Saleor 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 | Saleor | thirty bees |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 97 · Excellent | 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 | 2,048 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, source | bare-metal, docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 23,369 | ★ 767 |
| First released | 2016 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Shopify, commercetools | Shopify |
What are Saleor and thirty bees?
Saleor
Saleor is a high-performance, GraphQL-first e-commerce platform built with Python and Django. It is designed for headless storefronts and offers a comprehensive dashboard, multichannel support, and a powerful API.
- GraphQL API throughout
- Multichannel commerce
- React-based dashboard
- Strong B2B and B2C support
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
Saleor vs thirty bees: key differences
Saleor is written in Python, while thirty bees is built with PHP. Licensing differs — BSD-3-Clause for Saleor versus OSL-3.0 for thirty bees. Thirty bees is the lighter option, starting around 1,024 MB of RAM against 2,048 MB for Saleor. Saleor has the considerably larger community, at 23,369 GitHub stars versus 767.
Why pick each one
Choose Saleor if…
- Modern API-driven architecture
- Scalable for large catalogs
Watch out for
- Steep learning curve
- Requires significant infrastructure
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 Saleor or thirty bees better?
Neither is universally better. Saleor 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 Saleor and thirty bees free and open-source?
Yes. Saleor 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 Saleor and thirty bees with Docker?
Saleor: yes. thirty bees: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Saleor or thirty bees?
thirty bees has the smaller minimum footprint at 1,024 MB of RAM, compared to about 2,048 MB for Saleor. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.