PrestaShop vs Thelia
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 | Thelia |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 92 · Excellent | 82 · Excellent |
| Category | E-commerce Platforms | E-commerce Platforms |
| License | OSL-3.0 | LGPL-3.0 |
| Language | PHP | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 9,217 | ★ 879 |
| First released | 2007 | 2013 |
| Replaces | Shopify, BigCommerce | Shopify, PrestaShop |
What are PrestaShop and Thelia?
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
Thelia
Thelia is a free, open-source e-commerce and content management solution built on Symfony components. It is popular in France and offers a template-based theming system and module marketplace.
- Symfony-based core
- Smarty template engine
- Module marketplace
- Multi-domain support
PrestaShop vs Thelia: key differences
Both projects are written in PHP. Licensing differs — OSL-3.0 for PrestaShop versus LGPL-3.0 for Thelia. PrestaShop is the more established project (first released 2007), while Thelia arrived in 2013. PrestaShop has the considerably larger community, at 9,217 GitHub stars versus 879. PrestaShop lists first-class Docker deployment; Thelia does not.
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 Thelia if…
- Good documentation in French
- Flexible theming
Watch out for
- Limited adoption outside France
- Smaller community
Frequently asked questions
Is PrestaShop or Thelia 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 Thelia free and open-source?
Yes. PrestaShop is licensed under OSL-3.0 and Thelia under LGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run PrestaShop and Thelia with Docker?
PrestaShop: yes. Thelia: check the project docs for container support.