The Limitations of Flask When Building a Blog

When I started building this blog, Flask felt like the perfect choice. It was lightweight, simple to understand, and great for learning the basics of web development. I could create routes, connect to a database, and render templates without much setup. But once I moved past the basics and tried to add more advanced features, I began to notice some limitations.

1. The Codebase Becomes Hard to Manage
Flask gives you freedom, but that also means you must decide everything for yourself. As your app grows, so does the complexity of maintaining multiple files, blueprints, and configurations. Without a standard project structure, your code can become messy very quickly.

2. No Built-in Authentication
Unlike Django, Flask does not come with built-in user authentication. You have to install Flask-Login and write all the routes and logic for registering, logging in, and managing users on your own. It is good for learning, but it takes time and effort to implement securely.

3. Lacks a Content Management System (CMS)
Everything from writing posts to managing content must be done through custom forms and routes. There is no visual dashboard unless you build it from scratch. That makes content management harder, especially if you're not the only one using the system.

4. Extensions Require Careful Setup
Flask has many great extensions, but integrating them takes time and testing. I used CKEditor for rich text editing, and it works, but I had to deal with security warnings about the version. Unlike some frameworks that ship with polished admin tools, Flask requires extra work for almost every feature.

5. Scalability Becomes a Challenge
For small apps, Flask is perfect. But when you need user dashboards, access control, file uploads, and an API, the amount of code you need to write grows quickly. You have to create structure yourself or your project becomes hard to maintain.

Why I Still Chose Flask
Flask gave me full control and helped me understand the core of web development. I now know how routes, databases, and templates all connect. For a blog MVP, it was a great learning experience and a chance to get hands-on with backend development.

Moving Forward
As I explore more features like Supabase for authentication and user management, I may consider switching to Django or a JavaScript framework that offers built-in support for large-scale features. But I will always appreciate how Flask helped me grow.