head to head · open source
reaction vs SimplCommerce
reaction has 12,399 GitHub stars, 2,176 forks, 96 open issues and last shipped 7 months ago. SimplCommerce has 4,415 stars, 1,670 forks, 172 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. reaction leads on adoption by 181% (12,399 vs 4,415 stars). reaction is written in JavaScript under GPL-3.0; SimplCommerce is written in C# under Apache-2.0. reaction has attracted 18% as many forks as stars, SimplCommerce 38%. SimplCommerce was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (ecommerce, hacktoberfest), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| reaction | SimplCommerce | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 12K | ★ 4.4K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | C# |
| Last push | 2026-03-01 | 2026-06-08 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.2K | ⑂ 1.7K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick reaction if
- You weight community size — 12K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick SimplCommerce if
- You want the SimplCommerce feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C#
- You evaluated both and SimplCommerce fits your workflow better
About reaction
Mailchimp Open Commerce, formerly Reaction Commerce, is an API first, headless commerce platform built on Node.js, MongoDB, and GraphQL for development teams that want to run a custom storefront, marketplace, or multi shop operation on their own infrastructure — and the project has been discontinued.
read the full reaction overview →
About SimplCommerce
SimplCommerce is an open source, cross platform, modulith ecommerce system built on .NET that targets .NET developers and teams who want to own and extend a storefront rather than rent one.
read the full SimplCommerce overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is reaction or SimplCommerce more popular?
reaction has 12,399 GitHub stars and SimplCommerce has 4,415. reaction has the larger community by that measure.
Are reaction and SimplCommerce free?
Both are open source. reaction is licensed under GPL-3.0 and SimplCommerce under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between reaction and SimplCommerce?
reaction is written in JavaScript and SimplCommerce in C#. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, reaction or SimplCommerce?
Choose reaction if you want the larger community (12,399 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose SimplCommerce if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.