Django: One ORM to rule all databases

Summary

Community involvement (10 part series) My involvement in the Python communityFLOSS and linguistic diversityMy Django active developers Sprints proposal 🌅2023 Python Software Foundation Board Nomination2024 Django Software Foundation board nominationMy Django roadmap ideas 💡2025 Django Software Foundation board nominationThoughts on my election as a DSF board memberMy first DSF board meetingDjango: one ORM to rule all databases 💍IntroductionChoosing the right database backend for a Django project can sometimes feel a bit confusing. There are many options, and each one has different features and limitations.In this article, I want to give a clear and practical comparison of the main Django ORM features across the main native database backends: PostgreSQL, SQLite, MariaDB, MySQL, and Oracle.My goal is to help you see quickly where each database works well and where it has some limits. I also hope this can be useful for anyone who wants to improve Django, or just understand it better.Supported databasesHere is a short overview of the databases that Django officially supports. Knowing some basic facts about them can help us understand why different features are available (or not) in the ORM.The table below shows the most recent information for each database included in the latest Django stable release.DatabaseDeveloperReleasedLatest versionLast releaseLicenseMin. supported versionPostgreSQL 🐘PostgreSQL Global Dev Group19961809/2025PostgreSQL13SQLite 🪶D. Richard Hipp20003.50.407/2025Public Domain3.31.0MariaDB 🦭MariaDB Foundation200912.0.208/2025GPL v210.3MySQL 🐬Oracle Corporation19959.407/2025GPL v28.0Oracle 🔮Oracle Corporation197923ai09/2023Proprietary19cNote: All data refers to Django 5.2 LTS (October 2025). Supported versions and latest releases may change in future Django versions. Please check the official Django documentation for the most updated information.InspirationThis matrix is inspired by the GeoDjango compatibility tables in the Django documentation. Those t...