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Google Cloud Endpoints VS Django REST framework

Compare Google Cloud Endpoints VS Django REST framework and see what are their differences

Google Cloud Endpoints logo Google Cloud Endpoints

Google Cloud Endpoints provides the tools to develop, deploy, protect and monitor your APIs.

Django REST framework logo Django REST framework

Django REST framework is a toolkit for building web APIs.
  • Google Cloud Endpoints Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-19
  • Django REST framework Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-09-18

Google Cloud Endpoints features and specs

  • Scalability
    Google Cloud Endpoints can handle varying loads due to Google's infrastructure, making it easier to scale applications without worrying about server management.
  • Security
    It provides robust security features like authentication, API key validation, and integration with Google Cloud IAM, helping to secure your APIs effectively.
  • Monitoring and Logging
    Offers integrated support for Google Cloud's monitoring and logging services, which makes it easier to track API performance and diagnose issues.
  • Developer Productivity
    Simplifies API management tasks with features like API versioning, documentation, and support for OpenAPI specifications, speeding up development cycles.
  • Easy Integration
    Seamlessly integrates with other Google Cloud services, streamlining the development process for applications that use multiple cloud tools.

Possible disadvantages of Google Cloud Endpoints

  • Learning Curve
    Developers unfamiliar with Google Cloud services may face a steep learning curve due to the comprehensive nature of the platform.
  • Cost
    While it offers many features, the costs associated with using Google Cloud Endpoints can add up, especially for large-scale applications.
  • Platform Lock-In
    Using Google Cloud Endpoints ties your infrastructure to Google Cloud, which may limit flexibility if you plan to use multi-cloud or hybrid cloud strategies.
  • Complexity in Setup
    Initial setup and configuration can be complex, particularly for those who need a custom configuration or are integrating with existing systems.
  • Limited Customization
    While it covers many use cases, there might be limitations in customizability compared to building a completely bespoke API solution.

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.

Google Cloud Endpoints videos

Google Cloud Endpoints and Apigee Edge - Google Cloud Platform Fundamentals: Core Infrastructure

More videos:

  • Review - OPEN DX 2020 Special LT:Understand Google Cloud Endpoints in 5 minutes

Django REST framework videos

Django Vs Django Rest Framework 2020

More videos:

  • Review - Getting Started With Django REST Framework

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Google Cloud Endpoints and Django REST framework)
API Tools
36 36%
64% 64
APIs
39 39%
61% 61
API Management
38 38%
62% 62
Web Service Automation
48 48%
52% 52

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Google Cloud Endpoints 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.

Google Cloud Endpoints mentions (4)

  • Serverless Security Best Practices
    Moreover, integrating rate limiting can thwart DDoS attacks, and schema validation can prevent malformed requests, ensuring only legitimate and well-formed traffic reaches your serverless functions. Tools like Amazon API Gateway, Azure API Management, and Google Cloud Endpoints offer these capabilities, allowing you to set up custom authorization workflows and request validation rules that align with your security... - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • API Gateway VS API Endpoints VS Apigee
    AFAIK, API Gateway is just managed Cloud Endpoints, which are just ESPv2 containers. Cloud Endpoints are still a thing but I would agree that they are a bit dead, as they don't support OpenAPI v3, which was released in 2016. See this support ticket from 2018: https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/78271318?pli=1. Source: over 2 years ago
  • What is Google Cloud Endpoints? How does it compare to just hosting a backend?
    For reference: https://cloud.google.com/endpoints. Source: almost 4 years ago
  • How to provide access to my Cloud Run service to myself.
    Use Cloud Endpoints in front of your service, which gives more options for authentication, including JWT. Here's an intro (the English is poor, but advice is sound.). Source: about 4 years ago

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

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Google Cloud Endpoints and Django REST framework, 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

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

Apigee - Intelligent and complete API platform

Gravitee.io - Gravitee.io is a flexible, lightweight and an open source API management solution.

CloudRail - API Integration Solution for Developers: 10x Faster • Less Maintenance • No Vendor-Lock-In. Use the same clean interface across multiple providers.