Django vs Node.JS – Which is Better?

Django and Node.js are the two most popular open-source frameworks for developing web applications among developers. Django was created back in 2003 by Lawrence journal world and was released in 2005. It was based on Python and followed the MVT (Model-View-Template) design pattern. 

Node.js was created by Ryan Dahl in 2009 much after Django. It was created using C, C++, and JavaScript programming languages during the time of development process. Both Django and Node.js frameworks are used in developing web applications but they have some significant differences between them in terms of programming languages, architecture, complexity, etc.

In this blog, we will discuss the key comparisons between Django Vs Node.js, shedding light on their advantages and disadvantages and which one is better for you to make an informed decision. 

Overview of Django

Django is a high-level Python framework that provides easier features to create a web application using Python. It’s a secure and maintainable environment that helps speed up the process of building an application. Django has a high demand for projects that require rapid design and development. 

It is used by numerous websites worldwide such as Mozilla, Pinterest, Instagram, and many more. You can consider taking up a Python course for a better understanding of Django.

Overview of Node.JS

Node.js is also an open-source environment that allows you to run javascript on the platform. It’s a JavaScript-based server built on Google Chrome’s JavaScript V8 Engine. It can run on Linux, Unix, Windows, and macOS. It is used for server-side programming and to create I/O (Input/Output) web applications. Like Netflix, and LinkedIn big giants of the global business use Node.JS for high-quality applications. 

Node.JS comes in handy when discussing event-driver servers, traditional websites, and back-end API services. It has been constantly improved and tweaked by a global community of developers. You can take a Node.js course to attain complete knowledge and expertise in this field and grab your dream job. A crucial thing to learn about Node.JS is that it’s a runtime environment, not a library or a framework.

Key Comparison: Django Vs Node.js

The key comparisons between Django and Node.js are given below:

Django	Node.js
It is an open-source framework for creating web-based applications.	It is an open-source framework as well as a runtime environment for developing web apps.
It is based on the Python language.	It is based on C, C++, and JavaScript
It has less scalability for small apps.	It has more scalability compared to Django for small apps.
It has a Model view template-based architecture.	It has an architecture based on event-driven programming.
It is new in the market and has less utilization compared to Node.js.	It is being used for quite a time and is widely used by developers.
It has more complexity compared to Node.js	It is simpler compared to Django.
It has more stability during web development.	It shows less stability during web development when compared to Django.
It has support for multi-threaded operations.	It doesn’t support multi-threaded operations.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Django 

Here are the lists of the advantages and disadvantages of Django

Advantages	Disadvantages
It provides developers access to numerous Python libraries.	It has caching risks due to framework flexibility and requires careful configuration.
It has a built-in feature to generate templates for dynamic HTML, filters content, enables code reuse, and separates logic from views.	The ability of Django to handle multiple requests is quite limited.
It provides SEO tools that help in reducing loading time for webpages and also a compressor tool that bundles CSS and JS into a common file.	Deployment in Django is quite baffling because all models are included in a common file.
Developers can access various security features against SQL injections, request forgery, and cross-site scripting.	It is tough to analyze and mark the default errors that are received from templates in Django.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Node.js

Advantages	Disadvantages
It provides developers with the option to write full-stack code in JavaScript.	It has limits in processing data due to single-threaded execution.
It has the ability to handle multiple operations or requests through the use of an event loop.	When the system attempts to handle a huge number of calls, Asynchronous request handling can lead to callback overloads.
It has a Node Package Manager repository that provides an enormous number of development packages.	It is perilous for the long-running or very heavy load of running CPU processes or tasks
It has a simple design in databases and also has async process support.	It has shortcomings in JavaScript which is inherited traditionally in all js libraries.

Which one is better Django Vs Node.js?

Django and Node.js frameworks are quite popular among developers, so when it comes to choosing which one to use, developers often choose based on their preferred language. If you are good at JavaScript you will definitely choose Node.js but if you are more comfortable in Python then your choice is going to be Django. But it’s not all about the preferred languages, there are some other aspects you need to look into before selecting a framework.

Django 

If you are just a beginner and don’t know much about programming languages and frameworks, Django is the best option to get started as Python is a very straightforward language with a simple and easy-to-understand syntax. Let’s take a closer look at the Django example to understand it better:

def hello(request):
    return HttpResponse("Hello, World!")

newapp/urls.py
from django.urls import path
from . import views

urlpatterns = [
    path('hello', views.hello, name='hello'),
]

newproject/urls.py
from django.urls import include, path

urlpatterns = [
    path('newapp/', include('newapp.urls')),
]

Output:  "Hello, World!"

In the above example of  Django, python is used to define a view function in “views.py” that creates an HTTP response containing “Hello, World!”. The “urls.py” file handles URL routing, mapping the view function to “/myapp/hello”. The main “myproject/urls.py” file also contains the URLs from “myapp/urls.py” to execute the routing configuration.

Node.js

Node.js is an open-source framework that offers distinct features compared to Django. When comparing the security features of Django and Node.js, Node.js claims the top position. Furthermore, when considering the learning curve, scalability, and performance of the frameworks, Node.js delivers excellent performance and also offers scalability.

const http = require('http');

const server = http.createServer((req, res) => {
    res.writeHead(300, { 'Content-Type': 'text/plain' });
    res.end('Hello, World!');
});

server.listen(8000, 'localhost');

// Output: "Hello, World!

In Node.js, JavaScript utilizes a basic HTTP server using the built-in “http” module. The server listens on port 8000 and responds to incoming requests by sending an HTTP response with the “Hello, World!”.

Considering all these aspects both frameworks have huge communities and excellent documentation, you can choose to trust any of the two frameworks based on your requirements, the security measures you may need, or the performance and scalability of the frameworks.

Conclusion

Django Vs Node.js comparison will enable you to choose the one better suited for you. They are both open-source and popular frameworks. While Django is based on Python and Node.JS is based on JavaScript. They both are unique in their own design, working, and functions. It also helps coders and developers to build their websites easily and efficiently.