Python Web Framework Comparison Chart
| Framework | Type | Performance | Async Support | Features | Homepage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sanic | ASGI | High | Yes | Fast, lightweight, WebSocket support | Sanic |
| Starlette | ASGI | High | Yes | Lightweight, GraphQL, WebSockets, Background tasks | Starlette |
| Masonite | WSGI | Moderate | No | Full-featured, MVC pattern, ORM, Mail, Queues | Masonite |
| FastAPI | ASGI | Very High | Yes | Automatic OpenAPI, Type hints, Dependency injection | FastAPI |
| Responder | ASGI | Moderate | Yes | API-focused, WebSocket support, Jinja2 templating | Responder |
| Molten | WSGI | Moderate | No | Type-safe, Dependency injection, Lightweight | Molten |
| Japronto | Custom | Very High | No | Ultra-fast, Low-level, HTTP parsing optimizations | Japronto |
| Klein | WSGI/Twisted | Moderate | Yes (via Twisted) | Twisted-based, URL routing, Middleware | Klein |
| Quart | ASGI | Moderate | Yes | Flask-compatible, WebSockets, Async SQLAlchemy | Quart |
| BlackSheep | ASGI | High | Yes | Fast, WebSockets, Dependency injection | BlackSheep |
| Cyclone | WSGI/Twisted | Moderate | Yes (via Twisted) | Tornado-like API on Twisted, WebSockets | Cyclone |
| Django | WSGI/ASGI | Moderate | Yes (ASGI in newer versions) | Full-featured, ORM, Admin panel, Security | Django |
| Flask | WSGI | Moderate | No | Micro-framework, Simple, Jinja2, Extensions available | Flask |
Explaining WGSI vs ASGI
1. WSGI (Web Server Gateway Interface)
- WSGI
- standard interface between web servers and Python apps.
- synchronous by design.
- Used for:
- Traditional Python web frameworks
- Django, Flask, and Masonite.
- Traditional Python web frameworks
- Limitation:
- Not good for real-time operations
- like WebSockets or long-lived connections.
- Not good for real-time operations
2. ASGI (Asynchronous Server Gateway Interface)
- ASGI
- extends WSGI by adding support for async programming.
- handles WebSockets,
- long polling, etc.
- Used for:
- Modern frameworks like FastAPI, Starlette, and Quart.
- Benefit:
- Supports both sync and async applications.
3. WSGI/Twisted
- Twisted
- event-driven networking engine
- predates ASGI and provides asynchronous capabilities.
- Klein and Cyclone
- use Twisted for asynchronous capabilities while still being based on WSGI.
- not fully ASGI-native but can handle some async features like WebSockets (through Twisted.)
vs Old SKOOL CGI :)
The first web programs I wrote ran on a CGI Gateway , and were in C and they were painful to debug, as well as CGI was very bare metal compared to today
for fun - here is a comparsion with old CGI and WSGI
Differences Between CGI and WSGI
| Feature | CGI (Common Gateway Interface) | WSGI (Web Server Gateway Interface) |
|---|---|---|
| Execution Model | Starts a new process for every request | Runs as a long-lived process |
| Performance | Slow due to process creation overhead | Faster due to persistent processes |
| Concurrency | Limited by process startup time | Efficient request handling via threads/processes |
| Statefulness | Stateless (each request is isolated) | Can maintain state across requests |
| Scalability | Poor (High overhead) | Better scalability |
| Modern Use | Mostly outdated, rarely used | Still widely used in Python web development |
| Frameworks | Old CGI scripts (e.g., Perl, early Python web apps) | Django, Flask, Pyramid |