What is Django?

Django is an open-source web framework written in the Python programming language. It’s used by hundreds of thousands of developers around the world, and for good reason: Django comes with a practical set of reusable models, classes, functions, and code snippets.

As a result, it allows for rapid development of top-quality applications that are both maintainable and secure. At present, Django apps are at the core of a wide range of projects involving big data, artificial intelligence, and machine learning.

Why should you use Django?

Django owes its success to the many advantages it offers. Below you’ll find a list of the most important ones.

Rapid development

Django is based on the principles of rapid development. You can reuse existing code, as well as run more than one iteration at a time without starting the entire schedule from scratch. Both of these things make Django a huge time-saver.

Scalability

Django is also incredibly scalable. In fact, you can be sure that it will scale well into the future due to frequent fixes, updates, and security patches. In consequence, you can use the framework to tackle projects of any capacity and size.

Versatility

Django can be used for a variety of web projects. Its most common use cases include prototypes and minimum viable products, customer relationship management systems, and social media platforms.

Security

Django has a great out-of-the-box security system. It includes protection against cross-site scripting, request forgery, SQL injections, and clickjacking. So, if you build an application using Django, you should be able to avoid common security issues with ease.

Big reference base

Django has been around since 2005. Because of that, it boasts an impressive set of documentation. If you’re struggling with a problematic function in your code, you should be able to look it up in hundreds of different Django tutorials and reference guides.

18 best Django website examples

Now that we’ve covered some basics about Django, let’s move on to the most successful websites built with Django.

We advise you to think of each one not only as an example, but also as a potential source of inspiration for what Django can help you accomplish.

1. Instagram

Instagram is among the most popular social networks in the world. Its users can post photos, like and comment on photos posted by other people, and delve into the lives of close friends and celebrities alike.

At present, the web version of Instagram is one of the best examples of how the Django framework can be used. Since it doesn’t require any external plugins and addons, it allowed the co-founders of Instagram to develop the very first version of the app in just two weeks.

Instagram started growing very quickly, and the developers behind it began looking for new technologies to power its systems. In the end, the team stuck with their Python and Django tech stack, whose scalability and efficiency give the platform the capacity it needs to handle thousands of user interactions every single second.

2. Pinterest

In short, Pinterest is a social networking platform where you can collect and share images of anything you find interesting. Just like Instagram, it was built on Django.

Since Pinterest has more than 400 million monthly active users, it needs a website that is both fast and scalable. Django is the perfect fit for such a project, giving the platform the tools it needs to process huge amounts of data.

3. Google

Google has been using Python in a large number of their products for a very long time. The company saw the language’s potential and decided to make use of it as often as possible. In fact, Python and Django are what powers Google Search.

As a result, the search engine can process and analyze large volumes of data with ease. To give you a general idea of how powerful it is, Google processes over 40,000 search queries per second. It wouldn’t be possible without an effective web framework.

4. The Onion

The Onion is an American newspaper that publishes satirical articles on world news. Its online version launched in 1996, and it quickly became one of the most popular sources of news on the internet.

The first version of the website wasn’t developed using Django. After all, the framework would only come out nine years later. However, its creators did make a switch to Django in 2009. The main reason for doing so was Django’s focus on simplicity and clean code. It made maintaining the website and testing core changes much easier.

5. NASA

Did you know the National Aeronautics and Space Administration used Django to build their website? First, Django supports the use of incredibly high-definition videos and images of space, which are one of the main highlights of the NASA website. Second, it meets very high security standards, which helps protect the site against common security threats.

6. YouTube

With close to 2 billion active users, YouTube is considered to be the largest video sharing platform on the internet. While it was first built in the PHP programming language, its rapid growth forced the team to switch to Django.

By simplifying its code, Django made the platform a lot easier to maintain. Moreover, the framework gave YouTube the capacity to effectively scale up to meet the demands of their growing audience.

7. Reddit

Reddit is a network of communities where you can post about anything you want, as well as react to things posted by other people. It has 52 million daily active users, and 430 million users who log in at least once a month. Quite a few of the site’s functionalities were developed using Python and Django.

