Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Django VS Back4App

Compare Django VS Back4App and see what are their differences

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Django logo Django

The Web framework for perfectionists with deadlines

Back4App logo Back4App

Low code backend to build apps faster and scale easily.
  • Django Landing page
    Landing page //
    2018-09-30
  • Back4App Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-10-13

Back4App supports developers and companies to accelerate backend development, improve development productivity, reduce time to market, and scale applications without managing infrastructure.

Django features and specs

  • Rapid Development
    Django allows developers to swiftly create web applications with its 'batteries-included' philosophy, providing built-in features and tools out-of-the-box.
  • Scalability
    Django is designed to help developers scale applications. It supports a pluggable architecture, making it easy to grow an application organically.
  • Security
    Django includes various security features like protection against SQL injection, cross-site scripting, cross-site request forgery, and more, promoting the creation of secure web applications.
  • ORM (Object-Relational Mapping)
    Django’s powerful ORM simplifies database manipulation by allowing developers to interact with the database using Python code instead of SQL queries.
  • Comprehensive Documentation
    Django offers detailed and extensive documentation, aiding developers in effectively understanding and utilizing its features.
  • Community Support
    With a large and active community, Django benefits from numerous third-party packages, plugins, and extensive support forums.

Possible disadvantages of Django

  • Steep Learning Curve
    For beginners, Django’s complex features and components can be challenging to grasp, leading to a steep learning curve.
  • Monolithic Framework
    Django’s monolithic structure can limit flexibility, potentially resulting in over-engineered solutions for simpler, smaller projects.
  • Template Language Limitations
    Django’s template language, while useful, is less powerful compared to alternatives like Jinja2, limiting functionality in complex frontend requirements.
  • Heavyweight
    Django's comprehensive feature set can result in high overhead, making it less ideal for lightweight applications or microservices.
  • Opinionated Framework
    Django follows a ‘Django way’ of doing things, which can be restrictive for developers who prefer less constrained, highly customized coding practices.
  • Lack of Asynchronicity
    Django’s built-in functionalities do not fully support asynchronous programming, which can be a limitation for handling real-time applications and processes requiring concurrency.

Back4App features and specs

  • Scalability
    Back4App provides a scalable backend solution that can grow with your application's needs, effortlessly handling an increasing number of users and data.
  • Ease of Use
    The platform offers an intuitive interface and comprehensive documentation, making it easy for developers to set up and manage backend operations without deep programming knowledge.
  • Real-time Database
    Back4App supports real-time data synchronization, ensuring that data is consistently updated across all clients in real time.
  • Multiplatform Support
    It provides SDKs for multiple platforms including iOS, Android, and web, which allows developers to implement backend services across different devices seamlessly.
  • Cost-effective
    Back4App offers a range of pricing plans suitable for different project sizes, including a free tier that is beneficial for small projects and startups.
  • Open-source Core
    Built on top of the open-source Parse framework, it allows for greater customization and the benefit of community-driven development.

Possible disadvantages of Back4App

  • Learning Curve
    Despite its user-friendly interface, developers new to BaaS (Backend as a Service) platforms might face an initial learning curve.
  • Vendor Lock-in
    While Back4App offers flexibility, there is a dependency on the platform for backend management, which could pose challenges if migrating to another service in the future.
  • Limited Customization
    For highly specific or complex backend requirements, Back4App's predefined services might be limiting compared to building a custom backend from scratch.
  • Performance Overhead
    Using a BaaS can introduce performance overhead compared to a highly optimized custom backend solution tailored to the application's unique requirements.
  • Pricing at Scale
    Although the service is cost-effective for smaller projects, costs can escalate for larger applications with significant data and user management needs.

Django videos

Python Django

Back4App videos

Serverless GraphQL #01 - Introduction to GraphQL on Parse using Back4App

More videos:

  • Tutorial - How to create an App on back4app and manually add the data.

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Django and Back4App)
Web Frameworks
100 100%
0% 0
Backend As A Service
0 0%
100% 100
Developer Tools
90 90%
10% 10
Python Web Framework
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Django and Back4App

