I've used both Django and Tornado and I vastly prefer Tornado. Some personal experiences: With Django, I specifically don't like ORM and it's template language

I've used both Django and Tornado and I vastly prefer Tornado. Some personal experiences: With Django, I specifically don't like ORM and it's template language. Also, I thought the admin interface would reduce the need to write input UIs, but at the end of the day, it's not that suitable for end-user when you have several end-user roles with different access right patterns. If you (read: I) are going to replace Django's template language and leave out ORM and admin interface out of Django, Django doesn't really shine anymore and simpler frameworks like Tornado provide cleaner base for your development.