⚖️ How it compares
Several projects improve on or replace the classic Django admin. They solve different problems, so the right choice depends on what you build. This page describes how Content Studio differs from the most common ones.
At a glance
| Approach | Manages | Renders your website | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Content Studio | A separate admin, configured with studios | Your Django models | No |
| Classic Django admin | Django's built-in admin, configured with ModelAdmin | Your Django models | No |
| Django Unfold | A theme and extensions for the classic Django admin | Your Django models | No |
| Jazzmin, Grappelli | Themes for the classic Django admin | Your Django models | No |
| Wagtail | A CMS with its own admin | Pages in a page tree, plus snippets and other models | Yes |
| django CMS | A CMS with editing on the page itself | Pages, placeholders and plugins | Yes |
Admin themes: Django Unfold, Jazzmin and Grappelli
These projects keep the classic Django admin and change how it looks, and in
Unfold's case add features such as dashboards and extra filters. You keep
configuring ModelAdmin classes, and everything that works with the classic
Django admin keeps working.
Content Studio is not a theme: it is an admin of its own. You configure it
with studios, which follow the conventions of ModelAdmin where they can
(permission hooks, search_fields, list_filter, ordering, inlines) and
differ where the admin needs more (widgets, layouts, list views, a media
library). It runs next to the classic Django admin, so you can move over one
model at a time.
Content management systems: Wagtail and django CMS
Wagtail and django CMS are content management systems. Content is organized as pages in a tree, and the CMS renders those pages on your website; django CMS also lets editors change content on the page itself. You model content the way the CMS expects, as page types or plugins.
Content Studio does not render your website and does not ask you to model content in a particular way. It manages the Django models you already have, and your own views and templates, or an API, deliver the content. The built-in fields and models are optional.
When to use Content Studio
Content Studio fits when you want a modern admin for an existing or new Django project, keep full control over your models and how content reaches your users, and need content features such as rich text, a media library, a dashboard or multi-tenancy without adopting a CMS.