Cartridge 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.
Not the right match-up?
Cartridge
Django shopping cart for the Mezzanine CMS
VS
Django Shop
E-commerce framework for the Django web framework
| Feature | Cartridge | Django Shop |
|---|---|---|
| Category | E-commerce Platforms | E-commerce Platforms |
| License | BSD-2-Clause | BSD-3-Clause |
| Language | Python | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 712 | ★ 3,319 |
| First released | 2010 | 2011 |
| Replaces | Shopify, WooCommerce | Shopify, WooCommerce |
Why pick each one
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 Cartridge or Django Shop better?
Neither is universally better. Django Shop has the larger community, while Cartridge is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Cartridge and Django Shop free and open-source?
Yes. Cartridge is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and Django Shop under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Cartridge and Django Shop with Docker?
Cartridge: check the project docs for container support. Django Shop: yes.