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Django development pain points

Not one complaint — the same problem flagged by different people, in different places: the kind of thing developers and users describe in forum threads and issue trackers, not a single loud post. Pulled from public discussions, not from us guessing what might annoy someone, and updated as fresh evidence comes in.

Updated 7/29/2026

Many users are experiencing slow response times in their Django applications, particularly after upgrading to newer versions or when handling complex queries. This has led to frustration as they struggle to maintain reliable performance for their users.

Why this score: The posts indicate significant frustration with performance issues, especially after upgrades, suggesting a strong need for solutions.

Already tried: Upgrading Django versions to improve performance., Optimizing database queries and using caching strategies., Optimizing database queries, Implementing caching solutions, Profiling application performance

Why that fell short: Upgrades lead to unexpected slowdowns., Complex queries and large datasets cause delays., Existing tools do not provide sufficient insights into performance bottlenecks, Optimizations are not yielding expected improvements

Pain pointTrend: NewConfidence: Medium10 mentions · 3 communities · new

*A performance improvement rather than a defect report. `find_references` returns correct results today; it just does more work than the returned result requires. Filed as a blank issue since the available templates cover bug reports and multi-finding QA passes. `enhancement` seems the closest label” — github

> [!CAUTION] > **Do not merge this until #74351 has been deployed to production and been through a full deploy cycle.** > > Migrations `1270` and `1274` remove these columns from Django's model state but deliberately leave them in Postgres, precisely so a pod running the previous release still finds” — github

Several posts discuss problems with authentication in Django REST Framework, particularly around CSRF enforcement and issues with JWT authentication. Users are facing challenges in securing their APIs while maintaining usability.

Why this score: Users are clearly struggling with authentication issues, and some express a willingness to explore solutions, indicating potential buying intent.

Already tried: Trying to configure JWT authentication., Implementing CSRF protection in APIs., Implementing JWT authentication with djangorestframework-simplejwt, Using custom user models with Django REST Framework

Why that fell short: CSRF protection is too strict for API use., JWT authentication setup is complex and error-prone., Inconsistent behavior of JWT tokens across different endpoints, Complexity in setting up token authentication with custom user models

Pain pointTrend: NewConfidence: Medium7 mentions · 2 communities · new

Body: Environment: Django 5.x Django REST Framework djangorestframework-simplejwt React (Vite) frontend using JWT Bearer tokens Problem: I have a ModelViewSet with authentication_classes = [JWTAuthentication] set at the class level. When I add a custom @action decorator and override permission_cl...” — django-forum

<p>I'm implementing JWT authentication using Django REST Framework and <code>djangorestframework-simplejwt</code> in my project.</p> <p>I have an endpoint for updating a category.</p> <p><strong>What I tried</strong></p> <ol> <li><p>Verified that the JWT token is valid.</p> </li> <li><p>Confirmed th” — stackexchange

Several posts discuss challenges faced during the deployment of Django applications, including errors related to hosting environments and configuration issues. Users express frustration with deployment processes that work locally but fail in production.

Why this score: The pain severity is high due to the impact on project timelines, and there is some buying intent as users may consider hiring help to resolve deployment issues.

Already tried: Following deployment guides, Testing configurations locally, Seeking help in forums

Why that fell short: Configuration errors, Environment-specific issues, Lack of documentation

Pain pointTrend: NewConfidence: Low5 mentions · 1 communities · new

<p>I deployed a Django project on Vercel and it shows the deployment is successful. However, when I try to open the website, it shows the error:</p> <pre><code>404: NOT_FOUND Code: NOT_FOUND ID: lhr1:lhr1::6n29s-1732227821846-0cc9eddbb440 </code></pre> <p>My Django project can be found in the follow” — stackexchange

<p>I was deploying a simple django application to kubernetes and encountered the error of not being able to load css and js. I have tried several times to change the dockerfile,change the volume path, but I can't fix it. <a href="https://i.sstatic.net/YjJFsHdx.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src” — stackexchange

Multiple posts highlight issues with slow response times for Django REST Framework APIs, particularly in production environments. Users report significant delays even for simple queries, leading to frustration and performance concerns.

Why this score: The severity is high due to the impact on user experience and potential business loss, but buying intent is low as users are seeking solutions rather than hiring help.

