You can experience all of this while staying in a single language ecosystem. Just recently, I had to build something in Javascript and got to know Express is no longer recommended. Fastify, Remix are the latest hotness. :)
The difference between Django and Express.js is that one is a fully-fledged web application framework, while the other is a micro framework that just gives you a simple request -> response abstraction over `http.createServer`.
I find Flask is more comparable to Express.js in that regard. Need auth? You need to:
1. Install a lib for persistence
2. Set up cookie sessions, or install another lib for JWT
3. Set up auth middleware
4. Prepare login/register/forgot pass views and flows
which are almost the same steps you need to take in Express.js.
I guess my surprise came from asking around about what framework to use and being told it was Express. I guess it might be 'Sails', but it's been a week or two so that is probably obsolete now.