you can just run part of django. So the negatives of it being “massive” is really just the size of the library that will just be sitting there on disk. which is really not a big deal in most situations.

As far as going with what you know vs choosing the best tool for the job, that can be a bit of a balancing act. I generally believe that you should go with what the team knows if it is good enough, but you need to be willing to change your mind when it is no longer good enough.