Bagisto vs WooCommerce
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted e-commerce platforms options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Bagisto | WooCommerce |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 97 · Excellent | 93 · Excellent |
| Category | E-commerce Platforms | E-commerce Platforms |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | PHP | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 28,157 | ★ 10,524 |
| First released | 2018 | 2011 |
| Replaces | Shopify, WooCommerce | Shopify, BigCommerce |
What are Bagisto and WooCommerce?
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
WooCommerce
WooCommerce is a customizable, open-source e-commerce platform built on WordPress. It powers millions of online stores worldwide with support for physical products, digital downloads, subscriptions, and extensive third-party extensions.
- Built on WordPress
- Huge extension ecosystem
- Supports digital and physical goods
- REST API for integrations
Bagisto vs WooCommerce: key differences
Both projects are written in PHP. Licensing differs — MIT for Bagisto versus GPL-3.0 for WooCommerce. WooCommerce is the lighter option, starting around 512 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Bagisto. WooCommerce is the more established project (first released 2011), while Bagisto arrived in 2018. Bagisto has the considerably larger community, at 28,157 GitHub stars versus 10,524.
Why pick each one
Choose Bagisto if…
- Modern Laravel stack
- Active development
Watch out for
- Smaller extension ecosystem
- Documentation gaps in places
Choose WooCommerce if…
- Massive plugin and theme library
- Large community and documentation
Watch out for
- Requires WordPress maintenance
- Can get costly with paid extensions
Frequently asked questions
Is Bagisto or WooCommerce better?
Neither is universally better. Bagisto has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Bagisto and WooCommerce free and open-source?
Yes. Bagisto is licensed under MIT and WooCommerce under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Bagisto and WooCommerce with Docker?
Bagisto: yes. WooCommerce: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Bagisto or WooCommerce?
WooCommerce has the smaller minimum footprint at 512 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Bagisto. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.