Thelia 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.
| Feature | Thelia | Vendure |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 82 · Excellent | 92 · Excellent |
| Category | E-commerce Platforms | E-commerce Platforms |
| License | LGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | PHP | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 879 | ★ 8,468 |
| First released | 2013 | 2019 |
| Replaces | Shopify, PrestaShop | Shopify, commercetools |
What are Thelia and Vendure?
Thelia
Thelia is a free, open-source e-commerce and content management solution built on Symfony components. It is popular in France and offers a template-based theming system and module marketplace.
- Symfony-based core
- Smarty template engine
- Module marketplace
- Multi-domain support
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
Thelia vs Vendure: key differences
Thelia is written in PHP, while Vendure is built with TypeScript. Licensing differs — LGPL-3.0 for Thelia versus MIT for Vendure. Thelia is the lighter option, starting around 512 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Vendure. Thelia is the more established project (first released 2013), while Vendure arrived in 2019. Vendure has the considerably larger community, at 8,468 GitHub stars versus 879. Vendure lists first-class Docker deployment; Thelia does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Thelia if…
- Good documentation in French
- Flexible theming
Watch out for
- Limited adoption outside France
- Smaller community
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
Frequently asked questions
Is Thelia or Vendure better?
Neither is universally better. Vendure has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Thelia and Vendure free and open-source?
Yes. Thelia is licensed under LGPL-3.0 and Vendure under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Thelia and Vendure with Docker?
Thelia: check the project docs for container support. Vendure: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Thelia or Vendure?
Thelia has the smaller minimum footprint at 512 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Vendure. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.