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Django REST framework VS Gravitee.io

Compare Django REST framework VS Gravitee.io and see what are their differences

Django REST framework logo Django REST framework

Django REST framework is a toolkit for building web APIs.

Gravitee.io logo Gravitee.io

Gravitee.io is a flexible, lightweight and an open source API management solution.
  • Django REST framework Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-09-18
  • Gravitee.io Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-05-26

Django REST framework features and specs

  • Rich Feature Set
    Django REST framework (DRF) offers a comprehensive toolkit for building Web APIs, including serialization, authentication, and viewsets, which facilitate the creation of complex RESTful services with minimal effort.
  • Integration with Django
    DRF seamlessly integrates with Django's ORM and associated components, allowing for a coherent and efficient development process that leverages all of Django’s features and tools.
  • Robust Documentation
    DRF has extensive, clear, and well-structured documentation, which helps developers understand its features, integrations, and best practices quickly.
  • Community Support
    A large and active community supports DRF, meaning developers can find plenty of resources, tutorials, third-party packages, and forums for troubleshooting and enhancing their applications.
  • Flexibility
    DRF provides a lot of flexibility through class-based views and a highly customizable architecture, allowing developers to tweak their APIs to meet specific project requirements.
  • Authentication Options
    DRF supports multiple built-in authentication methods such as token-based authentication, OAuth, and JWT, along with the ability to create custom authentication mechanisms.

Possible disadvantages of Django REST framework

  • Learning Curve
    Although DRF is powerful, it comes with a steep learning curve, especially for beginners who are not familiar with Django or RESTful concepts, which can lead to a longer onboarding process.
  • Performance Overhead
    The abstraction and additional features provided by DRF can introduce some performance overhead, making raw Django views or other minimal frameworks sometimes more suitable for highly performance-sensitive applications.
  • Complexity
    For small projects or simple APIs, DRF might be overkill due to its inherent complexity and the numerous options it provides, which can slow down initial setup and development.
  • Tight Coupling with Django
    DRF is tightly coupled with Django, meaning that it’s not a suitable choice if you are looking to use a different web framework or need more flexibility in the choice of the underlying web framework.
  • Documentation Depth
    While the documentation is generally excellent, some advanced features are not as deeply covered, which can make implementing more complex customizations challenging without diving into the source code.

Gravitee.io features and specs

  • Open-Source Foundation
    Gravitee.io is built on an open-source foundation, which means it benefits from community contributions and has greater transparency in its development. This can lead to quicker updates and a larger support network.
  • Extensibility
    Gravitee.io's architecture is highly extensible, allowing developers to easily plug in custom policies, authentication methods, and more to meet specific needs.
  • Comprehensive API Management
    It offers a full suite of API management tools, including API gateway, security, monitoring, and analytics, making it a one-stop solution for managing APIs.
  • User-Friendly Interface
    Gravitee.io provides an intuitive and easy-to-use interface, making the management of APIs accessible even to those who may not be highly technical.
  • Performance
    Gravitee.io is designed for high performance, ensuring that APIs managed through the platform maintain low latency and can handle a high volume of requests.
  • Security Features
    Strong focus on security features, including OAuth2, JWT, and API key management, helps protect your APIs from unauthorized access.
  • Scalability
    The platform is designed to be highly scalable, which is crucial for businesses expecting varying loads and growth in API traffic.

Possible disadvantages of Gravitee.io

  • Learning Curve
    Despite its user-friendly interface, there is still a learning curve associated with fully understanding and utilizing all of Gravitee.io's features effectively.
  • Documentation
    Some users report that the documentation can be lacking in details, which can make troubleshooting and advanced configuration more challenging.
  • Community Support
    While open-source provides a broad community, official support channels might be limited compared to commercial, subscription-based API management solutions.
  • Enterprise Features
    Some advanced and enterprise-level features may require a paid subscription, which can be a barrier for small businesses or startups operating on a tight budget.
  • Integration Complexity
    Integrating Gravitee.io with existing systems and workflows can sometimes be complex and require additional middleware or custom development.
  • Resource Intensive
    Running the platform can be resource-intensive, potentially requiring significant infrastructure investment, especially at scale.
  • Updates and Upgrades
    Keeping the platform up-to-date can be challenging, especially if you have customized it heavily, as updates may require reworking some custom features.

Django REST framework videos

Django Vs Django Rest Framework 2020

More videos:

  • Review - Getting Started With Django REST Framework

Gravitee.io videos

Gravitee.io - Open Source API Management #2

More videos:

  • Demo - Gravitee.IO : Demo using docker images : PART 1

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Django REST framework and Gravitee.io)
API Tools
44 44%
56% 56
APIs
44 44%
56% 56
API Management
45 45%
55% 55
Web Service Automation
41 41%
59% 59

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Gravitee.io might be a bit more popular than Django REST framework. We know about 4 links to it since March 2021 and only 3 links to Django REST framework. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Django REST framework mentions (3)

  • API framework choice?
    Django Rest Framework seems like the most mature and works great with Django. But its strength, if I understand correctly, is for auto-creating all the necessary endpoints for manipulating models, which might be useful for data entry applications. I know that it's super flexible and probably my use case will be covered, but it seems that this it might get complicated. Source: almost 3 years ago
  • Django REST difference between permission classes and authentication classes
    There is one last thing I'm a little confused on with Django Rest Framework and that's the different between permission classes and authentication classes. Source: about 3 years ago
  • How to disable admin-style browsable interface of django-rest-framework?
    I am using django-rest-framework. It provides an awesome Django admin style browsable self-documenting API. But anyone can visit those pages and use the interface to add data (POST). How can I disable it? Source: over 3 years ago

Gravitee.io mentions (4)

  • Free and open source api gateway and management platform - suggestions
    I am considering api-umbrella, gravitee.io and apiman.io. Any other suggestion or input? Source: over 2 years ago
  • What is API Management and how it helps you get the most out of your APIs
    Gravitee is a fully open source, low code, highly customisable API management platform, with a highly performant API gateway. It is a Java based product using the Vert.x framework. It uses the concepts of plugins to manage policies, including security, data transformation, protocol mediation, monitoring, authentication, performance and so forth. There are over 100 plugins available, and should you happen to not... - Source: dev.to / almost 3 years ago
  • Easy to use API management service
    Also check out https://gravitee.io they have a low code API management platform. Source: over 3 years ago
  • I built an API management tool that would log every request, automatically generate documentation, provide API health analytics and test your API in real-time.
    Also have a look at gravitee.io too - disclaimer, I just started working there :). Source: over 3 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Django REST framework and Gravitee.io, you can also consider the following products

Postman - The Collaboration Platform for API Development

Amazon API Gateway - Create, publish, maintain, monitor, and secure APIs at any scale

Apigee - Intelligent and complete API platform

Tyk - Tyk is an open-source API gateway and API management platform.

Apiary - Collaborative design, instant API mock, generated documentation, integrated code samples, debugging and automated testing

WSO2 API Manager - WSO2 API Manager is a 100% open source enterprise-class solution that supports API publishing, lifecycle management, application development, access control, rate limiting and analytics in one cleanly integrated system.