SHSelfHostIndex

Spree Commerce vs WooCommerce

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 WO WooCommerce Open-source e-commerce plugin for WordPress
FeatureSpree CommerceWooCommerce
CategoryE-commerce PlatformsE-commerce Platforms
LicenseBSD-3-ClauseGPL-3.0
LanguageRubyPHP
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM1,024 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metal, sourcedocker, bare-metal, source
GitHub stars★ 15,607★ 10,451
First released20082011
ReplacesShopify, BigCommerceShopify, BigCommerce

Why pick each one

Choose Spree Commerce if…

  • Mature and battle-tested
  • Flexible Rails ecosystem
Spree Commerce details

Choose WooCommerce if…

  • Massive plugin and theme library
  • Large community and documentation
WooCommerce details

Frequently asked questions

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

Yes. Spree Commerce is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and WooCommerce under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Spree Commerce and WooCommerce with Docker?

Spree Commerce: yes. WooCommerce: yes.

Related comparisons