It has been almost 4 years since I launched my SaaS business in Django, while fancier Python frameworks have been released since then, Django still remains king of the Python web framework. Thanks to an ever-growing ecosystem of packages and their outstanding stability.
Only the most useful and stable packages have made the cut, links to the official package source is included in the title itself.
Database Management
django-extensions
A great tool to interact with the database. I mainly use it for the shell_plus which imports all models automatically and has nice perks on top of the regular shell provided by Django. There’s much more utilities to discover yourself.
django-model-utils
I use it primarily for the mixins and model extensions. One example is the TimeStampedModel which automatically adds modified and created fields to your model and it just works. Again, there’s a lot more to explore.
django-cachalot
Caching is an important topic in web applications, especially when you hit a certain level of maturity and your database requests are already optimized to the fullest. Django cachalot caches your ORM queries and automatically invalidates them. You only need to provide your caching backend - I personally use a managed database on DigitalOcean, but this can get very pricey, so make sure to profile your app before going the caching way.
django-filter
Chances are your users are going to need to filter your data to their specific needs, this is usually done using URL parameters. It’s such a common feature yet a pain to implement. Django Filter works with both API and Class/Function based views. I’m using it for both and in my opinion should have been added to Django itself.
Security & Authentication
django-allauth (MFA)
Django allauth has come a long way. It’s still the recommended package for registration, account management and authentication but it now integrates even more features such as MFA, security keys, magic links and even headless support for single-page and mobile applications. Unless you have specific needs, just don’t reinvent the wheel and use Django allauth for your auth needs.
django-hijack
What happens when a client tells you something’s not working but you have no way to assist? Here comes Django Hijack - it allows you to impersonate users without sharing their password. It has saved me countless hours of debugging.
Background Tasks & Asynchronous Processing
django-celery-beat
Wouldn’t it be cool to manage CRON tasks from your Django Admin interface? Well, it does that but using Celery queue. I use it for cleaning up old data, running server routines and much more, all from the django admin interface. Since I use an isolated worker and Redis, it saves precious resources and database hits.
Storage & File Management
django-cleanup
Did you know that media files aren’t automatically deleted when a model is updated or removed? I didn’t, but trust me, you’ll know when your storage reaches its limit with thousands of unused images. Django cleanup automatically deletes files for FileField, ImageField and subclasses when a model is saved or deleted.
Frontend & User Interface Enhancements
django-crispy-forms
Because there’s still a lot of people working with forms in Django and SPA isn’t the only option. But let’s be real - unless you’re doing some CSS magic, your forms most likely look horrible. Crispy forms makes sure you’re not embarrassing yourself in front of users.
crispy-bootstrap5
A template pack for those who aren’t stuck in 2016 and want to make their forms look nicer with Bootstrap 5.
django-htmx
By now you should know that I love HTMX. Django is one of the main contributors to HTMX’s success, fully embraced by the community. This package provides tools to make HTMX easier to use - one example is checking whether a request is an instance of HtmxDetails.
API Development
djangorestframework
Is FastAPI the new boss of APIs? I’ve used FastAPI both personally and with clients (Airbus, Veolia) and while I really like its simplicity and Pydantic models, it’s still just so cumbersome to use. Following Django’s “batteries included” philosophy, DRF is still to my knowledge the most mature and feature-full API framework. It has a learning curve, but if you already know Django well and class-based views, DRF is a breeze to use.
PS: Django Ninja is getting some traction - I’ll probably write an article about it soon.
dj-rest-auth
While Django allauth now provides some API endpoints to handle authentication, dj-rest-auth provides authentication endpoints for Django Rest Framework out of the box. Not only does it have login and logout, but the whole forgot password flow too.
Development & Debugging
django-debug-toolbar
Are you even a Django developer if you’re not using Django Debug Toolbar? Did you know that DDT also works with DRF when using the API UI?
Did you know that your bottleneck in your web app is most likely an N+1 query because you haven’t used select_related? Well, now with Django Debug Toolbar you know.
django-browser-reload
Adam Johnson is a Django framework contributor and author of several books that I can’t recommend enough, with one focusing on Developer Experience (DX). Naturally, Adam developed a package to automatically reload your browser when a change is detected in your Django project. Star it, use it, and thank Adam for all those precious weeks you saved from CTRL + R-ing your browser the last 5 years.
This list of packages has been used extensively in a production web app that is used by major hotel companies.
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