django-netfields

What it is and what it does

django-netfields extends Django's ORM with proper PostgreSQL network data types, replacing the inefficient built-in IP fields with native INET, CIDR, MACADDR, and MACADDR8 field types. The package maps these PostgreSQL types to Python's ipaddress module (for IP fields) and netaddr.EUI (for MAC fields), eliminating costly HOST() casts in queries and enabling IPv6 support.

The package includes NetManager, which unlocks advanced network-based lookups directly in the ORM—containment checks, overlap detection, family matching, prefix length filtering, and more—corresponding to PostgreSQL's native network functions. It also exposes Postgres network functions (Family, Masklen, Broadcast, etc.) as Django database functions for complex queries and annotations.

Use it for:

• Store and query IP addresses and subnets efficiently in Django models backed by PostgreSQL
• Perform network containment and overlap queries without application-level filtering
• Track MAC addresses in network device or inventory models
• Build IP-based access control or firewall rule systems with native database queries
• Annotate models with extracted network metadata (family, netmask length, broadcast address)

Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying

Provides Django model fields for PostgreSQL network types (INET, CIDR, MACADDR, MACADDR8) with native IP and MAC address handling and advanced network-based ORM lookups.

Yes. The package is actively maintained, has no known vulnerabilities, and solves a real problem—efficient network data handling in Django+PostgreSQL. Install if you need to store or query IP/CIDR/MAC data; skip if you're not using PostgreSQL or don't need network-specific lookups.

Install

django-netfields on PyPI

pip install django-netfields

uv add django-netfields

poetry add django-netfields

Installing django-netfields

Before you install

Low friction: pure Python wheel with only netaddr and django as runtime dependencies. Actively maintained with a recent commit on 2026-03-05 and no known vulnerabilities.

License in practice

BSD license is permissive; you can use, modify, and distribute this package freely with minimal restrictions.

Quickstart

pip install django-netfields

from netfields import InetAddressField, NetManager
from django.db import models

class Example(models.Model):
    inet = InetAddressField()
    objects = NetManager()

# Query with network lookups
Example.objects.filter(inet__net_contained='10.0.0.0/8')

Requires PostgreSQL backend; psycopg2 or psycopg driver must be installed separately. Django >= 1.11 required.

Verify before relying

• Whether the package supports Django versions newer than 1.11
• Performance characteristics of network lookups on large datasets
• Compatibility with psycopg2 vs. psycopg driver versions

Package facts

Evidence: django_netfields-1.4.1-py3-none-any.whl

Tags

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