Best Django Projects with Source Code (Beginner to Advanced)

Building real-world Django projects is crucial for gaining experience and improving your skills as a developer. Here’s how Django projects contribute to your development as a student:

1. Practical Experience

Creating projects allows the practitioner to put the theory learned in lectures and books into practice. Going through the journey of coding a project unlocks a deeper understanding of how all the components interact. You'll become acquainted with issues like database management, form handling, and performance tuning—capabilities that aren't going to be acquired just by reading about Django, for instance.

2. Portfolio Building

A portfolio is often considered by recruiters as more important than a résumé in today's labor market. Employers are curious about what you have created and how you solve problems. Working on Django projects allows you to create a portfolio that not only reflects your expertise but also makes it easier for you to get noticed by the recruitment agencies.

3. Debugging and Problem-Solving

Working on Django projects forces you to face challenges and bugs that you’ll need to solve on your own. This is a crucial skill that will serve you in real-world software development. By working through these problems, you’ll develop critical thinking and troubleshooting skills that are essential for any developer.

4. Understanding Full-Stack Development

Django encourages you to work on both the back-end and front-end aspects of a web application. By working on a variety of projects, students will gain exposure to full-stack development, learning both server-side (Django models, views, templates) and client-side (HTML, CSS, JavaScript) technologies. This gives students a well-rounded understanding of web development.

Quick Recap: Working on Django projects helps you gain hands-on experience, create a standout portfolio, and learn full-stack development, which are essential for landing a job as a web developer.

Whether you're just starting with Django or you're looking for more advanced projects, there's something for everyone. Below are some examples of Django projects categorized by difficulty level.

Beginner Django Projects with Source Code

For students who are new to Django, it’s essential to start with simple projects that teach you the fundamental concepts of Django. These projects will help you understand how to handle HTTP requests, interact with databases, and use templates to render HTML pages.

1. To-Do List Application

Create a simple app where users can add, update, and delete tasks.

• Key Features: Add/edit/delete tasks, mark as complete, view all tasks.
• What You’ll Learn: CRUD operations, working with models, forms, and templates.
• Source Code: You can find a working source code example for a To-Do List app with Django here.

2. Blog Application

Build a basic blog where users can read and write posts.

• Key Features: Post creation, editing, deletion, comment section.
• What You’ll Learn: Model relationships, user authentication, template rendering.
• Source Code: Here's an example of a Django blog app with full functionality.

3. Poll Application

Develop an app that lets users vote on different questions and see the results.

• Key Features: Create polls, vote, show results.
• What You’ll Learn: Form handling, querying, displaying dynamic content.
• Source Code: Check out the source code for a Poll Application.

4. Contact Form Application

Allow users to send messages through a contact form.

• Key Features: Contact form, validation, save messages to database, email notification.
• What You’ll Learn: Form validation, email integration, basic database usage.
• Source Code: Here's the GitHub repository for a basic contact form

5. Simple Authentication System

Let users securely register, log in, and log out.

• Key Features: Registration, login, logout, password reset.
• What You’ll Learn: Django’s authentication system, user sessions.
• Source Code: The source code for an authentication system using Django is available

6. Recipe Book App

Enable users to add, view, and search for recipes.

• Key Features: Recipe CRUD, image upload, search by name or ingredient.
• What You’ll Learn: File uploads, search queries, template design.
• Source Code: Find the source code for a recipe book app on GitHub.

7. Personal Portfolio Website

A very simple, static site to demonstrate your skills and projects.

• Key Features: An about section, a project gallery, contact info.
• What You’ll Learn: Use of static files, basic HTML/CSS, and custom templates.
• Source Code: This is a simple portfolio website made with Django.

8. URL Shortener

Create a utility that reduces the length of a URL and sends users to the target page.

• Key Features: Provide the long URL, short link generation, and redirect.
• What You Will Learn: URL routing, utilizing the model, and creating custom views.
• Source Code: This is an illustration of a Django-powered URL shortening project.

