GreenCart vs Spree Commerce
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted e-commerce platforms options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
GreenCart
Self-hosted digital downloads storefront
VS
Spree Commerce
Open-source Rails e-commerce platform
| Feature | GreenCart | Spree Commerce |
|---|---|---|
| Category | E-commerce Platforms | E-commerce Platforms |
| License | GPL-3.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| Language | PHP | Ruby |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 893 | ★ 15,607 |
| First released | 2012 | 2008 |
| Replaces | Gumroad, SendOwl | Shopify, BigCommerce |
Why pick each one
Frequently asked questions
Is GreenCart or Spree Commerce better?
Neither is universally better. Spree Commerce has the larger community, while GreenCart is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are GreenCart and Spree Commerce free and open-source?
Yes. GreenCart is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Spree Commerce under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run GreenCart and Spree Commerce with Docker?
GreenCart: check the project docs for container support. Spree Commerce: yes.