head to head · open source
reaction vs WooCommerce
reaction has 12,399 GitHub stars, 2,176 forks, 96 open issues and last shipped 7 months ago. WooCommerce has 10,514 stars, 10,675 forks, 1,638 open issues and last shipped yesterday. reaction leads on adoption by 18% (12,399 vs 10,514 stars). reaction is written in JavaScript under GPL-3.0; WooCommerce is written in PHP under a custom or non-standard licence. reaction has attracted 18% as many forks as stars, WooCommerce 102%. WooCommerce was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (ecommerce, ecommerce-platform, 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 | WooCommerce | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 12K | ★ 11K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | JavaScript | PHP |
| Last push | 2026-03-01 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.2K | ⑂ 11K |
| 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 WooCommerce if
- You want the WooCommerce feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You evaluated both and WooCommerce 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 WooCommerce
WooCommerce is an open source ecommerce platform built on WordPress. It lives in the WordPress ecosystem, where a website owner can add commerce functionality through a plugin. The project is described as customizable and positioned as an open alternative to Shopify.
read the full WooCommerce overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is reaction or WooCommerce more popular?
reaction has 12,399 GitHub stars and WooCommerce has 10,514. reaction has the larger community by that measure.
Are reaction and WooCommerce free?
Both are open source. reaction is licensed under GPL-3.0, and WooCommerce has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between reaction and WooCommerce?
reaction is written in JavaScript and WooCommerce in PHP. 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 WooCommerce?
Choose reaction if you want the larger community (12,399 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose WooCommerce if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.