What is Django Oscar used for?

Django Oscar is a domain-driven e-commerce framework for Django with an extensible core, a well-designed set of models and extensions for APIs, search and invoices. It is a good fit for custom online stores on Django, agency-built bespoke e-commerce and catalog-heavy shops with unusual business rules.

Is Django Oscar open source?

Yes. Django Oscar is open source under the BSD-3-Clause licence. Its source code is on GitHub at django-oscar/django-oscar and is written mainly in Python.

Is Django Oscar free?

Yes. Django Oscar is open source, so the software itself is free to use.

Can I self-host Django Oscar?

Yes. Django Oscar can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.

What is Django Oscar an alternative to?

Django Oscar is an open-source alternative to BigCommerce. Other open-source alternatives to BigCommerce include nopCommerce, PrestaShop and OpenCart.

Is Django Oscar actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to Django Oscar was on 29 September 2026, and the latest release is 4.2.1, published on 29 September 2026. The project has 6.6k stars on GitHub.

Django Oscar: open-source alternative to BigCommerce

About Django Oscar

Django Oscar is an e-commerce framework for building custom online stores with Django. It is domain-driven and designed so that nearly any class can be overridden, replaced or extended, which is what lets a project capture its own business rules accurately instead of bending to a fixed shop template.

The project provides a set of models built on experience from many e-commerce projects, comprehensive documentation including recipes for common problems, and an extensive test suite. It also has a range of extensions: oscar-api for a RESTful JSON API, oscar-elasticsearch for Elasticsearch search, oscar-invoices for an invoice payment method and oscar-odin, a mapping framework. A sandbox site demonstrates a working store.

Oscar is written in Python, licensed under BSD-3-Clause, and installed into a Django project that you host yourself. It is aimed at developers and agencies building bespoke shops, from large catalogs to boutique stores, who want Django's ecosystem and a customizable core rather than a hosted store builder.

Key features

Overridable and extensible core classes
Domain-driven e-commerce models
Extensions for REST API and Elasticsearch
Invoice payment method extension
Comprehensive documentation and recipes
Extensive automated test suite

Good fit for

→Custom online stores on Django
→Agency-built bespoke e-commerce
→Catalog-heavy shops with unusual business rules

Built with: Python; Django
Tags: ecommerce; django; python; framework; online-store; shopping-cart; extensible; self-hosted

Django Oscar: questions and answers

What is Django Oscar used for?: Django Oscar is a domain-driven e-commerce framework for Django with an extensible core, a well-designed set of models and extensions for APIs, search and invoices. It is a good fit for custom online stores on Django, agency-built bespoke e-commerce and catalog-heavy shops with unusual business rules.
Is Django Oscar open source?: Yes. Django Oscar is open source under the BSD-3-Clause licence. Its source code is on GitHub at django-oscar/django-oscar and is written mainly in Python.
Is Django Oscar free?: Yes. Django Oscar is open source, so the software itself is free to use.
Can I self-host Django Oscar?: Yes. Django Oscar can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.
What is Django Oscar an alternative to?: Django Oscar is an open-source alternative to BigCommerce. Other open-source alternatives to BigCommerce include nopCommerce, PrestaShop and OpenCart.
Is Django Oscar actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to Django Oscar was on 29 September 2026, and the latest release is 4.2.1, published on 29 September 2026. The project has 6.6k stars on GitHub.