I use SQL-Alchemy to help provide portability between SQLite and MySQL. That way I can run my apps in standalone mode or as part of a "real" deployment (nginx,

I use SQL-Alchemy to help provide portability between SQLite and MySQL. That way I can run my apps in standalone mode or as part of a "real" deployment (nginx, uwsgi, python-app, mysql). SQl-Alchemy definitely helps take some of the pain out of that arrangement (although certainly not all of it). For some tasks I use the ORM layer of SA and for other tasks I just use their SQL Expression Language. I also appreciate all the work the SA devs have done to help mitigate SQL injection. I recommend using the SQL Expression Language without the ORM to help mitigate SQL injections (following from defense in depth). The oursql connector also helps with that as it supports real parameterized queries where as some of the other connectors do not.