How to host a Django app

Running Django on your laptop with runserver is easy. Running it for real users needs a few more pieces. This guide outlines a standard, reliable setup on a Linux server.

What you need

• A server you control. Django needs its own application process running all the time. Our shared hosting plans are built for PHP sites, so for Django use a VPS with root access.
• Python and a virtual environment for your project and its packages.
• An application server such as Gunicorn (or Uvicorn for async apps).
• Nginx in front, to serve static files and pass requests to Gunicorn.
• A database: PostgreSQL or MySQL instead of SQLite.

The steps, in outline

• Create a non-root user for the app and connect over SSH.
• Install Python, create a virtual environment and install your requirements.
• Set DEBUG to False, set ALLOWED_HOSTS and keep secrets in environment variables.
• Run migrations and collectstatic.
• Run Gunicorn as a systemd service so it restarts on its own.
• Configure Nginx to serve /static/ and /media/ and proxy everything else to Gunicorn.
• Add a free Let's Encrypt certificate for https.

Keep it running

• Take a snapshot before upgrading Django or Python packages.
• Back up the database separately from the server.
• Watch memory use: each Gunicorn worker is a full copy of your app.