Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

swagger.io VS Django REST framework

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

swagger.io logo swagger.io

Swagger is an open source RESTapi Documentation Tool.

Django REST framework logo Django REST framework

Django REST framework is a toolkit for building web APIs.
  • swagger.io Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-05-11
  • Django REST framework Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-09-18

swagger.io features and specs

  • Comprehensive Documentation
    Swagger.io offers extensive documentation that is easy to understand, making it accessible for both beginners and advanced users to document and visualize APIs.
  • Interactive API Exploration
    Swagger UI allows developers to test endpoints directly from the browser, which significantly enhances the API development and debugging process.
  • Automated Code Generation
    Swagger can generate client and server code in multiple languages, reducing the time and effort needed to develop APIs.
  • Standardization
    Swagger adheres to the OpenAPI Specification, which is widely recognized and helps in maintaining a standard format across different APIs.
  • Wide Adoption
    Being one of the most popular tools for API documentation, Swagger has a large community and wide industry adoption, which facilitates better support and resources.
  • Third-Party Integrations
    Swagger supports numerous third-party integrations, enabling seamless integration into CI/CD pipelines and other development workflows.

Possible disadvantages of swagger.io

  • Learning Curve
    Despite its comprehensive documentation, there can be a steep learning curve for beginners who are not familiar with API documentation and the OpenAPI Specification.
  • Complexity with Large APIs
    For very large APIs with numerous endpoints, the Swagger UI can become unwieldy and less performant, making it difficult to manage and visualize.
  • Customization Limitations
    While Swagger offers a lot of out-of-the-box features, there are limitations in terms of customizing the UI and some other aspects without delving into code.
  • Dependency on Additional Tools
    To fully utilize Swagger's capabilities, especially in code generation and testing, developers often need to rely on additional tools and libraries, which can add to the complexity.
  • Performance Overhead
    Running the Swagger documentation server can introduce some performance overhead, which might be noticeable in environments with limited resources.

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.

swagger.io videos

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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 swagger.io and Django REST framework)
API Tools
53 53%
47% 47
Documentation
100 100%
0% 0
APIs
40 40%
60% 60
Documentation As A Service & Tools

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare swagger.io and Django REST framework

swagger.io Reviews

Introduction to Doxygen Alternatives In 2021
Swagger io is a software application In the Documentation as a Service & Tools department of a technology stack. It is an open-source tool. Swagger io is an independent set of Javascript, CSS, and HTML tools from a Swagger-compliant API that dynamically produces paperwork and sandbox.
Source: www.webku.net
Doxygen Alternatives
Swagger io is a software In the Documentation as a Service & Tools division of a technology stack. It is an open-source tool. Swagger io is an independent set of Javascript, CSS, and HTML tools from a Swagger-compliant API that dynamically creates documentation and sandbox.
Source: www.educba.com

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, swagger.io seems to be a lot more popular than Django REST framework. While we know about 96 links to swagger.io, 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.

swagger.io mentions (96)

  • 6 Game-Changing Postman Alternatives That Will Revolutionize Your API Development in 2025
    For teams that follow an OpenAPI-first approach, Swagger UI provides a straightforward way to visualize and interact with APIs. It's not a complete replacement for Postman's testing capabilities, but it excels at creating a bridge between documentation and testing. - Source: dev.to / 7 days ago
  • How API Schema Validation Boosts Effective Contract Testing
    OpenAPI (Swagger): A comprehensive approach to API design that includes built-in schema validation capabilities. - Source: dev.to / 17 days ago
  • 🚀 The Ultimate Guide to REST API Design: Best Practices & Patterns You Can’t Ignore
    Not documenting your API (use tools like Swagger). - Source: dev.to / 2 months ago
  • Squido: A Beginner’s Guide to the HTML Website Generator
    Swagger API doc: It enables swagger and generates your super fast static API documentation. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • API Lifecycle Management: Key Strategies for Success
    Comprehensive documentation is vital for the success of an API. Providing clear, developer-friendly documentation helps users understand how to use the API effectively. Tools like Swagger and Postman offer powerful documentation capabilities. Swagger allows developers to create interactive API documentation, while Postman provides detailed guides and examples. For instance, a survey by Postman revealed that 95% of... - Source: dev.to / 3 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 swagger.io and Django REST framework, you can also consider the following products

Doxygen - Generate documentation from source code

Postman - The Collaboration Platform for API Development

Swagger UI - Swagger UI is a dependency-free collection of HTML, Javascript, and CSS assets that dynamically generate beautiful documentation from a Swag

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

Apigee - Intelligent and complete API platform

DreamFactory - DreamFactory is an API management platform used to generate, secure, document, and extend APIs.