head to head · open source
Spree Commerce vs mall4j
Spree Commerce has 15,806 GitHub stars, 5,319 forks, 143 open issues and last shipped yesterday. mall4j has 5,313 stars, 1,374 forks, 14 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Spree Commerce leads on adoption by 197% (15,806 vs 5,313 stars). Spree Commerce is written in Ruby under BSD-3-Clause; mall4j is written in JavaScript under AGPL-3.0. Spree Commerce has attracted 34% as many forks as stars, mall4j 26%. Spree Commerce was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (ecommerce), 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
| Spree Commerce | mall4j | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 16K | ★ 5.3K |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Ruby | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.3K | ⑂ 1.4K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Spree Commerce if
- You weight community size — 16K stars and counting
- You want the BSD-3-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches Ruby
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick mall4j if
- You want the mall4j feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and mall4j fits your workflow better
About Spree Commerce
Website · Free Sandbox · Next.js Storefront · Documentation · API · Roadmap · Discord Open source headless eCommerce platform with a complete REST API, TypeScript SDK, and a production ready Next.js storefront. BSD 3 Clause licensed — keep full ownership of your code, data, and infrastructure. Everything you need to launch cross border storefronts, B2B wholesale, or a custom commerce backend. Getting Started The fastest way to try Spree is to create a free sandbox — a hosted Spree store with the Admin Dashboard and storefront, nothing to install. To run Spree locally instead, copy and paste the following command…
read the full Spree Commerce overview →
About mall4j
Mall4j Java 商城系统 Mall4j 是 Java 商城系统源码产品体系。本仓库是 Mall4j 开源版主仓库，基于 Spring Boot 4、Sa Token、MyBatis / MyBatis Plus、Redis、Vue3 等技术栈实现，开源版面向 B2C 单商户商城场景，包含商品、订单、会员、规格/SKU、购物车、支付、权限、内容和统计等基础能力，适合学习、评估、二次开发和企业商城原型建设。 如果你正在选型 Java 商城系统、商城源码或电商系统源码，可以先从本仓库了解 Mall4j 的开源实现；需要多商户、供应链、SaaS、跨境、多端交付或企业级技术支持时，再参考官网版本说明。 项目说明 项目名称：Mall4j Java 商城系统、Mall4j 商城源码、Mall4j 电商系统源码。 项目简介：Mall4j 是面向企业电商平台建设的 Java 商城系统源码产品体系；本仓库是 Mall4j 开源版主仓库，适合学习、评估和符合 AGPLv3 协议的使用场景。 技术说明：Mall4j 主线已升级到 Spring Boot 4 和 Vue3，具体依赖版本以后端 pom.xml 和前端 package.json 为准。 开源授权：本仓库开源版遵守 AGPLv3 协议，适合学习、评估和符合协议的使用场景。 商业授权：闭源商用、企业私有化交付、企业级售后和更多业务版本应参考 Mall4j 官网商业授权说明。…
read the full mall4j overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Spree Commerce or mall4j more popular?
Spree Commerce has 15,806 GitHub stars and mall4j has 5,313. Spree Commerce has the larger community by that measure.
Are Spree Commerce and mall4j free?
Both are open source. Spree Commerce is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and mall4j under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Spree Commerce and mall4j?
Spree Commerce is written in Ruby and mall4j in JavaScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Spree Commerce or mall4j?
Choose Spree Commerce if you want the larger community (15,806 stars) or its BSD-3-Clause licence terms. Choose mall4j if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.