CoreShop 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.
Not the right match-up?
CoreShop
E-commerce plugin for Pimcore
VS
Reaction Commerce
Headless GraphQL commerce microservices platform
| Feature | CoreShop | Reaction Commerce |
|---|---|---|
| Category | E-commerce Platforms | E-commerce Platforms |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | PHP | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal | docker, kubernetes, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 292 | ★ 12,400 |
| First released | 2026 | 2013 |
| Replaces | — | Shopify, commercetools |
Why pick each one
Choose CoreShop if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Written in PHP
- Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is CoreShop or Reaction Commerce better?
Neither is universally better. Reaction Commerce has the larger community, while CoreShop is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are CoreShop and Reaction Commerce free and open-source?
Yes. CoreShop is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Reaction Commerce under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run CoreShop and Reaction Commerce with Docker?
CoreShop: check the project docs for container support. Reaction Commerce: yes.