Django
Python web frameworks
Web frameworks
- Features
- Ease of use
- Ease of management
- Quality of support
- Affordability
- Market presence
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What is Django
Django is an open-source Python web framework used to build database-backed web applications and APIs. It targets developers and teams that want a structured framework with built-in components for common web concerns such as routing, authentication, forms, and an administrative interface. Django follows an MVC-derived architecture (MTV) and includes an ORM for relational databases. It is commonly used for content-driven sites, internal business applications, and services that benefit from a batteries-included approach.
Batteries-included framework
Django ships with many core capabilities out of the box, including an ORM, migrations, authentication, sessions, templating, and an admin site. This reduces the amount of third-party assembly needed for typical CRUD and content-management style applications. Teams can standardize on a consistent project structure and conventions across services. This approach can shorten initial setup compared with more minimal frameworks in the same space.
Mature ORM and migrations
Django’s ORM provides a consistent abstraction for modeling data and querying relational databases, with built-in schema migration tooling. It supports common relational backends and includes features such as model validation, relationships, and query composition. For many business applications, this reduces direct SQL usage and centralizes data access patterns. The integrated migrations workflow supports controlled schema evolution across environments.
Strong security defaults
Django includes built-in protections and guidance for common web vulnerabilities such as CSRF, XSS, clickjacking, and SQL injection (when using the ORM correctly). It provides a security release process and documentation that helps teams apply patches and recommended configurations. Security-related middleware and settings are part of the standard stack rather than optional add-ons. This can reduce the effort required to establish baseline security controls.
Heavier than microframeworks
Django’s integrated design introduces more concepts and configuration than lightweight Python web frameworks. For small services or narrowly scoped APIs, the framework can feel over-structured and may add unnecessary components. Teams may spend time learning Django-specific patterns (apps, settings, middleware, ORM conventions). This can slow adoption for projects that only need routing and request handling.
Opinionated architecture constraints
Django encourages specific patterns around models, views, templates, and project layout. While this improves consistency, it can be limiting for teams that prefer alternative architectures or want to swap core components (e.g., ORM or templating) more freely. Integrating non-relational data stores or highly customized data access layers often requires additional work. Some advanced use cases rely on third-party packages that vary in maturity.
Async and real-time complexity
Django supports ASGI, but fully asynchronous application design and real-time features typically require additional components and careful configuration. Long-lived connections (e.g., WebSockets) and background processing are not first-class in the core framework in the same way as standard request/response flows. Teams may need extra infrastructure and libraries for queues, scheduling, and event-driven workloads. This increases operational and architectural complexity for real-time systems.
Plan & Pricing
Django is free, open-source software (BSD license). No paid plans or tiers are offered on the official site; the project is available for download and use at no cost.
Seller details
Django Software Foundation
Lawrence, Kansas, United States
2008
Non-profit
https://www.djangoproject.com/
https://x.com/djangoproject
https://www.linkedin.com/company/django-software-foundation/
