/websites for small businesses. I have developed custom ERPs before and found that Java was a good fit, except for it taking a long time to develop. I cannot make a choice, and I am constantly switching between trying PHP and Node.js/Express. Any real-world advice would be welcome! I would love to find a stack that I enjoy while doing meaningful freelance coding.

826k views826k
Comments
Kristan Eres
Kristan Eres

Senior Solutions Analyst

Jul 30, 2020

Needs adviceonDjangoDjangoPythonPythonFlaskFlask

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?

392k views392k
Comments
Slimane
Slimane

Jul 9, 2020

Needs adviceonSpring BootSpring BootNestJSNestJSNode.jsNode.js

I am currently planning to build a project from scratch. I will be using Angular as front-end framework, but for the back-end I am not sure which framework to use between Spring Boot and NestJS. I have worked with Spring Boot before, but my new project contains a lot of I/O operations, in fact it will show a daily report. I thought about the new Spring Web Reactive Framework but given the idea that Node.js is the most popular on handling non blocking I/O I am planning to start learning NestJS since it is based on Angular philosophy and TypeScript which I am familiar with. Looking forward to hear from you dear Community.

917k views917k
Comments

Detailed Comparison

Flask
Flask
ExpressJS
ExpressJS
Spring Boot
Spring Boot

Flask is intended for getting started very quickly and was developed with best intentions in mind.

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.

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.

-
Robust routing;HTTP helpers (redirection, caching, etc);View system supporting 14+ template engines;Content negotiation;Focus on high performance;Executable for generating applications quickly;High test coverage
-
Statistics
GitHub Stars
-
GitHub Stars
-
GitHub Stars
78.9K
GitHub Forks
-
GitHub Forks
-
GitHub Forks
41.6K
Stacks
19.3K
Stacks
35.1K
Stacks
26.7K
Followers
16.2K
Followers
24.0K
Followers
24.3K
Votes
60
Votes
1.6K
Votes
1.0K
Pros & Cons
Pros
  • 10
    For it flexibility
  • 9
    Flexibilty and easy to use
  • 7
    User friendly
  • 6
    Secured
  • 5
    Unopinionated
Cons
  • 10
    Not JS
  • 7
    Context
  • 5
    Not fast
  • 1
    Don't has many module as in spring
Pros
  • 381
    Simple
  • 336
    Node.js
  • 244
    Javascript
  • 193
    High performance
  • 152
    Robust routing
Cons
  • 27
    Not python
  • 17
    Overrated
  • 14
    No multithreading
  • 9
    Javascript
  • 5
    Not fast
Pros
  • 149
    Powerful and handy
  • 134
    Easy setup
  • 128
    Java
  • 90
    Spring
  • 85
    Fast
Cons
  • 23
    Heavy weight
  • 18
    Annotation ceremony
  • 13
    Java
  • 11
    Many config files needed
  • 5
    Reactive
Integrations
No integrations available
Node.js
Node.js
Spring
Spring
Java
Java

What are some alternatives to Flask, ExpressJS, Spring Boot?

Node.js

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

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

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

Laravel

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

.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

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.

Symfony

Symfony

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

Spring

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.

Android SDK

Android SDK

Android provides a rich application framework that allows you to build innovative apps and games for mobile devices in a Java language environment.

Phoenix Framework

Phoenix Framework

Phoenix is a framework for building HTML5 apps, API backends and distributed systems. Written in Elixir, you get beautiful syntax, productive tooling and a fast runtime.

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