Django Shop vs thirty bees
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted e-commerce platforms options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Django Shop | thirty bees |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 23 · At risk | 81 · Excellent |
| Category | E-commerce Platforms | E-commerce Platforms |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | OSL-3.0 |
| Language | Python | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, source | bare-metal, docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3,317 | ★ 767 |
| First released | 2011 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Shopify, WooCommerce | Shopify |
What are Django Shop and thirty bees?
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
thirty bees
thirty bees is an open-source e-commerce platform forked from PrestaShop with a focus on stability, performance, and merchant-friendly features. It runs traditional online stores and is compatible with many PrestaShop modules.
- PrestaShop module compatibility
- Stability focus
- Multi-store support
- Theme system
Django Shop vs thirty bees: key differences
Django Shop is written in Python, while thirty bees is built with PHP. Licensing differs — BSD-3-Clause for Django Shop versus OSL-3.0 for thirty bees. Django Shop is the lighter option, starting around 512 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for thirty bees. Django Shop is the more established project (first released 2011), while thirty bees arrived in 2017. Django Shop has the considerably larger community, at 3,317 GitHub stars versus 767.
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
Choose thirty bees if…
- Released under the OSL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in PHP
Watch out for
- Smaller community
- Slower release cadence
Frequently asked questions
Is Django Shop or thirty bees better?
Neither is universally better. Django Shop has the larger community, while thirty bees is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Django Shop and thirty bees free and open-source?
Yes. Django Shop is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and thirty bees under OSL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Django Shop and thirty bees with Docker?
Django Shop: yes. thirty bees: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Django Shop or thirty bees?
Django Shop has the smaller minimum footprint at 512 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for thirty bees. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.