Deploy Django on EC2 Linux with Apache or Nginx (2025 Guide)

Overview

This guide walks you through deploying a Django app on an Amazon EC2 Linux instance using both Apache (httpd) and Nginx + Gunicorn. Choose what fits your stack best!

1. Launch EC2 & Connect via SSH

• Launch Amazon Linux 2 or Ubuntu 22.04 instance
• Open ports: 22 (SSH), 80 (HTTP), 443 (HTTPS)
• SSH into EC2:

  ssh -i "your-key.pem" ec2-user@your-ec2-ip

2. Install Python & Django

sudo yum update -y
sudo yum install python3 git -y
pip3 install virtualenv
          

3. Clone Your Django App

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/yourproject.git
cd yourproject
virtualenv venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt
python manage.py migrate
          

Option 1: Use Apache (httpd) with mod_wsgi

🔧 Install Apache & mod_wsgi

sudo yum install httpd httpd-devel gcc python3-devel -y
pip install mod_wsgi
mod_wsgi-express install-module | sudo tee /etc/httpd/conf.modules.d/02-wsgi.conf
          

🛠️ Create Apache VirtualHost

sudo nano /etc/httpd/conf.d/yourproject.conf

Add this:

WSGIDaemonProcess yourproject python-path=/home/ec2-user/yourproject:/home/ec2-user/yourproject/venv/lib/python3.7/site-packages
WSGIProcessGroup yourproject
WSGIScriptAlias / /home/ec2-user/yourproject/yourproject/wsgi.py


    
        Require all granted
    


Alias /static/ /home/ec2-user/yourproject/static/

    Require all granted

          

📦 Collect Static Files

python manage.py collectstatic

🚀 Start Apache

sudo systemctl start httpd
sudo systemctl enable httpd
          

---

Option 2: Use Gunicorn with Nginx

📦 Install Dependencies

sudo yum install nginx -y
pip install gunicorn
          

🚀 Run Gunicorn

gunicorn --workers 3 yourproject.wsgi:application --bind 127.0.0.1:8000
          

🔧 Nginx Config

sudo nano /etc/nginx/conf.d/yourproject.conf

Add:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name your-ec2-ip;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8000;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
    }

    location /static/ {
        alias /home/ec2-user/yourproject/static/;
    }
}
          

sudo systemctl restart nginx
sudo systemctl enable nginx
          

Optional: Enable HTTPS with Certbot

sudo yum install epel-release
sudo yum install certbot python3-certbot-nginx -y
sudo certbot --nginx -d yourdomain.com
          

Final Tips

• Set DEBUG = False in settings.py
• Use environment variables for secrets
• Configure ALLOWED_HOSTS properly

That's it! Your Django app is now live on an EC2 instance using either Apache or Nginx. 🥳