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HTTPie VS Django REST framework

Compare HTTPie VS Django REST framework and see what are their differences

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HTTPie logo HTTPie

CLI HTTP that will make you smile. JSON support, syntax highlighting, wget-like downloads, extensions, and more.

Django REST framework logo Django REST framework

Django REST framework is a toolkit for building web APIs.
  • HTTPie Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-28
  • Django REST framework Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-09-18

HTTPie features and specs

  • User-Friendly Syntax
    HTTPie offers a simplified and intuitive syntax for making HTTP requests compared to tools like curl. This makes it easier to use, especially for beginners.
  • JSON Support
    HTTPie automatically handles JSON data, making it simple to send and receive JSON payloads. It formats JSON responses in a readable way.
  • Cross-Platform
    HTTPie can be used on multiple operating systems including Windows, macOS, and Linux, ensuring broad compatibility.
  • Plugin Support
    HTTPie supports extensions and plugins that can extend its functionality, offering users the ability to customize their experience.
  • Automatic Headers
    Certain headers are automatically generated by HTTPie, reducing the need to manually specify common headers like Content-Type.
  • Color-coded Output
    The tool offers color-coded and formatted output, making it easier to read and debug HTTP responses.

Possible disadvantages of HTTPie

  • Performance
    HTTPie's performance may be slower compared to more stripped-down tools like curl due to its additional features and user-friendly design.
  • Dependency on Python
    HTTPie is a Python-based tool, requiring users to have Python installed. This may add complexity for users who do not already have a Python environment set up.
  • Learning Curve for Advanced Features
    While basic usage is straightforward, getting the most out of HTTPie's advanced features may require additional learning.
  • Not Pre-Installed
    Unlike curl, HTTPie is not pre-installed on most Unix-based systems, requiring an extra step for installation.
  • Limited Raw Socket Options
    HTTPie lacks some low-level networking capabilities and raw socket options available in other tools, limiting its functionality for some advanced use cases.

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.

HTTPie videos

Testing REST APIs con HTTPie y Postman

More videos:

  • Review - Testing REST APIs con HTTPie y Postman - Parte 3

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 HTTPie and Django REST framework)
API Tools
43 43%
57% 57
CLI
100 100%
0% 0
APIs
0 0%
100% 100
Developer Tools
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 HTTPie and Django REST framework

HTTPie Reviews

Top 20 Open Source & Cloud Free Postman Alternatives (2024 Updated)
With the growing demand for effective API testing tools, numerous alternatives to Postman have emerged, each offering unique features tailored to different needs. From comprehensive platforms like APIDog to lightweight solutions like HTTPie and Milkman, there is an option for every developer.
Source: medium.com
Postman Alternatives for API Testing and Monitoring
HTTPie is a command-line HTTP client, widely appreciated for its user-friendly and human-readable syntax. It's designed as a modern alternative to curl and wget, offering a more intuitive way to interact with HTTP servers, web services, and RESTful APIs.
Top 10 HTTP Client and Web Debugging Proxy Tools (2023)
Aside from that, since HTTPie has a simple syntax, it can be used for testing, sending requests, and most specifically, debugging. Its combability goes with the three major OS, Windows, macOS, and Linux, and majorly for web and desktop. When it comes to API testing, many developers hope for it because it is open-source with enhanced UI, best for anything HTTP.
12 HTTP Client and Web Debugging Proxy Tools
The ultimate aim of HTTPie is to make CLI interaction with web services user interface friendly. This tool provides an HTTP command for sending requests, all with the use of a natural syntax.
Source: geekflare.com
Best Postman Alternatives: Fastest API Testing Tools
You can easily use its interactive features for easy testing, debugging, and various other interactions with HTTP servers. If we talk about the price, HTTPie is completely free to use.

Django REST framework Reviews

We have no reviews of Django REST framework yet.
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, HTTPie seems to be a lot more popular than Django REST framework. While we know about 52 links to HTTPie, we've tracked only 3 mentions of 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.

HTTPie mentions (52)

  • 6 Game-Changing Postman Alternatives That Will Revolutionize Your API Development in 2025
    For developers who prefer terminal-based workflows, HTTPie offers a more user-friendly alternative to curl while maintaining the efficiency of command-line tools. Its intuitive syntax and colorized output make API testing from the terminal more accessible and productive. - Source: dev.to / about 4 hours ago
  • How to connect and query multiple databases with a single REST API
    Let's see how querying the table employee from our DB2 looks like after we inserted the record previously. Instead of curl, let's use httpie:. - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
  • Ask HN: What's the Best Postman Alternative?
    I've been using HTTPie[1] for over a year and it's been great. Super light and does the job really well. [1]: https://httpie.io/. - Source: Hacker News / 8 months ago
  • cURL vs Postman
    HTTPie: This command-line tool is designed to be user-friendly compared to cURL. It provides a more readable output format and supports JSON natively, making it easier for developers to work with APIs directly from the terminal. - Source: dev.to / 8 months ago
  • Automating DNS with Confidence: Terraform + DNScontrol
    Use curl or https://httpie.io/ to validate the DNS entries. - Source: dev.to / 8 months ago
View more

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 HTTPie and Django REST framework, you can also consider the following products

Insomnia REST - Design, debug, test, and mock APIs locally, on Git, or cloud. Build better APIs collaboratively for the most popular protocols with a dev‑friendly UI, built-in automation, and an extensible plugin ecosystem.

Postman - The Collaboration Platform for API Development

cURL - cURL is a computer software project providing a library and command-line tool for transferring data...

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

Apigee - Intelligent and complete API platform

Hoppscotch - Open source API development ecosystem