A js front end itself (versus templates) is probably a wash for most use cases, but the benefits of having a REST back end that imposes a clear separation between the front end and the back end is enormous. IMHO the benefits are big enough to make it worth re-writing the front end over again every 5 years until the front end folks eventually get their act together. Just try to make sure you're doing as little logic as possible in the front end, because as I said every line of code you write is going to need to be rewritten, whereas with Django any code you write today will still be good 10 years from now with only minor maintenance needed.