Saleor vs PrestaShop: Self-Hosted E-Commerce

Want to run your own online store without paying Shopify $39–399/month? Saleor and PrestaShop are both self-hosted e-commerce platforms, but they take fundamentally different approaches. Understanding the architectural difference saves you from picking the wrong one.

Quick Verdict

PrestaShop gives you a complete, ready-to-use online store with a built-in storefront, admin panel, and theme system. Saleor gives you a headless commerce API that powers custom frontends — more flexible, but you need to build (or find) your own storefront. For most self-hosters launching an online store, PrestaShop gets you selling faster. For developers building a custom commerce experience, Saleor is the modern foundation.

Overview

PrestaShop is a traditional, monolithic e-commerce platform built in PHP. It ships with everything: product catalog, shopping cart, checkout, payment processing, customer accounts, admin panel, and a themeable storefront. Install it, pick a theme, add products, and you’re live.

Saleor is a headless, GraphQL-first commerce engine built in Python (Django). It handles the backend logic — products, orders, payments, shipping, discounts — but deliberately has no storefront. You connect a React/Next.js frontend (Saleor provides a reference storefront) or build your own. This decoupled architecture enables multi-channel selling (web, mobile, POS, marketplace) from one backend.

Feature Comparison

Feature	Saleor	PrestaShop
Architecture	Headless, API-first	Monolithic, server-rendered
API	GraphQL (comprehensive)	REST + legacy SOAP
Frontend	Bring your own (reference storefront available)	Built-in themes + marketplace
Admin panel	Saleor Dashboard (React SPA)	Built-in admin (PHP)
Payment gateways	Stripe, Adyen, PayPal (plugin system)	250+ payment modules
Shipping	Flexible rules, zones, webhooks	Built-in carriers, modules
Multi-channel	Native (web, mobile, POS, marketplace)	Limited (primarily web)
Multi-language	Built-in (i18n-first)	Built-in (75+ languages)
Multi-currency	Native support	Supported via modules
SEO	Depends on frontend implementation	Built-in SEO tools (meta, URLs)
Plugins/modules	Webhook-based apps, marketplace	5,000+ modules in marketplace
License	BSD-3-Clause	OSL-3.0
Language	Python (Django)	PHP (Symfony)

Installation Complexity

Saleor

Saleor requires a multi-service stack: the API server, a PostgreSQL database, Redis for caching and Celery task queue, and Celery workers for background processing.

services:
  saleor-api:
    image: saleor/saleor:3.22.40
    ports:
      - "8000:8000"
  saleor-dashboard:
    image: saleor/saleor-dashboard:4.14.0
    ports:
      - "9000:80"
  postgres:
    image: postgres:16-alpine
  redis:
    image: redis:7-alpine
  celery-worker:
    image: saleor/saleor:3.22.40
    command: celery -A saleor --app=saleor.celeryconf:app worker
  celery-beat:
    image: saleor/saleor:3.22.40
    command: celery -A saleor --app=saleor.celeryconf:app beat

After deploying the API, you still need a storefront. Saleor’s reference implementation (saleor-storefront) is a Next.js application that connects to the GraphQL API. That’s a seventh container if you deploy it via Docker. Total: 6–7 services minimum.

PrestaShop

PrestaShop deploys as two containers: the application and a MySQL database.

services:
  prestashop:
    image: prestashop/prestashop:9.0.3
    ports:
      - "8080:80"
  mysql:
    image: mysql:8.0

Set PS_INSTALL_AUTO=1 for automatic installation, or access the web installer at first boot. The admin panel and storefront are both ready immediately — no additional frontend deployment required. Total: 2 services.

Verdict: PrestaShop is dramatically simpler to deploy. You go from docker compose up to a working store in minutes. Saleor requires assembling multiple services and deploying a separate frontend.

