LiteCart 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.
Not the right match-up?
LiteCart
Lightweight free shopping cart built with PHP
VS
WooCommerce
Open-source e-commerce plugin for WordPress
| Feature | LiteCart | WooCommerce |
|---|---|---|
| Category | E-commerce Platforms | E-commerce Platforms |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | PHP | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 236 | ★ 10,451 |
| First released | 2013 | 2011 |
| Replaces | Shopify, Ecwid | Shopify, BigCommerce |
Why pick each one
Choose WooCommerce if…
- Massive plugin and theme library
- Large community and documentation
Frequently asked questions
Is LiteCart or WooCommerce better?
Neither is universally better. WooCommerce 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 WooCommerce free and open-source?
Yes. LiteCart is licensed under GPL-3.0 and WooCommerce under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run LiteCart and WooCommerce with Docker?
LiteCart: check the project docs for container support. WooCommerce: yes.