My gut reaction to this type of description is that your system is probably “overengineered”. (That’s my standard reaction whenever anyone starts talking about “microservices”. I’ve never had any direct involvement with any system where they have actually proven to be valuable - and that … Answer from KenWhitesell on forum.djangoproject.com
GitHub
github.com › ckrybus › real-world-django
GitHub - ckrybus/real-world-django: Real World Django applications and their open source codebases for developers to learn from
Real World Django applications and their open source codebases for developers to learn from · This project brings 30+ (and growing) active, open source Django applications together in one repository, making it easier for developers to download the collected codebases and learn from Django apps written by experienced developers.
Starred by 51 users
Forked by 8 users
Languages Python 100.0% | Python 100.0%
How Does a Django Project Work in Real-World Startups? Seeking Insights from Experienced Developers
I avoided Django for 10 years… my new company uses it and with Django ninja I am on the Django train. Way better than RoR imo. More on reddit.com
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March 8, 2025Where can I find real world django projects to read?
Check out this recent post: https://www.reddit.com/r/django/comments/rrcj0m/any_enterprise_level_open_source_django_project
More on reddit.com 13
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January 1, 2022I'd like to look at well written Django projects.
This gets asked frequently. Please consider searching before asking in the future. Here are the first few examples of the same post I found in a couple minutes. https://www.reddit.com/r/django/comments/5ac59y/django_projects_with_open_source_code_on/ https://www.reddit.com/r/django/comments/s77rnt/django_project_on_github_to_learn_from_django/ https://www.reddit.com/r/django/comments/adxo6u/whats_the_best_example_of_django_best_practices/ https://www.reddit.com/r/django/comments/lv31px/any_open_source_drf_projects/ https://www.reddit.com/r/django/comments/n842st/is_there_a_public_repo_that_shows_productionlevel/ https://www.reddit.com/r/django/comments/132sqk1/any_python_stars_to_follow_in_twitter_and_github/ https://www.reddit.com/r/django/comments/12z80vs/i_want_to_read_good_python_code_where_can_i_find/ https://www.reddit.com/r/django/comments/rrcj0m/any_enterprise_level_open_source_django_project/ https://www.reddit.com/r/django/comments/xf1agk/suggest_some_opensource_django_projects_to_get/ https://www.reddit.com/r/django/comments/10epg4m/open_source_django_projects_for_study/ https://www.reddit.com/r/django/comments/tkyql/good_open_source_django_projects_for_learning/ https://www.reddit.com/r/django/comments/3c22cv/good_places_to_start_reading_the_django_source/ https://www.reddit.com/r/django/comments/boe2bk/i_would_like_to_see_a_big_django_codebase/ https://www.reddit.com/r/django/comments/1c5u23/excellent_open_source_django_projects_to_learn/ https://www.reddit.com/r/django/comments/uip38y/can_you_list_some_opensource_modern_djangopowered/ https://www.reddit.com/r/django/comments/hco6an/best_django_drf_open_source_projects_to_read/ https://www.reddit.com/r/django/comments/rtl0ij/where_can_i_find_real_world_django_projects_to/ https://www.reddit.com/r/django/comments/mwb14d/need_a_medium_sized_open_source_django_project/ https://www.reddit.com/r/django/comments/12bibfi/djangorest_open_source_project_to_simulate_real/ https://www.reddit.com/r/django/comments/119zrwd/looking_for_enterprisegrade_examples/ https://www.reddit.com/r/django/comments/dfkxq3/quality_opensource_projects_to_learn_from/ https://www.reddit.com/r/django/comments/eq7yoh/djangodrf_open_source_projects_to_learn_from_as/ Etc, etc, etc More on reddit.com
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May 1, 2023Architecture/design patterns of real world django/DRF projects?
There are two schools of thought on the question "where to put the business/domain logic": "fat models, thin views": All business logic belongs in the "models", where "models" means models, managers and querysets. You should not put any domain logic in your views. This is also what the official Django documentation recommends ( source ). "service layer": models and views (incl. serializes) are kept thin and all business logic is put into a service layer. The service layer consists of services (for all write operations) and selectors (read only operations). Here is a more detailed description of an example implementation. One of the Django release managers recently wrote an blog arguing why service layers are a bad idea. I personally prefer the fat models approach, but the services layer approach also has some benefits. But at least in one point both agree: Don't put any domain logic into your views / serializers ;-) More on reddit.com
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April 8, 2020Videos
GeeksforGeeks
geeksforgeeks.org › python › django-projects
Top 45+ Django Projects with Source Code for 2025 [Beginners to Advanced] - GeeksforGeeks
February 9, 2026 - Explore beginner-friendly Django projects with source code designed to help you learn core Python Django concepts through real-world examples and hands-on practice.