9. Calorie Tracker

Keep track of your daily calorie intake through meal entries.

• Key Features: Adding meals, calculating calories, and viewing daily summary.
• Learning Outcomes: Data collection, CRUD, and basic math operations.
• Source Code: This is immediately usable code for a caloric consumption tracking app.

10. Text-to-HTML Converter

You can use a web form to turn unformatted text into HTML code with formatting.

• Main Features: Text input functionality, HTML output functionality, Copy/download function.
• What You'll Learn: Handling forms, processing data, and template rendering.
• Source Code: Use this demonstration of a text-to-HTML converter developed using Django.

Tip:
Start with these foundational projects, and don’t hesitate to experiment by adding small features as you grow more comfortable with Django.

Intermediate Django Projects with Source Code

Take your Django skills to the next level with these ten intermediate project ideas. Each project introduces new concepts, encourages problem-solving, and helps you build a portfolio that demonstrates your growing expertise.

1. Chat Application

Build a real-time chat platform where users can send and receive messages instantly.

• Key Features: Instant messaging, chat rooms, personal messaging, message history, user authentication.
• What You’ll Learn: Django Channels, WebSockets, asynchronous communication, database design for chat data.
• Source Code: Visit GitHub for the Django chat application source code and find comprehensive examples.

2. Music Player Application

A web music player allowing the users to upload, manage, and listen to their preferred tracks has to be developed.

• Key Features: Audio file uploads, creating and managing playlists, controls for playing/pausing the music, libraries specific to each user.
• What You’ll Learn: Processing media files, including audio playback, management of data that is specific to users.
• Source Code: Go to the Django open-source projects GitHub to see solutions for media handling.

3. Weather Prediction Application

Make an app that retrieves and displays weather information based on user input.

• Key Features: Search for locations, real-time weather data, weather predictions, and weather alerts.
• What You’ll Learn: Integrating API, managing JSON data, creating dynamic content, and making asynchronous requests.
• Source Code: Visit the GitHub page for the Django Weather Prediction App Source Code.

4. Resume Builder

Let users create and download professional resumes in PDF format.

• Key Features: Form-based input, PDF generation, customizable templates, and user authentication.
• What You’ll Learn: Django forms, PDF generation (e.g., ReportLab), template design, and user session management.
• Source Code: Find the source code for a Django Resume Builder App on GitHub

5. Quiz Application

Build a quiz platform with multiple-choice questions, scoring, and leaderboards.

• Key Features: Quiz creation, timed quizzes, scoring, leaderboards, user progress tracking.
• What You’ll Learn: Relational models, session management, score calculation, and real-time updates.
• Source Code: Check out the Django Quiz Application Source Code on GitHub

6. College ERP System

A software solution for handling the data of students, teachers, and courses in a school or university.

• Main Features: Different user roles (admin, student, teacher), course enrollment, student record management, and alerts.
• What You Will Gain: Access control, intricate data relationships, and user-specific dashboards.
• Source Code: Visit GitHub to download the source code for the Django College ERP System.

7. Job Listings Board

A platform is to be created where job vacancies can be posted by employers and job seekers can browse and apply to the vacancies.

• Key Features: Options for employers to post jobs, search/filter, track applications, and create accounts for both employers and applicants.
• What You’ll Learn: Management of multiple users, high-level filtering, notifications, and file uploads (for resumes).
• Source Code: The Django project code is available on GitHub repositories and developer forums.

8. Event Management System

An app to be developed for organizing, managing, and registering for events.

• Key Features: The event can be created with the capability of attendee registration, reminders, and event calendars.
• What You’ll Learn: The integration of the calendar, email notifications, and handling of relational data.
• Source Code: The source code for the Django Event Management System can be found on GitHub.

9. Inventory Management System

This is a software application for businesses that allows them to monitor their inventory, suppliers, and orders.