Django Reviews

The 20 Best Laravel Alternatives for Web Development
The first of these Laravel alternatives is Django. Django’s like that one-stop shop where you grab everything you need for a full-blown web project, all off one shelf. It’s the big-brained Python framework that anticipates your moves, keeping you steps ahead with a crazy stack of built-in features.
Top 9 best Frameworks for web development
The best frameworks for web development include React, Angular, Vue.js, Django, Spring, Laravel, Ruby on Rails, Flask and Express.js. Each of these frameworks has its own advantages and distinctive features, so it is important to choose the framework that best suits the needs of your project.
Source: www.kiwop.com
25 Python Frameworks to Master
You won’t go wrong by choosing Django for your next web project. It’s a powerful web framework that provides everything you need to build fast and reliable websites. And if you need any additional features — say, the ability to create a REST API to use with modern frontend frameworks like React or Angular — you can use extensions like Django REST framework.
Source: kinsta.com
3 Web Frameworks to Use With Python
myproject/ is the directory that contains the configuration and settings for the Django project__init__.py is an empty script that tells Python that this directory should be treated as a Python packageasgi.py is a script that defines ASGI application (Asynchronous Server Gateway Interface) for serving this project. ASGI is a specification for building asynchronous web...
Top 10 Phoenix Framework Alternatives
Phoenix borrows heavily from other frameworks built on the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture, like Rails and Django, providing a large part of everything you need to develop a web app out of the box, albeit in a less “batteries included” manner.

Back4App Reviews

Top 7 Firebase Alternatives for App Development in 2024
Documentation and Guides:Official Docs: Refer to the official documentation of your chosen platform. For instance, Back4App and Parse have extensive guides on migrating from Firebase.Community Forums: Engage with community forums and support channels. Platforms like Stack Overflow and GitHub Discussions can provide valuable insights and troubleshooting tips.
Source: signoz.io
What is AWS Amplify? - AWS Amplify Alternatives
Back4app is undoubtedly one of the most intriguing and high-quality free platforms for developing mobile and online apps.
Source: mindmajix.com
2023 Firebase Alternatives: Top 10 Open-Source & Free
Companies and development teams can definitely choose Back4App, a Firebase alternative, because it can process more than 3.5 billion requests on a monthly basis. Correspondingly, if you want Firebase-like services with massive community support, then Back4App can again satisfy you with a community of 190K+ developers from more than 100 countries worldwide.
Top 10 Netlify Alternatives
Auto-Scaling — Back4App is also a very scalable platform just like Netlify. To fulfill the scaling needs of developers, it is constructed with great scalability. Servers could be approached anytime on Back4App to extend and reduce resources.
Top 10 Node JS Hosting Companies
Easy Interface — It is quite convenient to use this Node.js hosting platform because of its simple interface. It provides a spreadsheet-like user interface when it comes to exporting or importing data. Dashboard of Back4App is also easy to handle for novices, and you can even send numerous notifications within some clicks.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Django seems to be a lot more popular than Back4App. While we know about 15 links to Django, we've tracked only 1 mention of Back4App. 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 mentions (15)

  • Emails Setup in Django Using AWS
    Let's dive into a quick implementation of this using AWS and Django. We will be using a couple of ideas from the AWS Official Blog. - Source: dev.to / 10 months ago
  • Top 10 Backend Frameworks in 2022
    Django is a high-level Python web framework. It is an Model-View-Template(MVT)-based, open-source web application development framework. It was released in 2005. It comes with batteries included. Some popular websites using Django are Instagram, Mozilla, Disqus, Bitbucket, Nextdoor and Clubhouse. - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
  • Boss wants me to make a student management system
    This seems like a job for Django. MDN offers a really good tutorial here. To be honest, it would be a massive undertaking so I’d recommend going for a prebuilt solution like PowerSchool and the like. Source: almost 3 years ago
  • What's django equivalent to ruby gems? Django beginner here
    The first party docs are second to none. Start out with the official tutorial on https://djangoproject.com . Source: almost 3 years ago
  • What's django equivalent to ruby gems? Django beginner here
    Im teaching myself to build a backend SaaS. Can you build it just as fast as with RoR and gems? Is it all on the documentation on djangoproject.com? Just learning how to use it atm, any good tutorials as well? Source: almost 3 years ago
View more

Back4App mentions (1)

  • Where to host a node/postgres/Redis app?
    I'm using back4app.com which is a cloud service for parse server, you can fire cloud code using node. Recently they introduce containers, but I didn't use it. Source: about 2 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Django and Back4App, you can also consider the following products

Laravel - A PHP Framework For Web Artisans

Firebase - Firebase is a cloud service designed to power real-time, collaborative applications for mobile and web.

Ruby on Rails - Ruby on Rails is an open source full-stack web application framework for the Ruby programming...

Parse - Build applications faster with object and file storage, user authentication, push notifications, dashboard and more out of the box.

ASP.NET - ASP.NET is a free web framework for building great Web sites and Web applications using HTML, CSS and JavaScript.

Heroku - Agile deployment platform for Ruby, Node.js, Clojure, Java, Python, and Scala. Setup takes only minutes and deploys are instant through git. Leave tedious server maintenance to Heroku and focus on your code.