Laravel vs Django: Complete Comparison Guide
Compare Laravel and Django on language, ORM, templating, ecosystem, and scalability. Discover which full-stack framework is the best fit for your web application.
Laravel
The most popular PHP web framework with elegant syntax and a rich set of tools. Laravel provides Eloquent ORM, Blade templates, built-in authentication, and an extensive package ecosystem via Composer. The framework is known for its developer experience and comprehensive documentation.
Django
A batteries-included Python web framework enabling rapid, secure web development. Django provides a powerful ORM, admin interface, form handling, and built-in protection against common vulnerabilities. It is used by major platforms like Instagram and Spotify.
Comparison table
| Feature | Laravel | Django |
|---|---|---|
| Programming language | PHP — available on virtually every web server | Python — popular in data science, AI, and web development |
| Template engine | Blade — lightweight, inheritance and components | Django Templates — powerful but more limited than Blade |
| ORM | Eloquent — Active Record pattern, expressive syntax | Django ORM — QuerySet API, automatic migrations |
| Admin panel | Via Laravel Nova (paid) or Filament (free) | Full admin panel built-in — free and powerful |
| Package ecosystem | Composer + Laravel-specific packages (Spatie, Livewire) | PyPI + Django packages (DRF, Celery, django-allauth) |
| Hosting options | Cheap shared hosting available — PHP widely supported | VPS or PaaS required — Python hosting slightly more complex |
Verdict
Laravel and Django are both mature, full-stack frameworks capable of handling most web applications. Laravel excels in developer experience with its elegant syntax, extensive tooling, and thriving ecosystem. Django offers more out of the box — especially the built-in admin panel saves weeks of development time. The choice often depends on your team's language preference: PHP teams choose Laravel, Python teams choose Django. Both frameworks provide excellent security, scalability, and an active community.
Our recommendation
At MG Software, we do not work daily with Laravel or Django — our stack centers around Node.js, TypeScript, and Next.js. When clients specifically need a PHP or Python solution, we advise based on the project. We recommend Laravel for web applications with complex UI interactions thanks to Livewire. We suggest Django when data science integration or a powerful admin panel is needed. For new projects without language preference, we always propose our TypeScript stack as a modern alternative.
Frequently asked questions
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