Performance and Resource Usage

Resource	Saleor (6-service stack)	PrestaShop (2-service stack)
RAM (idle)	~1.5 GB (API + Dashboard + DB + Redis + 2 Celery)	~512 MB (App + MySQL)
RAM (production)	2–4 GB	1–2 GB
CPU	Moderate (Python/Django + Celery workers)	Low-moderate (PHP + Apache)
Disk	~500 MB base + product media	~1 GB base + product media
Startup time	20–30 seconds	15–20 seconds (60s on first install)

Saleor’s resource overhead comes from its microservice-like architecture — running Celery workers and Redis alongside the API server. PrestaShop’s monolithic design keeps everything in a single PHP process.

For small stores (under 1,000 products), PrestaShop runs comfortably on a 2 GB VPS. Saleor needs at least 4 GB to avoid swapping, and the PostgreSQL + Redis combination benefits from more memory.

Community and Support

Metric	Saleor	PrestaShop
GitHub stars	~21K	~8.5K
First release	2012	2007
Active development	Yes (Saleor Commerce)	Yes (PrestaShop SA)
Contributors	~300	~1,000+
Plugin ecosystem	Growing (app marketplace)	Mature (5,000+ modules)
Themes	Reference storefront only	3,000+ themes
Documentation	Strong API docs	Extensive (dev + user)
Commercial support	Saleor Cloud	PrestaShop SA support plans

PrestaShop’s 17-year ecosystem means you’ll find modules for nearly any payment gateway, shipping carrier, or marketplace integration. Saleor’s ecosystem is younger and smaller, but its webhook-based app architecture makes custom integrations straightforward for developers.

Use Cases

Choose Saleor If…

• You’re a developer building a custom storefront (React, Next.js, mobile app)
• You need multi-channel commerce (web + mobile + POS from one API)
• You want a modern tech stack with GraphQL and Python
• You’re building a marketplace or B2B platform with custom business logic
• Performance at scale matters — Saleor handles 1B+ monthly requests in production
• You want to separate frontend releases from backend deployments

Choose PrestaShop If…

• You want a working online store as fast as possible
• You’re not a developer and prefer configuration over code
• You need an existing ecosystem of themes and payment modules
• You’re migrating from Shopify, WooCommerce, or Magento
• SEO tools should be built-in, not dependent on frontend implementation
• You’re running on limited hardware (2 GB VPS)

Final Verdict

The practical choice is PrestaShop for most self-hosters starting an online store. It provides a complete, ready-to-sell platform with an admin panel, storefront, payment integrations, and SEO tools — all from two Docker containers. The learning curve is manageable, and the module ecosystem covers almost any requirement.

Saleor wins if you’re a development team building a custom commerce experience. Its GraphQL API is well-designed, the headless architecture enables true multi-channel commerce, and the Python/Django codebase is pleasant to extend. But “headless” means you’re responsible for the entire frontend — that’s a significant ongoing effort that most self-hosters shouldn’t take on just to sell products online.

FAQ

Can I use Saleor without building a custom frontend?

Saleor provides a reference storefront (saleor-storefront) built with Next.js. You can deploy it as-is for a basic store. However, customizing it requires React/Next.js development skills. There’s no theme marketplace like PrestaShop has.

Is PrestaShop really free?

The core software is free and open-source (OSL-3.0). Revenue comes from paid modules and themes in the PrestaShop Addons marketplace, plus PrestaShop-hosted services. You can run a complete store without paying anything, but premium modules for specific payment gateways or features may cost $50–200 each.

Which handles more products better?

Saleor’s GraphQL API and PostgreSQL backend handle large catalogs (100K+ products) more efficiently. PrestaShop can struggle with catalogs above 50K products without performance optimization (caching, CDN, database tuning). For small-to-medium catalogs, both perform fine.

Can I migrate from Shopify to either?

PrestaShop has dedicated Shopify migration modules that import products, customers, and orders. Saleor requires writing a migration script using its GraphQL API. For a straightforward migration, PrestaShop is easier.

Related

• How to Self-Host Saleor
• How to Self-Host PrestaShop
• Medusa vs Saleor
• Best Self-Hosted E-Commerce
• Self-Hosted Alternatives to Shopify
• Docker Compose Basics