Proper is the fastest full-stack Python web framework (see https://github.com/jpsca/proper-bench).
It's also opinionated, generator-heavy, focused on REST and server-rendered HTML, built around a fixed project structure, and packed with batteries for auth, file uploads, etc.
The one thing Proper does very differently: It only runs on "free-threaded" Python versions* (like "3.14t") and takes advantage of it. The code you write is synchronous, so no async/await confetti scattered everywhere, and you can use real threads and all your CPU cores for paralellism.
Full human-shaped docs at properproject.org/docs.
Code: MIT. Documentation: CC BY-SA 4.0.
Proper is the Python web framework he built for himself after years in the trade. It was not an act of rebellion so much as of recognition: once he understood that hard conventions do not lock you in — they free you to focus on what matters—the shape of the tool became clear.
(It also works for the back cover of my future biography by Walter Isaacson. Get to work Walter).