We really like Psyco to speed things up, but it also has some drawbacks:
What would be good alternatives (Django support required)?
You could try using PyPy, which is an implementation of Python in Python. It is a replacement for the standard CPython implementation and boasts large speed increases.
From its website:
Speed: thanks to its Just-in-Time compiler, Python programs often run faster on PyPy.
Memory usage: large, memory-hungry Python programs might end up taking less space than they do in CPython.
Compatibility: PyPy is highly compatible with existing python code. It supports ctypes and can run popular python libraries like twisted and django.