• Key Features: A product catalogue, stock tracking, managing suppliers, and alerts for low-stock items.
• What You’ll Learn: Creating, reading, updating and deleting records (CRUD operations), reporting, notifications, and customizing the admin dashboard.
• Source Code: Django Inventory Management System Source Code is available for you to explore.

10. Online Polls and Voting Platform

Allow users to create polls, vote, and view results in real-time.

• Key Features: Poll creation, voting, result visualization, poll expiration.
• What You’ll Learn: Form handling, real-time updates, data visualization, user restrictions.
• Source Code: Check out the Django Polls and Voting Platform Source Code.

Tip:
With every single project, begin with the basic functions that are most important, and after having gained confidence, gradually add more features like notifications, analytics, or API integrations. Not only will these projects aid you in understanding Django's basic techniques, but they will also be a good preparation for the professional development challenges that you will face.

Advanced Django Projects with Source Code

Django allows advanced learners to create applications that are of such high quality that they are almost ready for production. Of course, such projects will need the integration of various technologies, data sets of considerable size to be managed, and business logic to be applied.

1. Full E-Commerce Platform

Build a comprehensive online store with product listings, carts, and payment processing.

• Key Features: Product catalog, shopping cart, checkout, payment gateway integration, order history.
• What You’ll Learn: Multi-model design, payment APIs, session management, and security.
• Source Code: Check the Django ecommerce website source code GitHub for great project examples.

2. Real-Time Chat Application

Develop a chat app with instant messaging and notifications.

• Key Features: WebSocket messaging, chat rooms, user presence, and message history.
• What You’ll Learn: Django Channels, WebSockets, async programming.
• Source Code: Access source code for real-time chat app on GitHub.

3. Social Media Platform

Develop a site for users to share their views, follow others, and communicate live.

• Key Features: User profile, updating, liking and commenting, prompt notifications, media uploading.
• What will You Get: Managing complex relationships, real-time features, media handling.
• Source Code: Go to GitHub and see the project of the social media platform.

4. Cryptocurrency Price Tracker

Track real-time cryptocurrency prices and display charts.

• Key Features: API integration, real-time updates, historical price graphs, and user watchlists.
• What You’ll Learn: Third-party APIs, data visualization, and background tasks.
• Source Code: Find Cryptocurrency Price Tracker projects on GitHub that deal with real-time price tracking, API integration, and live data updates.

5. Multi-Vendor Marketplace

Enable multiple vendors to sell products and manage orders.

• Key Features: Vendor accounts, product management, order distribution, commission tracking.
• What You’ll Learn: Role-based access, multi-user logic, advanced admin customization.
• Source Code: Check out the Multi-Vendor Marketplace open-source projects on GitHub for vendor accounts, product management, and commission tracking

6. Online Learning Management System (LMS)

Build a platform for hosting courses, tracking progress, and assessments.

• Key Features: Course creation, video uploads, quizzes, progress tracking, and certificates.
• What You’ll Learn: File streaming, quiz logic, and user progress analytics.
• Source Code: Check out online Learning Management system open-source projects on GitHub.

7. Hospital Management System

Safeguard the management of patient profiles, appointment setting, and personnel duties.

• Key Features: Patient information, setting appointments, billing, access levels.
• What You Will Learn: Management of sensitive data, access control systems, signaling.
• Source Code: You can get a free download of the hospital management system project in Django with source code on GitHub.

8. Video Streaming Platform

Allow users to upload, stream, and comment on videos.

• Key Features: Video upload, streaming, comments, recommendations.
• What You’ll Learn: Media storage, streaming optimization, recommendation algorithms.
• Source Code: Explore Video Streaming Platform GitHub repositories for video uploads, streaming, and comments along with media storage solutions.

9. Real-Time Auction System

Conduct live auctions along with bidding and instant updates.

• Key Features: Bidding in real time, countdown timers, alerts, and user dashboards.
• What You'll Learn: Updates in real-time, concurrency control, and management of users.
• Source Code: Look at the auction system examples in the Django website project GitHub for the source code.

10. Food Delivery System

Build a system for restaurants, customers, and delivery tracking.

