Smartstore vs Solidus
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted e-commerce platforms options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Smartstore | Solidus |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 83 · Excellent | 90 · Excellent |
| Category | E-commerce Platforms | E-commerce Platforms |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| Language | C# | Ruby |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,521 | ★ 5,333 |
| First released | 2010 | 2015 |
| Replaces | Shopify, Magento | Shopify, Magento |
What are Smartstore and Solidus?
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
Solidus
Solidus is a free, open-source e-commerce platform built with Ruby on Rails. It is a community-maintained fork of Spree focused on stability, security, and customization for high-volume stores.
- Stable Rails engine architecture
- Strong upgrade path
- Highly customizable
- Active community governance
Smartstore vs Solidus: key differences
Smartstore is written in C#, while Solidus is built with Ruby. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for Smartstore versus BSD-3-Clause for Solidus. Smartstore is the more established project (first released 2010), while Solidus arrived in 2015. Solidus has the considerably larger community, at 5,333 GitHub stars versus 1,521.
Why pick each one
Choose Smartstore if…
- Polished modern UI
- Good plugin model
Watch out for
- Requires .NET hosting
- Smaller community than competitors
Choose Solidus if…
- Reliable for high-volume stores
- Good security focus
Watch out for
- Rails knowledge required
- No managed hosting option
Frequently asked questions
Is Smartstore or Solidus better?
Neither is universally better. Solidus has the larger community, while Smartstore is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Smartstore and Solidus free and open-source?
Yes. Smartstore is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Solidus under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Smartstore and Solidus with Docker?
Smartstore: yes. Solidus: yes.