Already tried: Profiling API response times, Optimizing database queries, Using caching mechanisms

Why that fell short: Inefficient database queries, Lack of caching, High server load

Pain pointTrend: NewConfidence: Low5 mentions · 1 communities · new

<p>An API in my project works fine locally but when it is called in production, it slows the application's response time (all other APIs) and the container workload gets throttled for about 10 seconds.</p> <p>here is my model.py:</p> <pre><code>class Event(BaseModel): user = models.ForeignKey(Us” — stackexchange

<p>I've deployed a Django based portfolio website - <a href="http://johnmcgurk.no" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://johnmcgurk.no</a> - on App Engine and I am struggling to diagnose why one app has such a poor response time. When running google PageSpeed Insights the &quot;core&quot; app on the root” — stackexchange

Users frequently encounter various errors while developing with Django, such as KeyErrors, 403 Forbidden errors, and issues with ASGI/WSGI configurations. These errors often stem from misconfigurations or misunderstandings of Django's requirements.

Why this score: The recurring nature of these errors indicates a common struggle among developers, highlighting a need for better error handling resources.

Already tried: Searching for solutions online., Consulting documentation and community forums.

Why that fell short: Lack of clear documentation for specific error messages., Complexity of Django's configuration leading to misconfigurations.

Pain pointTrend: NewConfidence: Low6 mentions · 1 communities · new

Hi guys, I'm new to Python/Django and struggling with Django Tenants Users. I'm using django-tenants since a few months my webapp and everything works fine. Now I want to add django-tenant-users but I does not work when I set it up as the documentation says. The problem is that the documentation ...” — django-forum

Hey hetryn, So my application was hosted on aws with a loadbalancer in the front. It had a rule group that disallowed any direct attempts to hit the admin url because of which I kept getting the 403 forbidden page. I was able to resolve it by updating the rule group to add some exception sets whe...” — django-forum

Multiple posts highlight significant performance issues when using Django REST Framework, particularly with serialization of large datasets and slow response times for APIs. Users are struggling with long serialization times and slow API responses, leading to frustration and inefficiencies in their applications.

Why this score: The pain is evident as users express frustration over performance, but there is limited indication of immediate purchasing intent.

Already tried: Trying to optimize serializers for large datasets., Implementing pagination and caching strategies.

Why that fell short: Serialization takes too long for large datasets., APIs are slow to respond under heavy load.

Pain pointTrend: NewConfidence: Low2 mentions · 1 communities · new

<p>I am working on a Django application that uses <strong>Django Rest Framework</strong> to expose APIs. I am experiencing significant performance issues when <strong>serializing</strong> large data in Django Rest Framework. I have an endpoint that returns a list of objects e.g. 1000 records. The re” — stackexchange

<p>I'm working with a Django Tastypie API that processes a large QuerySet. I need to perform an annotate with a Count on a related table, which is also very large. Afterward, I return the response using paginator to handle the pagination. However, the API is taking a significant amount of time to re” — stackexchange

Posts reveal challenges faced during the deployment of Django applications, particularly with Docker setups and environment configurations. Users are struggling with issues like static files not being served and environment variables not being recognized.

Why this score: Deployment issues are critical as they directly affect the usability of applications, indicating a strong need for better deployment tools or guides for Django.

Already tried: Setting up Docker for Django applications, Trying to configure static files in production

Why that fell short: Static files not being served correctly in production, Environment variables not being recognized in Docker containers

Pain pointTrend: NewConfidence: Low4 mentions · 1 communities · new

<p>Trying to deploy Django Rest Framework and Angular with Docker.</p> <p>I have 3 containers: django, db and angular (with nginx on it)</p> <p>The deployment is completed and I can open localhost:80 and see my angular components.</p> <p>However, the component service is calling to <code>http://loca” — stackexchange

<p>I'm facing a persistent issue with a <strong>Django</strong> app using <strong>Django REST Framework</strong>. The application has several models, including one called <strong>Project</strong> with a <strong>created_at</strong> timestamp. There’s a management command in manage.py that archives a ” — stackexchange

Several posts discuss performance issues related to querying and data handling in Django applications, particularly with many-to-many relationships and serializer performance. Users are looking for ways to optimize their queries and improve the efficiency of data handling.

Why this score: Performance issues are a common concern among developers, indicating a need for better tools or practices in Django for optimizing queries and data handling.

Already tried: Optimizing queries for many-to-many relationships, Trying to improve serializer performance

Why that fell short: Inefficient querying practices leading to slow performance, Slow serializers causing delays in data processing

Pain pointTrend: NewConfidence: Low4 mentions · 1 communities · new

<p>I've noticed that Django Serializers are extremely slow even after N+1 type problems (I think). I'm basing that off my own experience and questions such as these</p> <ul> <li><a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/29016879/modelserializer-is-extremely-slow-in-django-rest-framework">ModelSer” — stackexchange

<p>I’m working on a Django project using Django Rest Framework (DRF), and I’m facing issues with serializing and deserializing nested data for my Child model. Here’s a summary of my setup and the problem:</p> <p>**I have the following Django models: **</p> <pre><code>class Hobbies(models.Model): ” — stackexchange

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