SHSelfHostIndex

Spree Commerce vs Vendure

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted e-commerce platforms options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
SP Spree Commerce Open-source Rails e-commerce platform VS VE Vendure Headless commerce framework built on Node.js
FeatureSpree CommerceVendure
Deploy effortUnder-an-hour setupUnder-an-hour setup
Health score95 · Excellent92 · Excellent
CategoryE-commerce PlatformsE-commerce Platforms
LicenseBSD-3-ClauseMIT
LanguageRubyTypeScript
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM1,024 MB1,024 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metal, sourcedocker, bare-metal, source
GitHub stars★ 15,718★ 8,468
First released20082019
ReplacesShopify, BigCommerceShopify, commercetools

What are Spree Commerce and Vendure?

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

Read the full Spree Commerce guide →

Vendure

Vendure is an open-source, headless commerce framework written in TypeScript on top of NestJS and GraphQL. It is designed to be highly extensible for building custom B2B and B2C storefronts.

  • GraphQL-based headless API
  • Plugin-driven extensibility
  • Admin UI included
  • Multi-vendor marketplace support

Read the full Vendure guide →

Spree Commerce vs Vendure: key differences

Spree Commerce is written in Ruby, while Vendure is built with TypeScript. Licensing differs — BSD-3-Clause for Spree Commerce versus MIT for Vendure. Spree Commerce is the more established project (first released 2008), while Vendure arrived in 2019.

Why pick each one

Choose Spree Commerce if…

  • Mature and battle-tested
  • Flexible Rails ecosystem

Watch out for

  • Ruby expertise needed for customization
  • Setup can be involved
Spree Commerce details

Choose Vendure if…

  • Strong TypeScript developer experience
  • Well-documented plugin system

Watch out for

  • Requires building your own storefront
  • Less out-of-the-box than hosted SaaS
Vendure details

Frequently asked questions

Is Spree Commerce or Vendure 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 Spree Commerce and Vendure free and open-source?

Yes. Spree Commerce is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and Vendure under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Spree Commerce and Vendure with Docker?

Spree Commerce: yes. Vendure: yes.

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