Shopware vs Sylius
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted e-commerce platforms options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Shopware
Flexible open-source commerce for growing brands
VS
Sylius
Symfony-based open-source commerce platform
| Feature | Shopware | Sylius |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 88 · Excellent | 92 · Excellent |
| Category | E-commerce Platforms | E-commerce Platforms |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | PHP | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3,430 | ★ 8,542 |
| First released | 2010 | 2011 |
| Replaces | Shopify, Magento | Magento, Shopify Plus |
What are Shopware and Sylius?
Shopware
Shopware is an open-source e-commerce platform from Germany built with Symfony and Vue.js. The community edition offers a modern admin, headless API, and a rich extension ecosystem.
- Modern Vue.js admin
- Headless API capabilities
- Rule-based merchandising
- Strong extension store
Sylius
Sylius is an open-source e-commerce platform built on the Symfony framework. It targets mid-market and enterprise stores that need a fully customizable, API-first commerce solution.
- Built on Symfony components
- API-first architecture
- Behavior-driven testing baked in
- Highly customizable codebase
Shopware vs Sylius: key differences
Both projects are written in PHP. Sylius has the considerably larger community, at 8,542 GitHub stars versus 3,430.
Why pick each one
Choose Shopware if…
- Polished merchant experience
- Powerful B2B suite available
Watch out for
- Heavy resource needs
- Complex for small shops
Choose Sylius if…
- Clean, modern PHP codebase
- Strong testing culture
Watch out for
- Requires Symfony knowledge
- Steeper learning curve
Frequently asked questions
Is Shopware or Sylius better?
Neither is universally better. Sylius has the larger community; both share a hard setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Shopware and Sylius free and open-source?
Yes. Shopware is licensed under MIT and Sylius under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Shopware and Sylius with Docker?
Shopware: yes. Sylius: yes.