Smartstore vs Spree Commerce
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 | Spree Commerce |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 83 · Excellent | 95 · Excellent |
| Category | E-commerce Platforms | E-commerce Platforms |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| Language | C# | Ruby |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,521 | ★ 15,718 |
| First released | 2010 | 2008 |
| Replaces | Shopify, Magento | Shopify, BigCommerce |
What are Smartstore and Spree Commerce?
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
Spree Commerce
Spree Commerce is a complete open-source e-commerce platform built with Ruby on Rails. It supports multi-vendor marketplaces, multi-store, and headless API-driven storefronts.
- Modular Rails engine architecture
- Multi-store and multi-vendor
- Headless storefront API
- Admin dashboard included
Smartstore vs Spree Commerce: key differences
Smartstore is written in C#, while Spree Commerce is built with Ruby. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for Smartstore versus BSD-3-Clause for Spree Commerce. Spree Commerce is the more established project (first released 2008), while Smartstore arrived in 2010. Spree Commerce has the considerably larger community, at 15,718 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 Spree Commerce if…
- Mature and battle-tested
- Flexible Rails ecosystem
Watch out for
- Ruby expertise needed for customization
- Setup can be involved
Frequently asked questions
Is Smartstore or Spree Commerce better?
Neither is universally better. Spree Commerce has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Smartstore and Spree Commerce free and open-source?
Yes. Smartstore is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Spree Commerce under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Smartstore and Spree Commerce with Docker?
Smartstore: yes. Spree Commerce: yes.