Freedom251 › Ecommerce platforms
Shopbay.org
What Shopbay.org is
Shopbay.org is a free, open-source, multi-tenant ecommerce platform for businesses and developers. Its hosted service supports multichannel sales and lets one account manage multiple shops. A management portal combines shops, products, orders, customers, and chatbots and is designed for use on any device. Merchants can customize themes, pages, menus, domains, and branding. Responsive storefronts let customers browse and order on mobile devices. Catalog tools support batch uploads, categories, brands, configurable attributes, reviews, and SKU-level stock tracking. Checkout can allow guest orders, multiple shipping choices in one cart, checkout item limits, and merchant-controlled returns. Payments include PayPal and credit cards through Braintree, although merchants need their own payment gateway accounts. Marketing features include campaigns, Buy X Get Y offers, discount and free-shipping codes, a news blog, social sharing, and SEO controls. The hosted service requires no installation, receives regular updates, and is backed up regularly. Support comes through expert-answered tickets and community help.
Who it suits
Shopbay.org suits small businesses, individuals, web agencies, ecommerce consultants, and developers seeking a free hosted ecommerce platform. It also fits merchants managing multiple shops and sales channels.
What it does well
- Free open-source ecommerce platform
- Manage multiple shops from one account
- Responsive storefronts support mobile ordering
- Includes catalog and SKU stock tools
- Hosted service needs no installation
What to know first
- Merchants need their own payment gateway accounts
- No plan-specific limits are stated
- Hosted model may not suit self-managed deployments
Plans
| Plan | Billed and limits | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Shopbay.org | Free platform; no plan-specific limits stated | Free |
| Free | feature-rich open-source ecommerce platform · hosted shop · multichannel selling | Free |
As shopbay.org lists them, read 12 Oct 2026. The maker's own page has the final word.
Verdict
Shopbay.org combines multi-shop management, storefront customization, catalog controls, checkout, payments, and marketing in a free hosted platform. Its payment setup requires merchants to maintain their own gateway accounts.
Facts from Shopbay.org's own pages
- API architecture
- The public GitHub project identifies shopbay-api as a Yii 2 application handling backend API operations. · github.com, 15 Oct 2026
- API authentication
- The API repository includes an OAuth2 server library and documents a PHP 7.2 compatibility change using random_bytes(). · github.com, 15 Oct 2026
- API repository activity
- The shopbay-api repository shows one star, four forks, two commits and no issues. · github.com, 15 Oct 2026
- API requirements
- The API repository lists shopbay-kernel and yii2-oauth2-server as requirements and links to an API reference guide. · github.com, 15 Oct 2026
- Backups
- The provider says it performs regular backups intended to keep data loss near zero. · shopbay.org, 15 Oct 2026
- Cart and checkout
- The cart supports guest checkout, multiple shipping options in one cart, checkout item limits, and merchant control over returns. · shopbay.org, 12 Oct 2026
- Catalog and inventory
- Product tools include batch uploads, categories, brands, configurable attributes, product reviews, and SKU-level stock tracking. · shopbay.org, 12 Oct 2026
- Chatbot
- Its chatbot automatically uses shop products, news and promotions and connects with Facebook Messenger without coding. · shopbay.org, 15 Oct 2026
- Chatbot messaging
- The bot supports rich messages, subscription notifications, guided shopping, AI natural-language interaction and human live chat hours. · shopbay.org, 15 Oct 2026
- Company copyright
- The license file attributes Shopbay.org copyright to Lok Kek Wee and dates the code copyright 2015–2018. · github.com, 15 Oct 2026
- Developer stack
- The repository identifies Yii Framework and a LAMP stack, with PHP 7, Yii 1 and Yii 2 topics. · github.com, 15 Oct 2026
- Documentation depth
- The API repository provides requirements notes and an API reference link, while the main site provides community tutorials and questions. · github.com, 15 Oct 2026
- Free plan
- Yes · shopbay.org, 21 Sept 2026
- Hosting
- The hosted service runs in a secure cloud and requires no installation. · shopbay.org, 15 Oct 2026
- Hosting and backups
- The hosted service says shops require no installation, receive regular software updates, and are backed up regularly. · shopbay.org, 12 Oct 2026
- Hosting model
- hosted · shopbay.org, 21 Sept 2026
- Intended users
- The site identifies small businesses, individuals, web agencies, ecommerce consultants, and developers as audiences for the platform. · shopbay.org, 12 Oct 2026
- Inventory
- Inventory management tracks SKU stock counts in real time and supports stock adjustments. · merchant.shopbay.org, 15 Oct 2026
- License
- The project license grants redistribution and modification under GNU General Public License version 3 or later, without warranty. · github.com, 15 Oct 2026
- Limit: installation guidance
- The hosted feature page says no installation is required, while the public repositories expose source components rather than a consolidated installer guide. · shopbay.org, 15 Oct 2026
- Limit: payment dependency
- Online card payments require the merchant to have a payment-gateway account. · shopbay.org, 15 Oct 2026
- Limit: platform coverage
- The official product pages describe web and mobile-responsive use but do not list native Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS or Android applications. · shopbay.org, 15 Oct 2026
- Limit: pricing transparency
- The official pages describe Shopbay.org as free but do not publish paid-plan prices or a detailed pricing table. · shopbay.org, 15 Oct 2026
- Marketing
- Marketing tools include store-wide campaigns, Buy X Get Y promotions, discount or free-shipping codes, a news blog, social sharing, and SEO controls. · shopbay.org, 12 Oct 2026
Where Shopbay.org stands on Freedom251
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