The N+1 problem is a common issue that can occur when using the framework serializer. It happens when the code makes multiple database queries to retrieve related data, instead of using a single query with a JOIN statement. This can significantly slow down the performance of your application. Django REST One way to fix this issue is by using the and methods on your queryset. These methods allow you to specify which related data should be fetched in a single database query, reducing the number of queries needed. select_related prefetch_related from django.db import models class Author(models.Model): name = models.CharField(max_length=100) class Book(models.Model): title = models.CharField(max_length=100) author = models.ForeignKey(Author, on_delete=models.CASCADE) # Without select_related books = Book.objects.all() for book in books: print(book.author.name) # This will make a separate database query for each book # With select_related books = Book.objects.select_related('author').all() for book in books: print(book.author.name) # This will make only one database query In this example, we have two models: and . The model has a foreign key to the model. Without using , retrieving the name of the author for each book would require a separate database query for each book. By using , we can fetch all the related data in a single query. Author Book Book Author select_related select_related select_related and prefetch_related is used for one-to-one and many-to-one relationships while is used for one-to-many and many-to-many relationships. tl;dr select_related prefetch_related and are two methods in Django’s ORM that can help reduce the number of database queries. is used to retrieve related objects in a single query when you know you will be accessing the related objects. It works by creating a SQL join and including the fields of the related object in the SELECT statement. select_related prefetch_related select_related On the other hand, does a separate lookup for each relationship and does the ‘joining’ in Python. This can be more efficient when dealing with many-to-many or many-to-one relationships. prefetch_related select_related is a method you can use on a Django QuerySet to optimize database queries when retrieving related data. It works by creating a SQL JOIN statement to retrieve the related data in a single query, instead of making multiple queries. select_related is useful when you have a foreign key or one-to-one relationship between two models. You can use it to specify which related fields should be fetched in the same query as the main model. select_related from django.db import models class Author(models.Model): name = models.CharField(max_length=100) class Book(models.Model): title = models.CharField(max_length=100) author = models.ForeignKey(Author, on_delete=models.CASCADE) # Without select_related books = Book.objects.all() for book in books: print(book.author.name) # This will make a separate database query for each book # With select_related books = Book.objects.select_related('author').all() for book in books: print(book.author.name) # This will make only one database query In this example, we have two models: and . The model has a foreign key to the model. Without using , retrieving the name of the author for each book would require a separate database query for each book. By using , we can fetch all the related data in a single query. Author Book Book Author select_related select_related prefetch_related is another method you can use on a Django QuerySet to optimize database queries when retrieving related data. It works by fetching the related data in a separate query and then associating it with the main model in Python. prefetch_related is useful when you have a many-to-many or reverse foreign key relationship between two models. You can use it to specify which related fields should be fetched in a separate query and then associated with the main model. prefetch_related from django.db import models class Author(modpels.Model): name = models.CharField(max_length=100) books = models.ManyToManyField('Book') class Book(models.Model): title = models.CharField(max_length=100) # Without prefetch_related authors = Author.objects.all() for author in authors: print(author.name) for book in author.books.all(): print(book.title) # This will make a separate database query for each author # With prefetch_related authors = Author.objects.prefetch_related('books').all() for author in authors: print(author.name) for book in author.books.all(): print(book.title) # This will make only two database queries In this example, we have two models: and , with a many-to-many relationship between them. Without using , retrieving the books for each author would require a separate database query for each author. By using , we can fetch all the related data in two queries: one for the authors and one for the books. Author Book prefetch_related prefetch_related In addition to the the code samples, copy.ai was used to edit this article.