What are the advantages of using Django insead of app-engine's default web framework?

Question

I'm building my first python app on app-engine and wondering if I should use Django or not.

What are the strong points of each? If you have references that support your answer, please post them. Maybe we can make a wiki out of this question.

Answer 1

Aral Balkan wrote a really nice piece addressing this very question. Its a year or so old, so take it with a grain of salt - I think that a lot more emphasis should be put on the awesomeness of django's Object-Relational-Model. Basically, IMHO, it all comes down to whether or not you have a preference for using DJango's object model (which I happen to).

Answer 2

If it's not a small project, I try to use Django. You can use the App Engine Patch (http://code.google.com/p/app-engine-patch/). However, the ORM cannot use Django's meaning your models.py will still be using GAE's Datastore.

One of the advantages of using Django on GAE is session management. GAE does not have a built-in session.

You won't be able to using most Django 3rd-party apps though especially those with model changes. I had to build my own tagging app for GAE.