# How to upgrade Django

There are a few ways to tackle upgrading your Django project.

## One release at a time

The easiest way to upgrade your Django site is to do it one release
at a time.  If you're on 2.1.x, that would be 2.2.x, or if you're on 2.2.x you
would need to move to 3.0, for example.

This is the simplest path because the [Django release notes](https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/releases/) highlight, many, if not all, of the
breaking changes in each release for you.  You can follow along with the
changes in small, incremental steps.

If you're relatively up-to-date and just a little bit behind, this is
the path to take.

However, if you're several years out of date this can be slow and painful.

Slow because you will be touching many of the same files MANY times, making these
tiny incremental changes for each version.

The other issue you will run into is your third-party pip dependencies.
These also often need to be updated as you move major, and sometimes minor, Django
versions. If you work a release at a time, you may find yourself updating specific
libraries more than once before you land on your final version.

Please keep in mind when we are talking about versions here, we're talking about
minor and major version changes.  If you're on 2.2.1 and 2.2.2 comes out, a patch version, you should be able to switch the version in your requirements and have it work without any code changes 99.99% of the time.

## Jumping a few releases at a time

Instead of upgrading to each version individually, you can choose to jump a few versions simultaneously.

This can be a faster method for developers who are more familiar with Django and
how it has changed over time.

However, the downside is that the error messages and exceptions you run
into will be multi-layered. You will often immediately fix one error to uncover the next underlying upgrade issue.

Not the best path for less experienced Django devs.

## Go big!

Obviously, one option is to jump from your current version to the latest release
or latest LTS version.

We only recommend this if you're VERY familiar with Django, how it has changed
over time, and the third-party libraries you're using.

You won't find many of "How to upgrade from Django 1.9 to 4.1" blog posts and
even StackOverFlow messages along those lines are fairly rare.

## Pay someone else to do it

You could think of this as the lazy option, but often it's the wisest option.

Find a trusted developer or consultant who has experience upgrading many Django
projects and pay them to do it for your team.  They will be able to do it more
quickly as they have prior experience with other projects. Leaving your
team with more time to focus on your core business needs.

Source: https://upgradedjango.com/how-to/