Solidus 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.
| Feature | Solidus | Sylius |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 90 · Excellent | 92 · Excellent |
| Category | E-commerce Platforms | E-commerce Platforms |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | MIT |
| Language | Ruby | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 5,333 | ★ 8,542 |
| First released | 2015 | 2011 |
| Replaces | Shopify, Magento | Magento, Shopify Plus |
What are Solidus and Sylius?
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
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
Solidus vs Sylius: key differences
Solidus is written in Ruby, while Sylius is built with PHP. Licensing differs — BSD-3-Clause for Solidus versus MIT for Sylius. Solidus is the lighter option, starting around 1,024 MB of RAM against 2,048 MB for Sylius. Sylius is the more established project (first released 2011), while Solidus arrived in 2015.
Why pick each one
Choose Solidus if…
- Reliable for high-volume stores
- Good security focus
Watch out for
- Rails knowledge required
- No managed hosting option
Choose Sylius if…
- Clean, modern PHP codebase
- Strong testing culture
Watch out for
- Requires Symfony knowledge
- Steeper learning curve
Frequently asked questions
Is Solidus 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 Solidus and Sylius free and open-source?
Yes. Solidus is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and Sylius under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Solidus and Sylius with Docker?
Solidus: yes. Sylius: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Solidus or Sylius?
Solidus has the smaller minimum footprint at 1,024 MB of RAM, compared to about 2,048 MB for Sylius. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.