PrestaShop vs Smartstore
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted e-commerce platforms options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | PrestaShop | Smartstore |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 92 · Excellent | 83 · Excellent |
| Category | E-commerce Platforms | E-commerce Platforms |
| License | OSL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | PHP | C# |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 9,217 | ★ 1,521 |
| First released | 2007 | 2010 |
| Replaces | Shopify, BigCommerce | Shopify, Magento |
What are PrestaShop and Smartstore?
PrestaShop
PrestaShop is a free, open-source e-commerce solution written in PHP. It offers a feature-rich back office, themes, and a marketplace of modules for building and managing online stores of any size.
- Full-featured admin back office
- Large module marketplace
- Multi-store support
- Multilingual catalog
Smartstore
Smartstore is a free, open-source e-commerce platform built on ASP.NET Core. It provides a modern responsive storefront, modular plugin system, and a powerful admin for managing stores.
- Modern ASP.NET Core stack
- Modular architecture
- Responsive Bootstrap theme
- Built-in CMS pages
PrestaShop vs Smartstore: key differences
PrestaShop is written in PHP, while Smartstore is built with C#. Licensing differs — OSL-3.0 for PrestaShop versus AGPL-3.0 for Smartstore. PrestaShop is the lighter option, starting around 512 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Smartstore. PrestaShop is the more established project (first released 2007), while Smartstore arrived in 2010. PrestaShop has the considerably larger community, at 9,217 GitHub stars versus 1,521.
Why pick each one
Choose PrestaShop if…
- Mature and well-documented
- No license fees for core
Watch out for
- Paid modules can be expensive
- Upgrades can be tricky
Choose Smartstore if…
- Polished modern UI
- Good plugin model
Watch out for
- Requires .NET hosting
- Smaller community than competitors
Frequently asked questions
Is PrestaShop or Smartstore better?
Neither is universally better. PrestaShop has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are PrestaShop and Smartstore free and open-source?
Yes. PrestaShop is licensed under OSL-3.0 and Smartstore under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run PrestaShop and Smartstore with Docker?
PrestaShop: yes. Smartstore: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, PrestaShop or Smartstore?
PrestaShop has the smaller minimum footprint at 512 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Smartstore. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.