Django URL Shortener with Analytics & QR Code Generator - Subscription SaaS Project

Django URL Shortener - Complete SaaS Platform for Final Year Project

A production-ready URL shortening platform built with Django framework, featuring subscription-based monetization, real-time analytics tracking, and automated QR code generation. This comprehensive project demonstrates full-stack development skills with payment gateway integration, making it an ideal choice for computer science and IT final year students.

Why Choose This Final Year Project?

• Complete source code with detailed documentation
• Industry-standard architecture following Django best practices
• Real payment gateway integration with Razorpay
• Advanced analytics and data visualization features
• Responsive UI built with Tailwind CSS
• Ready for deployment with production configurations

Core Project Features

1. URL Shortening System

The platform provides intelligent URL shortening capabilities with custom slug generation. Users can create memorable short links using custom aliases (Pro feature) or rely on automatic generation using shortuuid library. The system validates URLs, prevents duplicates, and ensures unique short codes across the database.

2. Subscription Management System

Implements a complete subscription model with Free and Pro tiers. The Free plan offers 10 short links with basic features, while the Pro plan at Rs.499/month provides unlimited links, advanced analytics, and custom domain support. The subscription system includes automated renewal, payment verification, and plan upgrade/downgrade functionality.

3. Razorpay Payment Integration

Seamless payment processing through Razorpay gateway with signature verification for security. The integration includes checkout page generation, payment callback handling, webhook implementation for real-time payment updates, and automatic subscription activation upon successful payment.

4. Analytics Dashboard

Comprehensive click tracking system that captures visitor data including geographic location (country, city), device types (mobile, desktop, tablet), browser information with version tracking, referrer sources, and timestamp data. The Pro plan dashboard visualizes this data using Chart.js with interactive graphs showing click trends over 30 days.

5. QR Code Generation

Automatic QR code creation for every shortened URL using the python-qrcode library. QR codes are generated in high resolution and stored in the media directory, allowing users to download and share them for offline marketing campaigns and print materials.

6. User Authentication System

Built with Django Allauth providing secure user registration, login, logout, and password reset functionality. Includes email verification, social authentication support, and profile management where users can view subscription status and usage statistics.

7. Admin Panel

Customized Django admin interface for platform management. Administrators can monitor all shortened URLs, view analytics data, manage user subscriptions, track payments, and configure subscription plans with pricing and feature sets.

Technical Implementation Details

Backend Architecture

The project follows Django's MVT (Model-View-Template) architecture with modular app structure. Four main apps handle different responsibilities: accounts for user management, shortener for URL operations, analytics for click tracking, and payments for Razorpay integration. Models use PostgreSQL-compatible fields with proper indexing for performance.

Database Schema

The database includes models for User Profile with subscription details, URL Model storing original and shortened URLs with timestamps, Click Model capturing visitor analytics data, Payment Model tracking Razorpay transactions, and Subscription Plan Model defining tier features and pricing.

Middleware Implementation

Custom middleware intercepts short URL requests, performs database lookup, captures visitor information using user-agents library, creates Click analytics records asynchronously, and redirects users to original destination URLs with proper HTTP status codes.

Security Features

The platform implements CSRF protection, SQL injection prevention through Django ORM, XSS protection with template escaping, secure password hashing using PBKDF2 algorithm, rate limiting on API endpoints, and Razorpay signature verification for payment security.

Real-World Applications

Marketing & Advertising

Businesses use URL shorteners for social media campaigns, email marketing with trackable links, offline advertising with QR codes, and affiliate marketing programs with branded short links.

SaaS Business Model

Demonstrates a complete software-as-a-service implementation with subscription tiers, payment processing, user lifecycle management, and monetization strategy suitable for startup ventures.

Analytics Platform

Shows implementation of data collection, processing, and visualization techniques used in modern web analytics tools, providing insights into user behavior and campaign performance.

Link Management

Organizations can centralize their link management, track engagement across multiple channels, update destination URLs without changing short links, and maintain brand consistency with custom domains.

Learning Outcomes

By working with this project, students will master Django framework fundamentals including models, views, templates, and forms. They'll gain experience with payment gateway integration, subscription billing logic, real-time data tracking and processing, responsive frontend design with Tailwind CSS, RESTful API development, database design and optimization, and deployment configurations for production environments.

Project Report & Documentation

The complete project package includes a detailed project report covering abstract, introduction, literature survey, system analysis, system design with ER diagrams and flowcharts, implementation details with code explanations, testing and validation results, screenshots of all modules, and future enhancement suggestions. Additionally, you receive a PowerPoint presentation for project defense and a research paper template for publication.

Technology Stack Highlights

Backend powered by Django 4.2, Django REST Framework for API endpoints, PostgreSQL database for production scalability, and Razorpay SDK for payments. Frontend utilizes Tailwind CSS 3 for modern UI design, Chart.js for data visualization, and vanilla JavaScript for interactivity. Supporting libraries include python-qrcode for QR generation, user-agents for browser detection, shortuuid for code generation, and django-ratelimit for API protection.

Deployment Ready

The project includes complete deployment configurations for production environments. Gunicorn WSGI server setup, Nginx reverse proxy configuration, static files handling with WhiteNoise, environment variable management for security, and Docker containerization support are all included for easy deployment to platforms like AWS, DigitalOcean, or Heroku.

Customization Options

The codebase is structured for easy customization. Students can add new subscription tiers with different features, implement email notifications for subscription events, integrate additional payment methods, add social sharing features, implement A/B testing for short links, create mobile apps using the REST API, and add team collaboration features for enterprise users.

Why This Project Stands Out

This project goes beyond basic CRUD operations by implementing real payment processing, complex analytics with data visualization, subscription business logic with automated renewals, and production-grade security measures. The complete tech stack integration demonstrates industry-relevant skills that employers value, making it an excellent portfolio piece for fresher developers.

Support & Updates

CodeAj Marketplace provides complete project setup assistance with video walkthroughs, detailed source code explanations for every module, custom modifications as per university requirements, project report customization with your college details, and lifetime access to project updates and bug fixes.