8. Quora

Another Django website is Quora—an online platform meant for asking questions and providing answers. You just need to create an account, find a topic that interests you, and either ask a question or type out an answer to someone else’s question.

Quora chose Django because of its simplicity and efficiency. It made collaborating and testing new features easier to deal with.

9. Spotify

Spotify is a digital music streaming service that gives you access to millions of songs and podcasts. Some of its key features include listening to music across different devices and providing its users with personalized playlists. Both of those things are handled using Python and Django.

10. Eventbrite

Eventbrite is a self-service ticketing and event management platform. It allows anyone to create and sell tickets to any event, whether it’s a rock concert or a yoga session.

The platform was originally built with Python and its native frameworks. However, like with many other websites on our list, it simply wasn’t enough to deal with the platform’s growth. So, Eventbrite decided to switch to Django. Due to its scalability, the platform can now adapt to any audience size with ease.

11. Disqus

Disqus is a third-party system that provides hundreds of thousands of sites with a commenting system. It also gives website owners the option to analyze user activity, advertise, and access various customer engagement tools. For that reason, Disqus reaches more than half a billion unique visitors per month.

Django helps Disqus manage high traffic volumes and ensure top-quality performance. In addition, the Disqus development team used Django to create Sentry—an internal tool used for debugging and error tracking in real time. Right now, Sentry is used by more than 30,000 organizations worldwide, including Reddit, Instagram, and Prezi.

12. Mozilla

Mozilla is a well-known web browser used by more than 200 million people every month. At first, it relied on PHP; however, with a quickly growing user base, Mozilla had to look for a solution that would be more suitable for managing large amounts of traffic.

With that in mind, the company decided to switch to Python and Django. Right now, the Mozilla support site, add-ons, and plugins are all developed with Django.

13. Yahoo Maps

When it comes to Yahoo, the company prefers to use Node.js for their projects. Yahoo Maps is an exception, as its backend was developed using Python and Django.

As the name suggests, Yahoo Maps is meant to help you look up street maps and obtain basic driving directions. While it’s not as popular as Google Maps, the platform does have its avid users who swear by the mapping service’s reliability.

14. Dropbox

Dropbox is a popular cloud storage application that lets you save and share files online. For that reason, it’s frequently used for collaboration within various organizations, from universities and non-profits to large corporations.

The Dropbox engineers built its backend using Python. Doing so allowed the team to develop the entire application relatively quickly. Afterward, with the help of Django, they were able to add an option to sync an account across different devices and, most importantly, share files with other users.

15. The Washington Post

The Washington Post is one of the world’s leading newspapers, so it’s not surprising that its online version is visited by millions of people every month. Django is key in handling the huge amounts of data generated by such a large audience. The use of the framework results in website performance so fast and efficient, many companies can only dream of it.

16. National Geographic

National Geographic is a popular monthly magazine published by the National Geographic Society. Its online version uses a Django-powered content management system. With it, developers can easily manage the website’s content, from modules and advertisements to individual images.

17. BitBucket

BitBucket is a Git-based repository management solution designed for professional teams. It helps engineers store and manage code, as well as track any changes made to it.

The platform’s developers chose Django due to its strong performance and scalability. The framework made it possible for BitBucket to handle hundreds of thousands of users on a daily basis.

18. Prezi

Prezi is a cloud-based tool for creating eye-catching presentations. When it reached more than 100 million active users, its developers had to find a way to make it more scalable and efficient. In the end, they did so with the help of Django. The framework was used to build a custom content management system, which made Prezi faster and easier to maintain.

Final thoughts on top 18 examples of best Django websites

If you’re planning on building a top-quality website, you should consider doing so with Django. Its versatility and focus on rapid development will come in handy in small startups and large enterprises alike. In addition, you can quickly scale up any Django application you develop into a platform with hundreds of thousands of users.

Thank you for reading our article about the most popular websites made with Django! If you enjoyed it and want to learn more about Python and Django, we have other interesting resources you might want to check out:

In case you have any questions related to software development, get in touch with us!  With over 200 Python developers on board, STX Next is among the leading Django and Python experts in the world. Having successfully completed more than 320 Django projects, we’d be more than happy to help you out.