OpenCart vs Spree Commerce
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?
OpenCart
Free PHP-based shopping cart system
VS
Spree Commerce
Open-source Rails e-commerce platform
| Feature | OpenCart | Spree Commerce |
|---|---|---|
| Category | E-commerce Platforms | E-commerce Platforms |
| License | GPL-3.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| Language | PHP | Ruby |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 8,174 | ★ 15,607 |
| First released | 2009 | 2008 |
| Replaces | Shopify, Wix Stores | Shopify, BigCommerce |
Why pick each one
Frequently asked questions
Is OpenCart or Spree Commerce better?
Neither is universally better. Spree Commerce has the larger community, while OpenCart is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are OpenCart and Spree Commerce free and open-source?
Yes. OpenCart is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Spree Commerce under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run OpenCart and Spree Commerce with Docker?
OpenCart: yes. Spree Commerce: yes.