Django and MongoDB Feature Compatibility

Overview

On this page, you can find information about supported and unsupported features in Django MongoDB Backend. You can also find features currently planned for the General Availability (GA) and post-GA releases. We will prioritize these upcoming features based on user demand, and you can request support for a feature by creating a JIRA issue.

MongoDB Features

This section indicates whether the Django MongoDB Backend supports various MongoDB features and which features we plan to support in the GA release.

Important

Unsupported MongoDB features that have a checkmark (✓) symbol in the Planned GA Support column are planned for the General Availability release later in 2025. However, support is not guaranteed.

Index Support

MongoDB Feature	Current Support	Planned GA Support
Atlas Search and Atlas Vector Search indexes	✓	✓
Compound indexes	✓	✓
Embedded document indexes	✓	✓
Geospatial indexes	Unsupported. You cannot use the Django Indexes API to create these indexes, but you can use the PyMongo Driver by exposing your MongoClient.	✓
Multikey indexes	✓	✓
Partial indexes	✓	✓
Single field indexes	✓	✓
Unique indexes	✓	✓
Updating `EmbeddedModelFields` indexes after model creation	Unsupported.	✓

Data Type Support

Django MongoDB Backend currently supports all MongoDB data types not included in the following table. To view a full list of supported types, see the MongoDB BSON Fields section of the Create Models guide.

BSON Data Type	Current Support	Planned GA Support
`Array`	Partially Supported. You can use the `ArrayField` field type, but `ArrayField` polymorphism is not supported.	✓
`Object`	Partially Supported. You can use the `EmbeddedModelField` field type with the following limitations: `EmbeddedModel` schema changes do not register after creation. Embedded documents cannot take Django foreign keys. Arbitrary or untyped embedded model fields are not supported. You must derive all fields from a `EmbeddedModel` class.	Partial Support Planned. We plan to add support for registering `EmbeddedModel` schema changes after creation.
`Regular Expression`	Unsupported.	Unsupported. However, we plan to support this type in a post-GA release.

Query Support

MongoDB Feature	Current Support	Planned GA Support
Aggregation operations	Partially Supported. The Django MongoDB Backend does not include custom Django field lookups for the MongoDB aggregation framework, but you can use the raw_aggregate() method.	Full Support Not Planned. However, we plan to add support for MongoDB aggregation operators in a post-GA release.
Atlas Search queries	Partially Supported. You cannot use the Django `QuerySet` API to run Atlas Search queries, but you can use the raw_aggregate() method.	✓
Delete operations	✓	✓
Geospatial queries	Partially Supported. You cannot use the Django `QuerySet` or `GeoDjango` API to run geospatial queries, but you can use the raw_aggregate() method.	✓
Insert operations	✓	✓
Read operations	✓	✓
Update operations	✓	✓
Vector Search queries	Partially Supported. You cannot use the Django `QuerySet` API to run Vector Search queries, but you can use the raw_aggregate() method.	✓

Database and Collection Support

MongoDB Feature	Current Support	Planned GA Support
Asynchronous support	✓	✓
Authentication	✓	✓
Cached data storage	✓ Use the `django_mongodb_backend.cache.MongoDBCache` backend rather than Django's built-in database cache backend, `django.core.cache.backends.db.DatabaseCache`.	✓
Change Streams	Unsupported.	Unsupported. However, we plan to add support for this feature in a post-GA release.
Client-side Field Level Encryption and Queryable Encryption	Unsupported.	✓
Collection interaction	✓	✓
Database interaction	✓	✓
GridFS	Unsupported.	Unsupported. However, we plan to add support for this feature in a post-GA release.
Multiple models for one collection	Unsupported.	✓
Representing documents	✓ Use models to represent MongoDB documents.	✓
Schema validation	Unsupported.	Unsupported. However, we plan to add support for this feature in a post-GA release.
Timeseries data	✓	✓
Transactions	Unsupported.	✓

Django Features

This section indicates whether the Django MongoDB Backend supports various Django features and which features we plan to support in the GA release.

Important

Unsupported Django features that have a checkmark (✓) symbol in the General Availability Support column are planned for the GA release later in 2025. However, support is not guaranteed.

Field Type Support

Django MongoDB Backend currently supports all Django field types not included in the following table. To view a full list of supported fields, see the Django Fields section of the Create Models guide.