Udemy
udemy.com › development
Django Masterclass: Build 9 Real World Django Projects
March 12, 2026 - Learn Django Right From the Basics Like Creating A Django Project, Understanding Models, Making Migrations, Running Django Application On Local Server · Learn How To Build Web Applications Using Django & Python · Learn How To Perform Authentication & Authorisation In Your Django Web Applications · Build A Full-Fledged E-commerce App With Add To Cart & Checkout Functionality, Utilise Local Storage To Save Cart Data · Build A Dynamic Web Based Crawler Using Django To Crawl Webpage Links
GitHub
github.com › gothinkster › django-realworld-example-app
GitHub - gothinkster/django-realworld-example-app · GitHub
September 27, 2022 - Clone this repository: git clone git@github.com:gothinkster/productionready-django-api.git.
Starred by 1.6K users
Forked by 664 users
Languages Python
Great Learning
mygreatlearning.com › blog › career development › top 20 django projects in 2026
Top 20 Django Projects in 2026
January 6, 2025 - Working on this project will be a lot of fun. Almost everyone uses a weather app to check the current weather conditions in their area and the weather conditions in other parts of the world. An effective weather app displays temperature, humidity, precipitation, wind speed, and other key weather parameters. Like the REST framework, Django APIs can be used to create a weather app.
Reddit
reddit.com › r/django › how does a django project work in real-world startups? seeking insights from experienced developers
r/django on Reddit: How Does a Django Project Work in Real-World Startups? Seeking Insights from Experienced Developers
March 8, 2025 -
Hey everyone,
We’ve just started a new startup, and after some research, we’ve decided to go with Django for our backend. Right now, I’m the one leading the Django team, but my experience is mostly in freelancing. Managing a team and handling the entire tech process—from planning to deployment—is something new for me, and I’d love to hear from experienced Django developers about how things work in real-world projects.
Here are the main things I’d love to understand:
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Planning & Architecture – How do you structure a Django project for long-term scalability?
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Git & GitHub Workflow – Best practices for managing a team using GitHub (branches, PRs, CI/CD).
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Scaling Considerations – Differences in approach for a small project vs. a high-scale system.
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Is Django a Good Choice for a Low-Scale Project? – Would you recommend Django for early-stage startups, or is it overkill?
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Deployment – What are the best deployment strategies for Django in 2024? Docker, Kubernetes, traditional servers?
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Technology Stack – What are the essential tools (DB, caching, task queues, etc.) used in professional Django setups?
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Security & Best Practices – How do you keep a Django project secure in production?
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Team Management – How do you manage a team of Django developers efficiently in a startup setting?
I know some people might say, "Just ask ChatGPT" (NB: I already did! 😆). But I really want insights from experienced developers who have worked in production environments.
💡 If you have real-world experience and are open to mentoring, I’m willing to pay for your time. Let’s connect! 🚀
Looking forward to your thoughts!
Top answer 1 of 23
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I've not worked at a startup, but I've been working with django since 2012, first in a team of 4 (so maybe startup style). I think developers, at least senior ones, tend to have their preferences on project structure, so choose something that you have a concensus on so that everyone likes the approach. Equally, you can always refactor things to improve the structure as you go. Plan your auth options and use django-allauth. Define your stance on a custom user model vs a "profile" model that 1-to-1s to django's User. Github setup probably depends on the size of the team. But first things first, define your persistent branhes and give them protection rules (main, staging, etc). Use issues, even for little things, and get some good labels that will help you identify things. The projects functionality is also great for planning and working through sprints (or however you might work) It depends how big you might need to go. But if you go with GCP or AWS then you'll probably be able to go from something small to something huge without too much trouble. For context, I've gone from running small sites on EC2/fargate to 11m users on a GCP k8s cluster. Databases are really easy to scale - and depending on what you need, some will auto-scale. Django is fantastic for any python web project. From a little example project through to large projects. It does so much for you, and then has such an abundance of packages available through pypi. Docker makes the most sense these days. If you need control over everything AWS/GCP is what I'd look at. k8s is a great way to go for an app that'll grow. Terraform as much as you can from github to your k8s/servers (I'm even starting to build templates for Sentry now). Tech for the stack, I'd look at django-ninja these days. Valkey is the new caching service instead of redis, you can use that as a celery broker and a cache backend. Avoid a javascript frontend unless you've got a dedicated team for it. Django's templates with HTMX are a great choice for a small team. Django handles most security concern's itself as long as you turn on the right settings. Give this a read https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/5.1/topics/security/ There maybe some extra apps you could install, to get a CSP perhaps. Then you can scan your site to get an idea of areas for improvement; https://securityheaders.com/ Get people doing what they're experienced with/enjoy. And make sure everyone gets involved in code reviews so there's awareness of changes and you avoid bottlenecks from reviews getting done by one person. You mention tools on point 6, TablePlus is a great desktop app for anything data related, Pycharm pro with it's AI assistant is a great IDE experience, especially with Claude 3.7 coming soon. And once you start getting a lot of traffic, look at fastly to take the load off your backend. If you're running k8s, then you need k9s locally for all things k8s. https://k9scli.io/
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I avoided Django for 10 years… my new company uses it and with Django ninja I am on the Django train. Way better than RoR imo.
