Does Django Work With SQLite?

Fully CompatibleLast verified: 2026-02-20

Django and SQLite work together seamlessly out of the box, making it Django's default database for development and a viable choice for production in low-to-medium traffic applications.

Quick Facts

Compatibility

full

Setup Difficulty

Trivial

Official Integration

Yes ✓

Confidence

high

Minimum Versions

Django: 1.8

SQLite: 3.8.0

How Django Works With SQLite

Django ships with built-in SQLite support through its ORM layer—no additional drivers needed beyond Django itself. SQLite is actually Django's default database when you create a new project, making the getting-started experience frictionless. The ORM abstracts away database specifics, so you define models in Python and Django handles SQL generation and migrations automatically. For development and testing, this is ideal: no separate database server to run, no configuration headaches, just a local file (`db.sqlite3`) that gets version controlled. However, SQLite has real limitations for production: it lacks robust concurrent write handling, offers no built-in replication, and struggles with high-concurrency scenarios typical of web apps. It also doesn't support all Django features equally (some advanced query operations have caveats). That said, for small projects, MVPs, internal tools, or read-heavy applications, Django + SQLite is production-ready and saves infrastructure costs.

Best Use Cases

→Development and local testing environments—instant setup without Docker or database servers

→Small-to-medium personal projects, blogs, or side projects with predictable traffic

→Internal company tools, dashboards, and admin interfaces with limited concurrent users

→Rapid prototyping and MVPs before scaling to PostgreSQL or MySQL

Quick Setup

bash

pip install django

python

# settings.py (Django's default configuration)
DATABASES = {
    'default': {
        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.sqlite3',
        'NAME': BASE_DIR / 'db.sqlite3',
        'CONN_MAX_AGE': 600,
        'OPTIONS': {
            'timeout': 20,
        }
    }
}

# models.py
from django.db import models

class Article(models.Model):
    title = models.CharField(max_length=200)
    content = models.TextField()
    created_at = models.DateTimeField(auto_now_add=True)

# Run migrations
# python manage.py makemigrations
# python manage.py migrate
# Done—SQLite database created automatically

Known Issues & Gotchas

critical

Concurrent writes cause 'database is locked' errors under heavy load

Fix: Increase timeout with DATABASES['default']['timeout'] setting, but for production high-concurrency apps, migrate to PostgreSQL or MySQL

warning

Some Django features like JSONField lookups or advanced aggregations behave differently in SQLite

Fix: Test thoroughly in SQLite during development; check Django docs for database-specific query limitations

warning

Migrations can be slower and lock the database during large schema changes

Fix: Keep migrations simple; test them locally first; for production, perform during low-traffic windows

info

db.sqlite3 file can become corrupted if the app crashes or server loses power unexpectedly

Fix: Implement regular backups; use `manage.py dbshell` to run integrity checks periodically

Alternatives

•Django + PostgreSQL: Production-grade, handles concurrency, richer feature set
•Django + MySQL: Mature alternative, good for legacy systems, slightly less feature-rich than PostgreSQL
•FastAPI + SQLAlchemy + SQLite: Modern async alternative if you need higher concurrency with a lightweight database

Resources

docsDjango Databases Documentation docsDjango SQLite Setup Guide docsDjango ORM and Migrations docsSQLite Official Documentation

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