SHSelfHostIndex

Magento Open Source vs s-cart

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?
MA Magento Open Source Enterprise-grade open-source commerce platform VS S- s-cart E-commerce website for individuals and businesses, built on top of
FeatureMagento Open Sources-cart
CategoryE-commerce PlatformsE-commerce Platforms
LicenseOSL-3.0MIT
LanguagePHPBlade
Setup difficultyHardMedium
Min. RAM4,096 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metal, sourcebare-metal
GitHub stars★ 12,164★ 11
First released20082025
ReplacesShopify Plus, BigCommerce—

Why pick each one

Choose Magento Open Source if…

  • Powerful for large catalogs
  • Robust enterprise features
Magento Open Source details

Choose s-cart if…

  • Released under the MIT license
  • Written in Blade
  • Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
s-cart details

Frequently asked questions

Is Magento Open Source or s-cart better?

Neither is universally better. Magento Open Source has the larger community, while s-cart is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are Magento Open Source and s-cart free and open-source?

Yes. Magento Open Source is licensed under OSL-3.0 and s-cart under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Magento Open Source and s-cart with Docker?

Magento Open Source: yes. s-cart: check the project docs for container support.

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