How it works
Django gives a project a standard layout and most of what a web app needs: an ORM with migrations, a generated admin site for managing data, user accounts and permissions, forms, templates, caching, and built-in defences against CSRF, XSS and SQL injection. The admin site alone saves weeks on internal tools and back-office screens.
It first appeared in 2005 at a newspaper and is looked after by the non-profit Django Software Foundation. For JSON APIs most projects add Django REST Framework or Django Ninja. Django runs on WSGI or ASGI servers and supports async views, although much of its ecosystem is still synchronous. Its conventions make projects predictable, at the cost of more weight than a micro-framework.
Django pros and cons
Pros
- Admin panel, accounts, ORM and migrations included
- Strong security defaults and long-term support releases
- Mature, well documented and very stable
- Clear conventions make projects easy to hand over
Cons
- Heavier and more opinionated than FastAPI or Flask
- JSON APIs need an extra package such as Django REST Framework
- Async support is still catching up with the rest of the framework
When to use Django
Pick it when
- Content sites, marketplaces and dashboards with lots of data to manage
- Projects that need an admin panel or back office quickly
- Teams that value conventions and long-term stability
Skip it when
- A small API-only service, where FastAPI or Flask is lighter
Django pricing
Django vs the alternatives
Related terms
More in Backend and APIs
Frameworks