Why not Django, Rails etc?
Hi
Sorry if this is a dumb question. I’m new to all this. Why not Django, Rails or Laravel?
What value is Wasp adding?
5 Replies
Hi @Shaheed Fazal. I'm kapa.ai, your friendly support bot. I will try to answer your question by searching through the knowledge base. :wave:
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That's a great question! Wasp is designed to address some of the pain points and limitations that developers face with traditional frameworks like Django, Rails, or Laravel, especially when building modern full-stack web applications.
Here’s what sets Wasp apart:
- Declarative DSL for Full-Stack Apps: Wasp uses its own simple, declarative language (DSL) to describe your app at a high level. This allows you to focus on what your app should do, rather than how to wire everything together. The DSL is closer to configuration languages like JSON or SQL, making it intuitive and concise for describing app structure and requirements, rather than implementation details Wasp Language.
- Integration with Modern JS Stack: Wasp is built to work seamlessly with React (frontend), Node.js (backend), and Prisma (database). This means you get the benefits of the modern JavaScript ecosystem, which is currently the most popular stack for web development Wasp Introduction.
- Automatic Handling of Boilerplate: Wasp takes care of a lot of the repetitive and complex boilerplate code for you—like authentication, CRUD operations, deployment, and best practices—so you can focus on your app’s unique features Wasp Introduction.
- Opinionated, Yet Flexible: While Django, Rails, and Laravel are also opinionated frameworks, Wasp aims to be even more high-level and declarative, acting as the “glue” that connects best-in-class tools (like React and Prisma) rather than replacing them. This lets you use the best tools for each part of your stack, while Wasp handles the integration Wasp Vision.
- Future Flexibility: The vision for Wasp is to eventually support multiple frontend and backend technologies (not just React/Node), making it more flexible and future-proof than frameworks tied to a single language or stack Wasp Vision.
In summary, Wasp adds value by making it much easier and faster to build modern, full-stack web apps with less code and less need for deep stack-specific knowledge, while still allowing you to use the most popular and powerful tools available today.
If you’re already comfortable with Django, Rails, or Laravel, Wasp might feel different because it’s more declarative and focused on the modern JS ecosystem. But if you want to quickly build production-ready web apps with React and Node.js, Wasp is designed to make that process much simpler and more enjoyable.
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Sorry @Shaheed Fazal, I seem to be having a bit of trouble. Don't worry though, I've pinged my support and they will try to fix me up! :technologist:
Perhaps try again in 15mins?
Django is a backend framework for Python. Laravel is a backend framework for PHP. Rails is a full-stack framework for Ruby. Wasp is a full-stack framework for JS/TS.
Hey @Shaheed Fazal, @genyus described it nicely.
There's not really a full-stack framework for the JS/TS ecosystem, and that's the hole we want to fill.
Thanks @Filip. that makes sense. However does this mean that wasp is not yet mature enough to use for large scale projects? I’m hoping to scale to around 1000 users
Wasp is still in beta so there are definitely placss where we can and should mature.
That said, it's mostly in terms of API stability, DX and features for programmers.
Scale should not be an issue, especially for 1000 users (which is really not a lot, Wasp apps with much more than that already exist)