Flask vs Tornado

Overview

Flask

Stacks19.3K

Followers16.2K

Votes60

Tornado

Stacks530

Followers409

Votes167

GitHub Stars22.3K

Forks5.5K

Flask vs Tornado: What are the differences?

Introduction

Here are the key differences between Flask and Tornado:

Execution Model: Flask is built on a traditional threaded model where a new thread is created for each request, allowing multiple requests to be processed simultaneously. On the other hand, Tornado is built on a non-blocking asynchronous model with an event loop, allowing it to handle many simultaneous connections efficiently.
Web Server: Flask does not include a built-in web server and requires a separate web server, like Gunicorn or Apache, to handle HTTP requests. Tornado, on the other hand, comes with a built-in web server and can handle HTTP requests without the need for an additional server.
Scalability: Flask is better suited for smaller applications and websites with low to medium traffic, as it relies on multiple threads for handling requests. Tornado, with its asynchronous model, is better suited for high-performance applications that require handling a large number of concurrent connections and real-time functionalities.
Framework: Flask is a micro-framework that provides just the essential tools for building web applications, allowing developers to have more control and flexibility. Tornado, on the other hand, is a full-featured web framework that provides a wide range of tools and functionalities, including support for websockets, authentication, and templating.
Compatibility: Flask is written in Python and can be used with any Python web server or deployment option. Tornado, on the other hand, is also written in Python but is specifically designed to take advantage of non-blocking I/O and can be used as a standalone web server or integrated with other Python frameworks.
Learning Curve: Flask has a simpler and more straightforward learning curve, making it easier for beginners to get started with web development. Tornado, on the other hand, has a steeper learning curve due to its more advanced and asynchronous nature, making it more suitable for experienced developers or those who require high-performance applications.

In Summary, Flask is a micro-framework focused on simplicity and flexibility, while Tornado is a full-featured asynchronous web framework with high-performance capabilities.

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CLI (Node.js)

Manual

Advice on Flask, Tornado

Kristan Eres

Senior Solutions Analyst

Jul 30, 2020

Needs adviceon

Django

Python

Flask

My journey to developing REST APIs started with Flask Restful, and I've found it to be enough for the needs of my project back then. Now that I've started investing more time on personal projects, I've yet to decide if I should move to use Django for writing REST APIs. I often see job posts looking for Python+Django developers, but it's usually for full-stack developers. I'm primarily interested in Data Engineering, so most of my web projects are back end.

Should I continue with what I know (Flask) or move on to Django?

392k views392k

Comments

Saurav

Application Devloper at Bny Mellon

Mar 27, 2020

Needs advice

I have just started learning Python 3 weeks ago. I want to create a REST API using python. The API will be used to save form data in an Oracle database. The front end is using AngularJS 8 with Angular Material. In python, there are so many frameworks to develop REST APIs.

I am looking for some suggestions which REST framework to choose?

Here are some features I am looking for:

Easy integration and unit testing, like in Angular. We just want to run a command.
Code packaging, like in java maven project we can build and package. I am looking for something which I can push in as an artifact and deploy whole code as a package.
Support for swagger/ OpenAPI
Support for JSON Web Token
Support for test case coverage report

Framework can have features included or can be available by extension. Also, you can suggest a framework other than the ones I have mentioned.

337k views337k

Comments

Girish

Software Engineer at FireVisor Systems

Apr 17, 2020

Needs adviceon

Python

Nameko

RabbitMQ

Which is the best Python framework for microservices?

We are using Nameko for building microservices in Python. The things we really like are dependency injection and the ease with which one can expose endpoints via RPC over RabbitMQ. We are planning to try a tool that helps us write polyglot microservices and nameko is not super compatible with it. Also, we are a bit worried about the not so good community support from nameko and looking for a python alternate to write microservices.

