PrestaShop vs Vendure
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 | Vendure |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 92 · Excellent | 92 · Excellent |
| Category | E-commerce Platforms | E-commerce Platforms |
| License | OSL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | PHP | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 9,217 | ★ 8,468 |
| First released | 2007 | 2019 |
| Replaces | Shopify, BigCommerce | Shopify, commercetools |
What are PrestaShop and Vendure?
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
Vendure
Vendure is an open-source, headless commerce framework written in TypeScript on top of NestJS and GraphQL. It is designed to be highly extensible for building custom B2B and B2C storefronts.
- GraphQL-based headless API
- Plugin-driven extensibility
- Admin UI included
- Multi-vendor marketplace support
PrestaShop vs Vendure: key differences
PrestaShop is written in PHP, while Vendure is built with TypeScript. Licensing differs — OSL-3.0 for PrestaShop versus MIT for Vendure. PrestaShop is the lighter option, starting around 512 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Vendure. PrestaShop is the more established project (first released 2007), while Vendure arrived in 2019.
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 Vendure if…
- Strong TypeScript developer experience
- Well-documented plugin system
Watch out for
- Requires building your own storefront
- Less out-of-the-box than hosted SaaS
Frequently asked questions
Is PrestaShop or Vendure 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 Vendure free and open-source?
Yes. PrestaShop is licensed under OSL-3.0 and Vendure under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run PrestaShop and Vendure with Docker?
PrestaShop: yes. Vendure: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, PrestaShop or Vendure?
PrestaShop has the smaller minimum footprint at 512 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Vendure. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.