Bagisto vs Reaction Commerce
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted e-commerce platforms options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Bagisto
Laravel-based open-source e-commerce platform
VS
Reaction Commerce
Headless GraphQL commerce microservices platform
| Feature | Bagisto | Reaction Commerce |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 97 · Excellent | 58 · Fair |
| Category | E-commerce Platforms | E-commerce Platforms |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | PHP | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | docker, kubernetes, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 28,163 | ★ 12,401 |
| First released | 2018 | 2013 |
| Replaces | Shopify, WooCommerce | Shopify, commercetools |
What are Bagisto and Reaction Commerce?
Bagisto
Bagisto is a free, open-source e-commerce framework built on Laravel and Vue.js. It offers multi-warehouse inventory, a modular admin, and headless capabilities for building modern online stores.
- Built on Laravel framework
- Multi-warehouse inventory
- Headless GraphQL API
- Multi-channel and multi-locale
Reaction Commerce
Reaction Commerce (Open Commerce) is an API-first, headless commerce platform built with Node.js and GraphQL. It uses a microservices architecture suited to flexible, custom storefront builds.
- GraphQL-first API
- Microservices architecture
- Real-time inventory
- Plugin-based extensibility
Bagisto vs Reaction Commerce: key differences
Bagisto is written in PHP, while Reaction Commerce is built with JavaScript. Licensing differs — MIT for Bagisto versus Apache-2.0 for Reaction Commerce. Bagisto is the lighter option, starting around 1,024 MB of RAM against 2,048 MB for Reaction Commerce. Reaction Commerce is the more established project (first released 2013), while Bagisto arrived in 2018. Bagisto has the considerably larger community, at 28,163 GitHub stars versus 12,401.
Why pick each one
Choose Bagisto if…
- Modern Laravel stack
- Active development
Watch out for
- Smaller extension ecosystem
- Documentation gaps in places
Choose Reaction Commerce if…
- Cloud-native design
- Highly scalable
Watch out for
- Complex to operate
- Development paused upstream
Frequently asked questions
Is Bagisto or Reaction Commerce better?
Bagisto is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider Reaction Commerce if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Bagisto and Reaction Commerce free and open-source?
Yes. Bagisto is licensed under MIT and Reaction Commerce under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Bagisto and Reaction Commerce with Docker?
Bagisto: yes. Reaction Commerce: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Bagisto or Reaction Commerce?
Bagisto has the smaller minimum footprint at 1,024 MB of RAM, compared to about 2,048 MB for Reaction Commerce. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.