Drupal Commerce vs Django Shop
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted e-commerce platforms options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Drupal Commerce | Django Shop |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 11 · At risk | 23 · At risk |
| Category | E-commerce Platforms | E-commerce Platforms |
| License | GPL-2.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| Language | PHP | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 353 | ★ 3,317 |
| First released | 2011 | 2011 |
| Replaces | Shopify, WooCommerce | Shopify, WooCommerce |
What are Drupal Commerce and Django Shop?
Drupal Commerce
Drupal Commerce is an open-source e-commerce framework that integrates deeply with the Drupal content management system. It is well-suited to content-rich stores that combine editorial and shopping experiences.
- Deep Drupal integration
- Flexible product modeling
- Content-driven commerce
- Strong taxonomy support
Django Shop
django SHOP is an open-source e-commerce framework for building online stores on top of Django. It provides a flexible product model, cart, and checkout that developers extend for custom shops.
- Django e-commerce framework
- Flexible product model
- Cart and checkout
- Highly extensible
Drupal Commerce vs Django Shop: key differences
Drupal Commerce is written in PHP, while Django Shop is built with Python. Licensing differs — GPL-2.0 for Drupal Commerce versus BSD-3-Clause for Django Shop. Django Shop is the lighter option, starting around 512 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Drupal Commerce. Django Shop has the considerably larger community, at 3,317 GitHub stars versus 353.
Why pick each one
Choose Drupal Commerce if…
- Great for content-heavy stores
- Powerful field system
Watch out for
- Requires Drupal knowledge
- Complex setup
Choose Django Shop if…
- Released under the BSD-3-Clause license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (3.3k GitHub stars)
- Written in Python
Frequently asked questions
Is Drupal Commerce or Django Shop better?
Neither is universally better. Django Shop has the larger community; both share a hard setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Drupal Commerce and Django Shop free and open-source?
Yes. Drupal Commerce is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Django Shop under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Drupal Commerce and Django Shop with Docker?
Drupal Commerce: yes. Django Shop: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Drupal Commerce or Django Shop?
Django Shop has the smaller minimum footprint at 512 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Drupal Commerce. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.