• Key Features: Restaurant profiles, order management, delivery tracking, payment integration.
• What You’ll Learn: Multi-role architecture, real-time tracking, third-party integrations.
• Source Code: Browse Food Delivery System projects on GitHub for restaurant profiles, order management, delivery tracking, and third-party integrations.

Tip:
Tackle advanced projects after gaining confidence with intermediate ones. Focus on scalability, security, and best practices to create production-ready applications

Finding free Django projects with source code can be challenging, but there are numerous repositories and platforms that offer open-source code that you can use as a learning resource.

Top GitHub Repositories for Django Projects

GitHub is the go-to platform for finding open-source Django projects. By cloning these repositories, you can see how experienced developers structure their code and solve problems.

Some top repositories include:

• Real Python Django Projects
• Django Project Examples

Other Platforms Offering Free Django Projects

Besides GitHub, several websites and forums provide free Django project source code. Some of the popular platforms include:

• Itsourcecode: A website offering free Django projects with source code.
• Stack Overflow: The Django community on Stack Overflow regularly shares open-source project ideas and solutions.

When working with Django projects, developers often encounter certain pitfalls that can slow down development or lead to issues in production. Here’s a breakdown of common mistakes and how to avoid them:

1. Not Implementing Proper CRUD Operations: CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) operations are fundamental to most Django applications. A common mistake is not properly to structure them, leading to hard-to-maintain code.

2. Neglecting Database Normalization: Failing to normalize the database can result in redundant data, making it harder to manage and scale. 

3. Improper Handling of User Authentication: Mistakes in user authentication—like failing to confirm email during sign-up or using insecure passwords—are common.

4. Insecure or Inefficient Email Sending: Sending emails without proper configuration or security measures can lead to issues.

5. Not Handling Custom Error Pages: Failing to set up custom error pages (e.g., 404 or 500) can make your app feel unprofessional.

6. Forgetting About Social Logins (Google Authentication, etc.): Integrating social logins (like Google Authentication) can be tricky if not done properly. 

7. Not Properly Validating User Input: Failure to validate input, especially from forms, leads to security vulnerabilities or poor data quality.

8. Overcomplicating the Generation of PDFs and CSVs: PDF or CSV generation without keeping in mind optimization may lead to performance bottlenecks.

9. Inadequate Use of Caching: Not being able to cache properly, or at all, means one will end up with a bunch of redundant database queries.

10. Forgetting to implement PWA Integration: While PWAs do get more popular, some developers just pass by adding them to their Django apps.

11. Poor Handling of Files and Large File Uploads: For instance, handling large file uploads that involve documents or images without correct configuration can lead to errors.

12. No Integration with Visualizations of Data: Visualizations - especially Bokeh charts - are inconvenient to integrate with Django if not done with care.

13. Neglecting separation of Frontend and Backend: Because in many cases, that separation of responsibilities between front-end and back-end is forgotten, then tightly coupled code makes the project difficult to scale afterwards.

14. Poor Usage of Migrations: Not making the database migrations or doing it badly will result in database inconsistencies and errors in production. 

By being aware of these common mistakes and following best practices, you can avoid common pitfalls and ensure smoother development and deployment of Django projects.

When working on Django projects, following best practices can significantly improve the long-term success of your application. From code maintainability to security and performance optimization, here are the key best practices for developing Django applications:

1. Version Control/Git: Start a GitHub or GitLab repository for your projects. This is a vital part of the development process and ensures your code is updated.

2. Maintain Your Code in a Modular Fashion: Use Django to break up your code for different areas of your application when working on projects like writing an app for blogging or handling authentication for users to avoid building massive code bases by breaking them down into usable applications.

3. Centre on Security Settings: SECURE_SSL_REDIRECT should always be on. csrf_protect should also be activated. In production, settings should have DEBUG set to False. Use django-environ to manage secret keys.

4. Leverage the Django ORM Efficiently: Make use of "select related," "prefetch related," "only," and "defer" to optimize your query. When dealing with a large dataset, always use "bulk operations."