310k views310k

Comments

Detailed Comparison

Flask	Tornado
Flask is intended for getting started very quickly and was developed with best intentions in mind.	By using non-blocking network I/O, Tornado can scale to tens of thousands of open connections, making it ideal for long polling, WebSockets, and other applications that require a long-lived connection to each user.
Statistics
GitHub Stars -	GitHub Stars 22.3K
GitHub Forks -	GitHub Forks 5.5K
Stacks 19.3K	Stacks 530
Followers 16.2K	Followers 409
Votes 60	Votes 167
Pros & Cons
Pros 10 For it flexibility 9 Flexibilty and easy to use 7 User friendly 6 Secured 5 Unopinionated Cons 10 Not JS 7 Context 5 Not fast 1 Don't has many module as in spring	Pros 37 Open source 31 So fast 27 Great for microservices architecture 20 Websockets 17 Simple Cons 2 Event loop is complicated
Integrations
No integrations available	Python

What are some alternatives to Flask, Tornado?

Node.js

Node.js uses an event-driven, non-blocking I/O model that makes it lightweight and efficient, perfect for data-intensive real-time applications that run across distributed devices.

Rails

Rails is a web-application framework that includes everything needed to create database-backed web applications according to the Model-View-Controller (MVC) pattern.

Django

Django is a high-level Python Web framework that encourages rapid development and clean, pragmatic design.

Laravel

It is a web application framework with expressive, elegant syntax. It attempts to take the pain out of development by easing common tasks used in the majority of web projects, such as authentication, routing, sessions, and caching.

.NET

.NET is a general purpose development platform. With .NET, you can use multiple languages, editors, and libraries to build native applications for web, mobile, desktop, gaming, and IoT for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and more.

ASP.NET Core

A free and open-source web framework, and higher performance than ASP.NET, developed by Microsoft and the community. It is a modular framework that runs on both the full .NET Framework, on Windows, and the cross-platform .NET Core.

ExpressJS

Express is a minimal and flexible node.js web application framework, providing a robust set of features for building single and multi-page, and hybrid web applications.

Symfony

It is written with speed and flexibility in mind. It allows developers to build better and easy to maintain websites with PHP..

Spring

A key element of Spring is infrastructural support at the application level: Spring focuses on the "plumbing" of enterprise applications so that teams can focus on application-level business logic, without unnecessary ties to specific deployment environments.

Spring Boot

Spring Boot makes it easy to create stand-alone, production-grade Spring based Applications that you can "just run". We take an opinionated view of the Spring platform and third-party libraries so you can get started with minimum fuss. Most Spring Boot applications need very little Spring configuration.

Related Comparisons

Flask vs Tornado: What are the differences?

Introduction

Here are the key differences between Flask and Tornado:

Execution Model: Flask is built on a traditional threaded model where a new thread is created for each request, allowing multiple requests to be processed simultaneously. On the other hand, Tornado is built on a non-blocking asynchronous model with an event loop, allowing it to handle many simultaneous connections efficiently.
Web Server: Flask does not include a built-in web server and requires a separate web server, like Gunicorn or Apache, to handle HTTP requests. Tornado, on the other hand, comes with a built-in web server and can handle HTTP requests without the need for an additional server.
Scalability: Flask is better suited for smaller applications and websites with low to medium traffic, as it relies on multiple threads for handling requests. Tornado, with its asynchronous model, is better suited for high-performance applications that require handling a large number of concurrent connections and real-time functionalities.
Framework: Flask is a micro-framework that provides just the essential tools for building web applications, allowing developers to have more control and flexibility. Tornado, on the other hand, is a full-featured web framework that provides a wide range of tools and functionalities, including support for websockets, authentication, and templating.
Compatibility: Flask is written in Python and can be used with any Python web server or deployment option. Tornado, on the other hand, is also written in Python but is specifically designed to take advantage of non-blocking I/O and can be used as a standalone web server or integrated with other Python frameworks.
Learning Curve: Flask has a simpler and more straightforward learning curve, making it easier for beginners to get started with web development. Tornado, on the other hand, has a steeper learning curve due to its more advanced and asynchronous nature, making it more suitable for experienced developers or those who require high-performance applications.

In Summary, Flask is a micro-framework focused on simplicity and flexibility, while Tornado is a full-featured asynchronous web framework with high-performance capabilities.

Flask vs Tornado

Overview