Django — The Web Framework for Perfectionists with Deadlines

What Django Does

• ORM — define models in Python, auto-generate SQL
• Admin — auto-generated CRUD admin panel
• Auth — users, groups, permissions, sessions, CSRF
• Migrations — schema migrations from model changes
• URL routing — regex and path-based URL dispatcher
• Templates — Django template language (DTL) or Jinja2
• Forms — validation, rendering, model forms
• Middleware — request/response processing pipeline
• Caching — Redis, Memcached, file, DB backends
• Security — XSS, CSRF, SQL injection, clickjacking protections
• Django REST Framework — add-on for building APIs

Architecture

MVT (Model-View-Template): Model is the ORM layer, View handles logic and returns responses, Template renders HTML. WSGI/ASGI compatible — deploy behind Gunicorn, uvicorn, or Daphne. Settings-based configuration via settings.py.

Self-Hosting

# Production
pip install gunicorn
gunicorn mysite.wsgi:application --bind 0.0.0.0:8000 --workers 4

# Docker
FROM python:3.12-slim
WORKDIR /app
COPY requirements.txt .
RUN pip install -r requirements.txt
COPY . .
CMD ["gunicorn", "mysite.wsgi", "--bind", "0.0.0.0:8000"]

Key Features

• Batteries-included (ORM, admin, auth, migrations)
• Auto-generated admin panel
• Django REST Framework for APIs
• ASGI support (async views)
• Comprehensive security defaults
• Mature ecosystem (10,000+ packages)
• Excellent documentation
• Huge community

Comparison

FAQ

Q: Django vs FastAPI? A: Django is a full-stack framework (ORM, admin, auth all included), suitable for traditional web apps + APIs; FastAPI focuses on high-performance async APIs, suitable for pure API backends and microservices.

Q: Does Django support async? A: Yes. Django 4.1+ supports async views, middleware, and (partial) ORM. Full async ORM is still in progress.

Q: Can admin be used in production? A: Yes for internal management. For user-facing dashboards, customize Django admin or use themes like Django Unfold or Grappelli.

Sources

• Docs: https://docs.djangoproject.com
• GitHub: https://github.com/django/django
• License: BSD 3-Clause