Django Hosting & Deployment Options (2026)
Updated Deployment
Table of Contents
How do you deploy a Django website? On the Django side of things, running through the official deployment checklist, updating your environment variables, settings.py file, and quite a bit more. It's a spectrum of things to toggle. I will add a future guide on this site with basic configuration steps, though it is covered at length in both the Django for Beginners and Django for Professionals if you want to start right away.
PaaS vs VPS
The choice of where to host your Django website must confront an immediate question: do you want a Platform as a Service (PaaS) option that manages most of this for you or do you want a Virtual Private Server (VPS) where you rent hardware on an existing machine and set everything up yourself?
A PaaS option is typically the first approach since it is the simplest. Modern providers include website hosting, managed databases, security updates, and so on. Unless you already have deep experience in web hosting or you are running a website with such high traffic that the costs are becoming prohibitive, I strongly recommend just using a PaaS to begin with.
If you know what you're doing around deployment, then a VPS can make a lot of sense to maintain total control and save on costs. Even more interesting, there is a growing suite of PaaS/VPS hybrids emerging that let you mimic PaaS functionality on top of your choice of VPS. Popular options include Coolify, Dokku, and Appliku.
Note: Heroku was the original PaaS and pioneered much of the modern developer experience for deployment. As of February 6, 2026, it is no longer accepting new clients and is no longer a viable hosting option. I wrote a dedicated blog post, Heroku is (Finally, Officially) Dead with more context.
Platform-as-a-Service Options
Render
Render is a well-established and popular cloud option that allows for direct deployment from GitHub or GitLab. It has options for hosted databases, cron jobs, and more. Check out its Django guide for more information.
Railway
Railway is a newer hosting provider that comes with pre-made templates for a number of frameworks including Django.
Fly.io
Fly is a newer Docker-based hosted option with physical servers worldwide to be closer to users. Most other PaaS options rent space from a larger provider like AWS and act as an abstraction layer on top. Fly has PostgreSQL clusters, a tiered pricing scheme, and a lot of momentum. Check out their Django docs to get started quickly with a new or existing site.
Digital Ocean
Digital Ocean's App Platform rolls everything you need into an easy-to-use UI, combined with Digital Ocean's long history as a stable hosting platform. Check out this tutorial to get up and running quickly with hosted database and fast deploys.
Upsun
Formerly known as Platform.sh, Upsun uses YAML files to define builds, deploys, and access. You can seamlessly add workers such as Celery and message queues, and automatic backups are included.
PythonAnywhere
Acquired by Anaconda in 2022, PythonAnywhere is another PaaS option specializing in online Python environments. Plans start at $5/month. Deploying an existing Django app is straightforward and also demonstrated as part of the excellent DjangoGirls Tutorial.
Microsoft Azure
A managed PaaS option that includes a nice video tutorial series with my DjangoChat podcast co-host Carlton Gibson.
Google Cloud
Google provides multiple PaaS options, starting with App Engine and more advanced options, including Kubernetes and Compute Engine.
CapRover
CapRover is a free and open-source PaaS that can be used on top of a Digital Ocean droplet. It requires more configuration than paid options but also more potential savings.
AWS Elastic Beanstalk
Elastic Beanstalk is Amazon's PaaS option that does all the work to create an EC2 instance, install apps, configure a load balancer, and so on. It is suited to scaling an existing or new application that expects significant traffic.
Virtual Private Servers
Amazon EC2
For better or worse, EC2 is often the default choice for an enterprise-level scalable VPS since it is built on top of AWS's vast ecosystem of services and offers some of the lowest prices around. It allows you to launch as many virtual servers as you need with full flexibility, control, scalability, and customization. However, learning to navigate AWS correctly can require years of experience, so the potential cost savings come at the cost of many hours of developer education to use it efficiently. Developers typically use a managed database via RDS as well.
Digital Ocean
Digital Ocean is a simpler but cost-effective solution for small-to-medium-sized projects. If you're comfortable doing basic server configuration for as little as $5/month, you can host your entire Django project on Digital Ocean. They have fantastic documentation, one-click installs for common setups like Ubuntu, and managed databases. Overall, Digital Ocean is far easier to use than AWS so if you are a solo developer or small team, it might be a better option.
Akamai Cloud
Akamai Cloud (formerly Linode) is another very popular VPS provider that starts at $5/month and has fantastic customer support.
Google Compute Engine
Compute Engine is Google's VPS option built on top of the global infrastructure that runs Google's search engine, Gmail, YouTube, and other platforms. If you already use Google Cloud options, it is a solid option that allows for maximum scalability and flexibility with a slightly less confusing user interface than AWS.
Microsoft Azure
Azure is Microsoft's option for enterprise-ready VPSs that interact well with the Microsoft ecosystem. Like GCP, it is slightly less complicated than AWS but still has a learning curve.
Ultimately, the choice for a VPS typically comes down to two considerations. If you know how to configure everything from scratch, most Django developers will reach for either EC2 or Digital Ocean. If you are a company, choosing between Amazon, Google, or Microsoft depends on what other services you need from them or are already using.