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Flask vs Vapor: What are the differences?

Introduction

In this article, we will compare Flask and Vapor, two popular web frameworks used for developing web applications in Python and Swift respectively. We will highlight the key differences between these two frameworks to help you understand which one might be a better fit for your project.

  1. Programming Language: Flask is a Python-based web framework, while Vapor is built using Swift, a programming language mainly used for iOS and macOS applications. This difference in programming languages means that developers with different language preferences may lean towards either Flask or Vapor.

  2. Maturity and Community Support: Flask has been in existence since 2010 and has a robust and well-established community with a vast number of plugins and extensions available. Vapor, on the other hand, is relatively newer (introduced in 2016) and is backed by the Swift community. The maturity of Flask and its extensive community support make it a preferred choice for many developers.

  3. Platform Compatibility: Flask being based on Python can run on various platforms including Windows, macOS, and Linux. In contrast, Vapor being built on Swift, primarily targets macOS and Linux platforms. If cross-platform compatibility is a requirement for your project, Flask might be a better choice.

  4. Learning Curve: Flask has a relatively low learning curve, making it easier for developers to grasp and start developing web applications quickly. On the other hand, Vapor, being a Swift-based framework, may have a steeper learning curve, especially for developers who are not familiar with the Swift programming language.

  5. Development Speed: Flask provides a more lightweight and minimalistic approach to web development, allowing developers to quickly prototype and develop applications. Vapor, on the other hand, leverages the power of Swift's type-safety and strong static typing, which may result in a slightly longer development time. If speed is a significant factor for your project, Flask might be a better choice.

  6. Ecosystem and Third-Party Integrations: Flask benefits from a mature ecosystem with a wide range of third-party integrations and extensions available. Vapor, being relatively newer, may have a smaller ecosystem with fewer integrated solutions. If you are looking for extensive third-party integrations and a wide array of options, Flask would be a better fit.

In Summary, Flask is a mature and versatile web framework written in Python with excellent community support and cross-platform compatibility, making it ideal for web development. Vapor, on the other hand, is a newer framework written in Swift, primarily targeting macOS and Linux platforms, offering a type-safe and robust development experience. Consider your project requirements, language preference, and platform compatibility when choosing between Flask and Vapor.

Advice on Flask and Vapor
kristan-dev
Senior Solutions Analyst · | 8 upvotes · 371.5K views

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?

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Replies (1)
Rafael Torres
Technical Lead at 4Agile · | 9 upvotes · 361.6K views

If you want to be a Web developer with knowledge in another frontend and NoSql technology, maybe continue with Flask. However, if you want to create very fast solutions to grow up with a new business and merge these with data analysis and other tools, Django is the answer. Basically read more about the service architecture where you feel more comfortable, Microservice or Monolithic, but please will not married with any because they solve issues to different contexts.

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Girish Sharma
Software Engineer at FireVisor Systems · | 6 upvotes · 294.3K views
Needs advice
on
BottleBottleFlaskFlask
and
NamekoNameko

Which is the best Python framework for microservices?

We are using Nameko for building microservices in Python. The things we really like are dependency injection and the ease with which one can expose endpoints via RPC over RabbitMQ. We are planning to try a tool that helps us write polyglot microservices and nameko is not super compatible with it. Also, we are a bit worried about the not so good community support from nameko and looking for a python alternate to write microservices.

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Replies (1)
Recommends
on
BottleBottle

Bottle is much less bloated and fast. Its built-in templating system is one of the fastest as it compiles the templates in bytecode. Also Bottle has no depenencies, preventing dependency bloat.

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Saurav Pandit
Application Devloper at Bny Mellon · | 6 upvotes · 316.7K views

I have just started learning Python 3 weeks ago. I want to create a REST API using python. The API will be used to save form data in an Oracle database. The front end is using AngularJS 8 with Angular Material. In python, there are so many frameworks to develop REST APIs.

I am looking for some suggestions which REST framework to choose?

Here are some features I am looking for:

  • Easy integration and unit testing, like in Angular. We just want to run a command.

  • Code packaging, like in java maven project we can build and package. I am looking for something which I can push in as an artifact and deploy whole code as a package.

  • Support for swagger/ OpenAPI

  • Support for JSON Web Token

  • Support for test case coverage report

Framework can have features included or can be available by extension. Also, you can suggest a framework other than the ones I have mentioned.

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Replies (1)
Recommends
on
FlaskFlask
at

For starters flask provides a beautiful and easy way to create REST APIs. Also its supported by excellent beginner docs as well as a very active community. Another good thing with Flask is its widely available list of plugins which allow you to build as you go. Its also good in performance and can scale to a quite decent level. However, if you are sure your project is going to be fairly big, it would be better to start with Django as it provides a lot of features out of the box and is extremely stable in performance. Both these frameworks have support for Swagger, JWT, Coverage Report although you have to install plugins for them. Deploying both of these are fairly simple and there is huge documentation available. Django has one of the best documentations I have come across. I hope I was able to answer your queries.

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Pros of Flask
Pros of Vapor
  • 10
    For it flexibility
  • 9
    Flexibilty and easy to use
  • 8
    Flask
  • 7
    User friendly
  • 6
    Secured
  • 5
    Unopinionated
  • 2
    Secure
  • 1
    Customizable
  • 1
    Simple to use
  • 1
    Powerful
  • 1
    Rapid development
  • 1
    Beautiful code
  • 1
    Easy to develop and maintain applications
  • 1
    Easy to setup and get it going
  • 1
    Easy to use
  • 1
    Documentation
  • 1
    Python
  • 1
    Minimal
  • 1
    Lightweight
  • 1
    Easy to get started
  • 1
    Orm
  • 1
    Not JS
  • 1
    Perfect for small to large projects with superb docs.
  • 1
    Easy to integrate
  • 1
    Speed
  • 1
    Get started quickly
  • 0
    Open source
  • 0
    Well designed
  • 0
    Flexibilty
  • 0
    Productive
  • 0
    Awesome
  • 0
    Expressive
  • 0
    Love it
  • 13
    Fast
  • 11
    Swift
  • 10
    Type-safe
  • 6
    Great for apis
  • 5
    Readable
  • 5
    Compiled to machine code
  • 5
    Good Abstraction
  • 5
    Asynchronous
  • 3
    Maintainable
  • 1
    Complete
  • 1
    Mature

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Cons of Flask
Cons of Vapor
  • 10
    Not JS
  • 7
    Context
  • 5
    Not fast
  • 1
    Don't has many module as in spring
  • 1
    Server side swift is still in its infancy
  • 1
    Not as much support available.

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What is Flask?

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

What is Vapor?

Vapor is the first true web framework for Swift. It provides a beautifully expressive foundation for your app without tying you to any single server implementation.

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What are some alternatives to Flask and Vapor?
Django
Django is a high-level Python Web framework that encourages rapid development and clean, pragmatic design.
Tornado
By using non-blocking network I/O, Tornado can scale to tens of thousands of open connections, making it ideal for long polling, WebSockets, and other applications that require a long-lived connection to each user.
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.
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.
React
Lots of people use React as the V in MVC. Since React makes no assumptions about the rest of your technology stack, it's easy to try it out on a small feature in an existing project.
See all alternatives