Spree Commerce — Self-Hosted, Open-Source
Spree is a complete, modular & API-driven open source e-commerce solution for Ruby on Rails.
License: BSD-3-Clause. Built with: Ruby, HTML, JavaScript, SCSS, CSS, Shell. Website: https://spreecommerce.org. Source: https://github.com/spree/spree.
Features
- REST API & TypeScript SDK -- production-grade REST API with flat JSON, publishable keys, rate limiting, and OpenAPI 3.0 spec. The TypeScript SDK adds autocomplete and type safety.
- Cross-Border Commerce -- Markets bundle currency, language, payment methods, and shipping rules per country. Translations Center for bulk product localization. EU Omnibus Directive compliance with automatic 30-day price history.
- Payment Sessions -- provider-agnostic payment processing. Ship with Stripe, add Adyen or PayPal without changing storefront checkout code.
- MeiliSearch Integration -- typo-tolerant product search and faceted filtering
- AI-Ready Development -- AGENTS.md and bundled offline docs ship with every scaffolded project. OpenAPI 3.0 specs enable typed client generation for any language.
- Admin Dashboard -- rebuilt admin with Tailwind CSS, Tables DSL, and role-based permissions
- Pricing & Promotions -- Price Lists for regional/B2B/wholesale pricing, Customer Groups, Gift Cards, and an advanced Promotions Engine
- Products & Catalog -- Metafields, CSV importer/exporter, digital products, product tags, bulk operations
- Integrations & Extensibility -- Event Bus, Webhooks 2.0, native integrations (GA4, GTM, Klaviyo, MeiliSearch)
Installation
npx create-spree-app@latest my-store
Why self-host Spree Commerce
Self-hosting gives you three things SaaS can’t: data ownership (the files live on disks you control), cost predictability (a one-time setup vs. recurring per-seat fees that grow with your household or team), and longevity (open-source means the app keeps working even if the maintainers move on, since you can pin a working version). The trade-off is that you take on the operational work of running a server, applying updates, and handling backups.
What hardware do you need
Most self-hosted apps run comfortably on modest hardware — a Raspberry Pi 4, a mini PC, a NAS with Docker support, or a small VPS is usually enough for personal or family use. CPU and RAM requirements scale with how many simultaneous users or how much data you push through Spree Commerce. Storage requirements depend on the kind of data you keep; check the README for guidance on data retention.
Last verified: 2026-05-22