LiteCart vs Magento Open Source
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?
LiteCart
Lightweight free shopping cart built with PHP
VS
Magento Open Source
Enterprise-grade open-source commerce platform
| Feature | LiteCart | Magento Open Source |
|---|---|---|
| Category | E-commerce Platforms | E-commerce Platforms |
| License | GPL-3.0 | OSL-3.0 |
| Language | PHP | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 4,096 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 236 | ★ 12,164 |
| First released | 2013 | 2008 |
| Replaces | Shopify, Ecwid | Shopify Plus, BigCommerce |
Why pick each one
Choose Magento Open Source if…
- Powerful for large catalogs
- Robust enterprise features
Frequently asked questions
Is LiteCart or Magento Open Source better?
Neither is universally better. Magento Open Source has the larger community, while LiteCart is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are LiteCart and Magento Open Source free and open-source?
Yes. LiteCart is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Magento Open Source under OSL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run LiteCart and Magento Open Source with Docker?
LiteCart: check the project docs for container support. Magento Open Source: yes.