5. Apply Template Inheritance for Reusable Layouts: Create base templates (base.html) for extending specific page designs so that your templates remain DRY (Don't Repeat Yourself).

6. Optimizing Static Files & Caching: Use Django’s static file management system for handling and storing static files. Implement a caching mechanism using Redis & Memcache for frequently accessed data.

7. Project Documentation: Utilize Sphinx or Markdown for producing easy-to-understand documentation for projects. Ensure that paths and installation procedures for your project within the README.md file are correctly defined.

8. Writing Unit Tests & Using Testing Tools: While writing test cases, use Django’s TestCase class, and for test data, use testing tools like Pytest or FactoryBoy.

9. Use Admin Dashboard Template for Customization: Make use of custom admin templates or integrate third-party admin dashboards to make the admin section look professional and user-friendly.

10. Implement Role-Based Access Control: Use either Django’s permission system or a library like django-guardian to implement role-based access control on different groups of users.

11. Performance Optimization through Caching: Use caching in views, querysets, or even entire pages through the caching framework provided by Django. The caching backends can be Redis or Memcached.

12. Follow Code Reusability Principles: Reusable functions, classes, and views should be created wherever possible. Mixing, generic views, and formsets can be utilized to avoid the influx of the wheel again.

13. Keep Your Static and Media Files Organized: Take advantage of the STATICFILES_DIRS and MEDIA_ROOT settings in the Django framework for effective file management. Ensure that media files are delivered properly and fast in the production environment.

14. Use Django's Built-in Features for Security: Rely on Django's built-in tools for security against SQL Injection, Cross-Site Scripting (XSS), Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF), and Clickjacking. It's important to keep your Django version up to date to avoid the latest security vulnerabilities.

15. Use Celery for Asynchronous Tasks: Utilize Celery to process these tasks asynchronously. This will greatly improve the efficiency of your application, as the users will not be affected by the completion of the time-consuming tasks.

16. Version Control for Static Assets: Production should be set up with ManifestStaticFilesStorage for automatic versioning of static files.

17. Handle Errors Gracefully: Make your error pages (404, 500, etc.) user-friendly by customizing them and providing helpful guidance when things go wrong.

The trends in Django development are emerging day by day, shaping how web applications are built: more robust, scalable, and interactive. Let's break down some of the most important trends:

1. AI and Machine Learning Integration

Django is increasingly used alongside machine learning frameworks such as TensorFlow and PyTorch to build AI-powered applications. These integrations make the work of a developer easier to integrate and develop even more intelligent apps with the ability to:

• Predict the behaviour of users
• Automate all tasks
• Provide personalized experiences

For example, Django can serve as the backend while TensorFlow or PyTorch handle the heavy lifting of data analysis and model training.

2. CSRF Protection

As cybersecurity becomes a greater concern, Django’s built-in CSRF (Cross-Site Request Forgery) protectionremains one of the framework’s standout security features. This is increasingly relevant for web applications that handle sensitive data or user authentication.

3. Cybersecurity-Driven Development

Django has always been security-conscious, but there’s a growing trend toward integrating more cybersecurity-driven development principles, such as:

• HTTPS for secure communication
• SQL Injection protection
• Two-factor authentication (2FA) support
• OAuth2 integration

Security-first design is now more crucial than ever, and Django has been updated to address new security risks.

4. Django Channels & Real-Time Features

Django Channels enables Django to handle WebSockets, allowing real-time communication features such as:

• Chat applications
• Live notifications
• Real-time data updates

This has opened doors to building more dynamic, interactive web applications beyond the traditional request-response cycle.

