I think that's more because Flask is a micro web framework whereas Rails is a macro web framework. Sinatra, Express, and Compojure are micro frameworks in the same vein as Flask, and they encourage simplicity of mental model over batteries-included comprehensiveness of features that you find in Rails, Sails, and Django. In general I prefer some kind of a middle ground but I don't think there's middle-ground frameworks actually out there, I think you have to kind of build on top of Flask/Sinatra/Express by throwing some-batteries-included libraries on top of them to get there. But yeah I also find it easier to reason about than having a whole lot of convention-over-configuration rules memorized.
Tornado fits that middle ground sweet spot for me, in a lot of ways. Its lightweight to learn, but includes a surprisingly good number of really helpful stuff for web apps.
One of those things is its wonderfully simple oath2 helpers (the simplest I've seen, really).
You'll still have to bring your own model layer though. And its ecosystem isn't as rich as flask. That is a shame, because its a wonderful little framework.
It's bizarre there are few or no offerings in that elusive middle ground. Rails & Django seems a little heavy. Flask & Express a little lite.
I've never written an app that did not need user management, sessions, admin, db access, form processing, views/templating. Web2py is the best I've found (python).
Will the needs not be satisfied with flask ext, approved or not[0]? For example: user management, sessions, admin(flask-admin), db access(SQLAlchemy), form processing(wtforms), views/templating(jinja).
This is one of the reasons I liked Silex back when I was a PHP dev. It’s a simple micro framework, but built on the same underlying components as Symfony, so porting libraries from one to the other is simple.
Add a tiny bit of structure to take the guesswork out of how to lay out your app (or module — it’s very easy to load one Silex app into another), and it nicely meets that “in between” you’re talking about!