Builtwithdjango
builtwithdjango.com › projects
Built with Django
Collection of cool projects people built with Django
Udemy
udemy.com › it & software
Learn Django Web Development With 5 Real World Projects
April 27, 2023 - Gain hands-on experience in building, testing, and deploying real-world Django applications, as you bring to life three practical projects that demonstrate your newly acquired skills.
StxNext
stxnext.com › home › blog › top django websites: real-world examples & insights
Top Django Websites: Real-World Examples & Insights
June 12, 2025 - Versatility: Django is used across different types of web projects, including CRMs, social media platforms, content management systems, and even scientific research tools. Community and Documentation: With extensive Django tutorials, reference ...
Upgrad
upgrad.com › home › blog › software development › top 30 django project ideas for beginners and professionals
Top 30 Django Projects to Try in 2026 [With Source Code]
December 6, 2025 - E-commerce apps, blog engines, authentication systems, and API backends are some of the top Django project ideas for beginners and professionals. These builds help you understand models, views, URL routing, templates, and database workflows.
Medium
medium.com › django-unleashed › django-application-template-for-real-world-projects-2d7e1312e5dc
Django Application Template for Real-World Projects | by Yahya Mlaouhi | Django Unleashed | Medium
August 26, 2024 - Django Application Template for Real-World Projects Introduction: In this blog, I will provide a template that may help Python developers and software engineers create their new project using Django …
TechGeekBuzz
techgeekbuzz.com › blog › django-projects
Top 20 Django Projects for Beginners and Advanced Developers
Although, as an intermediate developer, you are not expected to build such an advanced clone, you can create a simple chat room where users can chat in real-time. By now, you must fully know how the framework operates with users and databases. You can set a chat feature between two users by leveraging the built-in Django user models and database. The chat messages will be stored in the database , and with some logic, you can create a view where specific messages will only be shown between two users. ... Management systems are classic projects, and the school management system is one of them.
Ordinarycoders
ordinarycoders.com › blog › article › django-projects-github
5 Awesome Django Projects on Github - Ordinary Coders
With plenty of amazing open-source ... some of our favorite open-source projects from Github. ... The Django RealWorld App is a Medium clone called "Conduit" where ......
Medium
medium.com › django-framework-real-world-projects
Django Framework — Real World Projects
a publication on practical projects with the django framework
JetBrains
blog.jetbrains.com › pycharm › 2024 › 09 › django-project-ideas
Django Project Ideas | The PyCharm Blog
June 10, 2025 - Dashboards make fantastic projects for combining Django with a frontend JavaScript framework. You can pull in data from an API or add an option to import data manually from .csv files. For real-time data, use Django Channels.
DataFlair
data-flair.training › blogs › django-project-ideas
Top 27 Python Django Project Ideas – Master Web Development with Python - DataFlair
March 6, 2025 - Learn to build REST API in Django with Django REST framework tutorial. Project idea – The Indian railway system has provided us with an API from railapi.com through which we can gather all the information about the status of the train, PNR number, etc in real-time.
TechVidvan
techvidvan.com › tutorials › popular-django-apps
Real World Django Applications | Popular Django Apps - TechVidvan
June 12, 2021 - It helps the programmers to collaborate and work on projects easily. Python and Django are the architects behind this. Prezi is a replacement for the age-old powerpoint. It uses a large canvas in place of slides, and quite a few people are using this. Yes, Django is the tool behind it too. Here is a quite interesting fact, Django was first created to support the content web app for Lawrence Journal-world, a newspaper publisher.
vsupalov.com
vsupalov.com › django-find-real-world-projects
How to Find Real-World Django Projects Online as Learning Examples? · vsupalov.com
June 18, 2019 - A few places to go, and approaches to try to find real-world open-source Django projects online for learning.
Reddit
reddit.com › r/django › where can i find real world django projects to read?
r/django on Reddit: Where can I find real world django projects to read?
January 1, 2022 -
I've done some small projects and django official toturials and now I want to read some real world projects to get some depth to my knwoledge, where should I look for it?