5. Geospatial Development (GeoDjango)

With the rise of location-based services, GeoDjango allows Django developers to work with geospatial data easily. This includes integration with PostGIS, a spatial database extension for PostgreSQL. It’s great for:

• Mapping applications
• GPS tracking
• Geofencing

6. Headless and API-Driven Architectures

The headless approach—where the frontend and backend are decoupled—is gaining momentum. Django can serve as the backend, delivering data via APIs (using Django REST Framework or GraphQL) to a variety of front-end frameworks like React, Vue.js, or Angular. Benefits include:

• Better separation of concerns
• Flexibility for building mobile apps or single-page applications (SPAs)

This allows for greater customization, and the ability to deliver content across multiple platforms (web, mobile, etc.).

7. IoT and Edge Computing Integration

Django is progressively employed to link web apps to IoT systems with the rising number of Internet of Things (IoT) devices. It allows integration with edge computing, where data is processed next to the device as opposed to in a central server, thus offering:

• Faster data processing
• Reduced latency
• Lower bandwidth requirements

Such processing is very beneficial for smart homes, wearables, and industrial IoT applications.

8. PostgreSQL and PostGIS

Django’s support for PostgreSQL as a database backend is well known, and it is further enhanced with PostGIS for geospatial queries. For data-heavy applications dealing with geographic data, such as:

• Real-time GPS tracking
• Geographic search
• Location-based services
  PostGIS offers powerful features to handle spatial data.

9. Asynchronous Requests

The use of asynchronous requests with Django is gaining traction, especially in handling tasks that take time, like sending emails or processing large datasets. Django 3.1 introduced support for asynchronous views, and Django 4.0 expands on that, making it easier to build high-performance, non-blocking applications.

10. Caching for Performance

The performance of Django applications is becoming more and more enhanced with the use of caching. Frequent data storage in memory through the use of technologies like Redis and Memcached leads to less strain on the database and faster responses. Some caching techniques are:

• Query caching
• Template caching
• Full-page caching

As you progress in your Django learning journey, building real-world projects is key. By tackling Django projects with source code, you not only learn how to solve practical problems but also build a portfolio that shows your skills in action. This portfolio can be your best tool for landing jobs or internships. Don’t hesitate to explore repositories like Django projects with source code GitHub or python Django projects with source code for beginners to start creating your own projects today!

Why It Matters?

Building Django projects is an essential part of your learning journey. It helps translate theoretical knowledge into practical, hands-on experience, and creates a portfolio that makes you more attractive to potential employers.

Practical Advice for Learners

• Start Simple: Begin projects with To-Do Lists and Blogs to get familiarized with Django.
• Learn by Experimenting: Experiment and learn by modifying existing projects to include your own features.
• Emphasize Practical Skills: Select projects that help you learn database management, user authentication, and real-time functionality.
• Debug and Problem-Solve: Learn from issues in your projects to improve problem-solving skills.
• Build Your Portfolio: It is essential to keep adding projects to your GitHub portfolio to showcase your skills to the world.
• Stay Updated: Keep up with current trends in Django development, including AI integration, real-time functionality, and API-driven design.

1. Is Django still relevant in 2025?

Absolutely, Django will still be a very relevant and robust framework in 2025. Web application development with it will be very secure, and it will also scale to the needs of even the largest applications. Its extensive community support, security features, and compatibility with modern tools allow it to ride the waves of change.

2. Which kinds of projects use Django?

Django is used across a wide range of projects, including content management systems (CMSs), online shopping sites, social networks, and real-time apps. It is perfect for developing large-scale applications and multi-user systems where strong back-end functionality and security are a must.

3. Can I use VSCode for Django?

With VSCode, you're good to go for Django development! It provides excellent Python support through extensions, enabling features such as syntax highlighting, debugging, linting, etc. Many developers love VSCode for its low overhead and customizable workspace.

4. Is Django good for backend?

Yes, Django is excellent for back-end development. It simplifies the creation of secure, maintainable server-side logic with tools for routing, database management, authentication, and more. Django's "batteries-included" approach helps speed up development.

5. Does ChatGPT use Django?

ChatGPT itself doesn't specifically use Django, but similar frameworks may be part of web applications that integrate AI or manage backend services. Django can be a great choice for building AI-related projects with its strong database and security features.