Choosing a web hosting service for applications based on Django framework

Abstract

Problem. The article deals with the issues of choosing a hosting provider for Django-based web applications. It is noted that the use of Python for web development is due to its simplicity, flexibility, and scalability, the possibility of rapid prototyping of web applications, the availability of standard libraries to solve a wide range of problems, and a large community of developers. It is indicated that almost all server-side applications are developed using one or another web framework. Among server-side web frameworks based on Python programming language, Django is often considered one of the best. This framework is used on many wellknown websites. Goal. The goal is to choose a web hosting service to deploy a Django-based web application. Methodology. The article describes the performance metrics of applications deployed on any web hosting service. We consider the steps to choose a web hosting service using KnAS4Web application as an example. Results. A comparative analysis of free plans for Heroku and PythonAnywhere web hosting services is performed. From the given data it is concluded that the reasonable choice is to use PythonAnywhere service for hosting web application KnAS4Web. To ensure minimal latency, it makes sense to deploy it on the servers located in the European region, namely, at the data center in Frankfurt, Germany. Originality. For productionready web applications such as KnAS4Web, it is suggested to consider only web hosting services with free tariff plans available. To compare the services, we analyze their disk space available, annual uptime, the maximum amount of traffic per month, data centers location, and ability to provide HTTPS connection as well as operative help. Practical value. The approach allows to significantly limit the range of potential web hosting services and helps to choose the service for deploying a web application.