Django Field Type	Current Support	Planned GA Support
`AutoField`	Unsupported. The `BigAutoField` and `SmallAutoField` types are also not supported. Instead, use `ObjectIdField`.	Unsupported.
`CompositePrimaryKey`	Unsupported.	Unsupported.
`DateTimeField`	Partially Supported. You can use this field type with the following limitations: Microsecond granularity for `DateTimeField` values is not supported.	Full Support Not Planned.
`DurationField`	Partially Supported. You can use this field type with the following limitations: `DurationField` stores milliseconds rather than microseconds	Full Support Not Planned.
`ForeignKey`	Partially Supported. You can use this field type with the following limitations: When possible, you should use an `EmbeddedModelField` instead of a `ForeignKey` field to avoid using `$lookup` operations. An `EmbeddedModelField` emulates a MongoDB embedded document and performs better than a `ForeignKey` field. To learn more about how to reduce `$lookup` operations, see the Reduce $lookup Operations guide in the Atlas documentation. Performance of CASCADE deletes on a `ForeignKey` field is not as performant as using an `EmbeddedModelField`.	Full Support Not Planned.
`GeneratedField`	Unsupported.	Unsupported.
`JSONField`	Partially Supported. You can use this field type with the following limitations: Django MongoDB Backend cannot distinguish between a JSON and a SQL `null` value. Queries that use `Value(None, JSONField())` or the `isnull` lookup return both JSON and SQL `null` values. Some queries with `Q` objects, such as `Q(value__foo="bar")`, might not work as expected. Filtering for `None` values incorrectly returns objects in which a field does not exist.	Full Support Not Planned. However, we plan to address the `Q` object and `None` key filtering limitations in a post-GA release.

Query Support

Django MongoDB Backend currently supports all Django QuerySet methods not included in the following table. To view the supported methods, see QuerySet API in the Django documentation.

Django `QuerySet` Feature	Current Support	Planned GA Support
`delete()`	Partially Supported. You cannot use this method to perform queries that span multiple collections.	Full Support Not Planned.
`extra()`	Unsupported.	Unsupported.
`prefetch_related()`	Unsupported.	Unsupported.
`raw()`	Unsupported. However, you can use the `raw_aggregate()` method to run queries that use MongoDB's aggregation pipeline syntax.	Full Support Not Planned.
`update()`	Partially Supported. You cannot use this method to perform queries that span multiple collections.	Full Support Not Planned.

Database Function Support

Django MongoDB Backend currently supports all database functions not included in the following table. To view a full list of functions, see Database Functions in the Django documentation.

Django Function	Current Support	Planned GA Support
`Chr`	Unsupported.	Unsupported.
`ExtractQuarter`	Unsupported.	Unsupported.
`MD5`	Unsupported.	Unsupported.
`Now`	Unsupported.	Unsupported.
`Ord`	Unsupported.	Unsupported.
`Pad`	Unsupported.	Unsupported.
`Repeat`	Unsupported.	Unsupported.
`Reverse`	Unsupported.	Unsupported.
`Right`	Unsupported.	Unsupported.
`SHA1`, `SHA224`, `SHA256`, `SHA384`, `SHA512`	Unsupported.	Unsupported.
`Sign`	Unsupported.	Unsupported.
`Trunc`	Partially Supported. The `tzinfo` parameter of the `TruncDate` and `TruncTime` database functions is not supported.	Full Support Not Planned.

Management Support

Django Feature	Current Support	Planned GA Support
Django Admin	✓	✓
Django Forms	✓	✓
Django Authentication	✓	✓
Management commands	Partially Supported. To view the unsupported commands, see the following section.	Full Support Not Planned.

Management Command Support

Django MongoDB Backend currently supports all management commands not included in the following table. To view a full list of commands, see Available commands in the Django documentation.

Django Command	Current Support	Planned GA Support
`createcachetable`	Unsupported. Instead, use Django MongoDB Backend's `createcachecollection` command.	Unsupported.
`dumpdata`	Unsupported.	✓
`inspectdb`	Unsupported.	Unsupported. However, we plan to support this command in a post-GA release.
`loaddata`	Unsupported.	✓
`sqlflush`	Unsupported.	Unsupported.
`sqlsequencereset`	Unsupported.	Unsupported.

Migration Support

Django Feature	Current Support	Planned GA Support
Creating, deleting, and updating indexes through migration commands	Partially Supported. You cannot update indexes on embedded model or array fields.	Full Support Not Planned.
DDL Transactions	Unsupported.	Unsupported.
`migrate --fake-initial` option	Unsupported.	Unsupported.

Third Party Library Support

Library	Current Support	Planned GA Support
Django-filter	Partially Supported. Most use cases are supported.	Partially Supported. This release will outline use case limitations.
Django Rest Framework	Partially Supported. Most use cases are supported.	Partially Supported. This release will outline use case limitations.
Django-allauth	Partially Supported. Most use cases are supported.	Partially Supported. This release will outline use case limitations.
Wagtail	Unsupported.	Partially Supported. This release will outline use case limitations.
Django Debug Toolbar	Partially Supported. Most use cases are supported.	Partially Supported. This release will outline use case limitations.

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