head to head · open source
reaction vs Smartstore
reaction has 12,399 GitHub stars, 2,176 forks, 96 open issues and last shipped 7 months ago. Smartstore has 1,520 stars, 588 forks, 530 open issues and last shipped yesterday. reaction leads on adoption by 716% (12,399 vs 1,520 stars). reaction is written in JavaScript under GPL-3.0; Smartstore is written in C# under AGPL-3.0. reaction has attracted 18% as many forks as stars, Smartstore 39%. Smartstore was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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 | Smartstore | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 12K | ★ 1.5K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | C# |
| Last push | 2026-03-01 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.2K | ⑂ 588 |
| 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 Smartstore if
- You want the Smartstore feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C#
- You evaluated both and Smartstore 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 Smartstore
Smartstore is an open source, all in one eCommerce platform built on the ASP.NET Core ecosystem. It uses ASP.NET Core 10, Entity Framework Core 10, Vue.js, Sass, and Bootstrap to provide a modular storefront, product catalog, content tools, and shop management interface.
read the full Smartstore overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is reaction or Smartstore more popular?
reaction has 12,399 GitHub stars and Smartstore has 1,520. reaction has the larger community by that measure.
Are reaction and Smartstore free?
Both are open source. reaction is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Smartstore under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between reaction and Smartstore?
reaction is written in JavaScript and Smartstore 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 Smartstore?
Choose reaction if you want the larger community (12,399 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Smartstore if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.