Does Django Work With DigitalOcean?

Fully CompatibleLast verified: 2026-02-20

Django works excellently on DigitalOcean with multiple deployment options and strong community support.

Quick Facts

Compatibility

full

Setup Difficulty

Easy

Official Integration

No — community maintained

Confidence

high

Minimum Versions

Django: 3.2

How Django Works With DigitalOcean

Django deploys seamlessly on DigitalOcean across multiple infrastructure options. You can run Django on DigitalOcean App Platform (managed PaaS), Droplets (VMs), or Kubernetes (DOKS). App Platform is ideal for beginners—you connect your GitHub repo and DigitalOcean auto-scales your Django app with zero container expertise. For more control, Droplets let you configure Gunicorn/uWSGI with Nginx, PostgreSQL, and Redis exactly how you want them. DigitalOcean's managed databases integrate directly with Django's ORM, and their object storage (Spaces) works with Django's file storage backends. The developer experience is smooth: their App Platform detects Django automatically, handles environment variables cleanly, and provides CLI tools for database backups and monitoring. Static file serving is handled via their CDN integration, making performance straightforward.

Best Use Cases

→Deploying small-to-medium Django REST APIs with auto-scaling on App Platform

→Running traditional server-rendered Django sites with PostgreSQL and Nginx on Droplets

→Multi-container Django applications using DOKS with persistent volumes for databases

→Migrating from development to production with DigitalOcean's managed PostgreSQL and Redis

Django App Platform Deployment with app.yaml

bash

pip install gunicorn whitenoise django-cors-headers python-decouple

bash

# app.yaml for DigitalOcean App Platform
name: my-django-app
services:
- name: web
  github:
    repo: your-username/your-django-repo
    branch: main
  build_command: pip install -r requirements.txt && python manage.py migrate && python manage.py collectstatic --noinput
  run_command: gunicorn config.wsgi:application --workers 2 --bind 0.0.0.0:8080
  envs:
  - key: DEBUG
    value: "false"
  - key: ALLOWED_HOSTS
    value: "*.ondigitalocean.app"
  http_port: 8080
databases:
- name: db
  engine: PG
  version: "14"

# settings.py additions
from decouple import config
DEBUG = config('DEBUG', default=False, cast=bool)
ALLOWED_HOSTS = config('ALLOWED_HOSTS', default='localhost').split(',')
DATABASES = {
    'default': {
        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.postgresql',
        'NAME': config('DB_NAME'),
        'USER': config('DB_USER'),
        'PASSWORD': config('DB_PASSWORD'),
        'HOST': config('DB_HOST'),
        'PORT': config('DB_PORT', default='5432'),
    }
}
INSTALLED_APPS += ['whitenoise.runserver_nostatic']
MIDDLEWARE = ['whitenoise.middleware.WhiteNoiseMiddleware'] + MIDDLEWARE

Known Issues & Gotchas

critical

Static files not served correctly on App Platform if DEBUG=True in production

Fix: Set DEBUG=False, use WhiteNoise middleware, and configure STATIC_URL properly. Test locally with DEBUG=False before deploying.

critical

Secrets management can leak if environment variables are logged or committed to git

Fix: Use DigitalOcean's App Platform secrets feature or environment variable injection, never commit .env files. Use python-decouple to load from environment.

warning

Database connection pooling needed for high-traffic apps on shared Droplets

Fix: Use PgBouncer or django-db-pool to prevent connection exhaustion with Gunicorn workers.

info

Cold starts on App Platform can exceed 30 seconds if dependencies are large

Fix: Use slim Docker images, minimize requirements.txt, consider Droplets for latency-sensitive apps.

Alternatives

•Flask with Heroku—simpler framework but less batteries-included than Django; Heroku has easier free tier historically
•FastAPI with AWS Lightsail—modern async Python with AWS infrastructure; more complex but more scalable
•Django with PythonAnywhere—Python-specific hosting with automatic Django support; less flexibility but minimal DevOps

Resources

tutorialDigitalOcean App Platform Django Tutorial docsDjango Deployment Documentation docsDigitalOcean App Spec Reference docsWhiteNoise: Static File Serving for Django

Related Compatibility Guides

FastAPI + DigitalOcean Django + Cloudflare R2 Django + Playwright Django + Vitest Django + Jest Django + GraphQL

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