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E-commercedocker-readyOpen-Core🟡 Standard · ~1GB

Magento Open Source: Open-Core alternative to Shopify Plus in 2026

Magento Open Source (Adobe Commerce Community Edition) is one of the most powerful, customizable ecommerce platforms, used for huge catalogs, as an alternative to Shopify Plus.

Core is open source, but advanced features or enterprise support may be behind a paid tier — check the license.

ℹ️ This docker-compose is incomplete for a real deployment: markoshust/magento-nginx is only the nginx proxy from the docker-magento development kit, with no PHP-FPM container holding Magento's actual code, no Elasticsearch/OpenSearch (required since Magento 2.4) and no Redis. Follow Adobe Commerce/Magento Open Source's official guide or the full docker-magento project for a stack that actually works.

Alternative to Shopify PlusAlternative to BigCommerce
License OSL-3.012.2k starsWebsite GitHub Repository

Audit Snapshot

View notes →

  • License — Matches GitHub

  • GitHub — Active

  • Latest release — 2.4.9 · 5 months ago

  • Docker Compose — Partial

  • Production — Not production-tested by AltFreeStack

Magento Open Source vs. Shopify Plus

Pros

  • Supports massive B2B/B2C catalogs with complex attributes and native multi-store

Things to consider

  • Considerably higher server requirements
  • This catalog's docker-compose is incomplete (see note above) — it needs PHP-FPM, Elasticsearch/OpenSearch and Redis beyond what's shown

Quick Docker installation guide

Copy this docker-compose.yml, adjust the example passwords and run docker compose up -d on your server. See the full step-by-step guide →

💡 Official SaaS or self-hosted with AltFreeStack?

  • On the official cloud: a recurring monthly fee and usage limits on Shopify Plus.
  • On your own VPS: the core is free to self-host on your own server — no more monthly SaaS fee, though some advanced features stay behind a paid plan.
docker-compose.yml
version: "3.9"
services:
  magento:
    image: markoshust/magento-nginx:1.28
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "8080:8080"
    environment:
      - MYSQL_HOST=magento-db
    depends_on:
      - magento-db
  magento-db:
    image: mariadb:11
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      - MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=change-me-mysql-root-password # REQUIRED: generate a random secret before first run
      - MYSQL_DATABASE=magento
    volumes:
      - magento_db_data:/var/lib/mysql
volumes:
  magento_db_data:

🚀 Deploy in 1 command

Recommended for beginners

Copy this single command and paste it into your freshly created VPS's console (Vultr, DigitalOcean...). It downloads the script, prints it to your screen so you can see exactly what it's about to do (never a blind direct pipe), and only then installs Docker if needed, writes the files with secrets already generated, and starts everything — no nano, no pasting code blocks.

curl -sSL ".../api/deploy?stack=magento-open-source" -o deploy.sh && cat deploy.sh && bash deploy.sh
See what this script does →

This docker-compose corresponds to an actively maintained project — last commit today.

This docker-compose not working for you? Report it on GitHub →

Technical profile

License
OSL-3.0
Category
E-commerce
Replaces
Shopify Plus, BigCommerce
Tech stack
PHPMySQLElasticsearch

Under the hood

Database

MySQL

Language

PHP

Platforms

Web

Key features

  • Massive catalogs with complex attributes
  • Native multi-store and multi-language
  • Very wide extension ecosystem
💾 Backups in 3 steps (Day 2)

As long as the ./data folder (the "volume" mapped into the container) exists on your server, your data survives any restart or container update — that's the only thing you need to back up.

1. Create a compressed backup on the server

tar -czvf backup-$(date +%F).tar.gz ./data

2. Download it to your computer

From your computer's terminal (not your server's):

scp root@YOUR_IP:~/app/backup-*.tar.gz ./

3. Restore in case of emergency

tar -xzvf backup-file.tar.gz
🌐 Connect your domain with free SSL

Step 1 — Set up the DNS

In your domain registrar's dashboard (Cloudflare, Namecheap, GoDaddy...), create a record:

Type
A
Name/Host
@ (root domain) or a subdomain, e.g. app
Content/Value
Your server's public IP

Wait 5 to 15 minutes for the record to propagate across the internet.

Step 2 — Automatic reverse proxy with Caddy

One single file, no Nginx config or manual certificates — Caddy issues and renews Let's Encrypt HTTPS on its own.

Create a file called Caddyfile:

yourdomain.com {
    reverse_proxy localhost:8080
}

Start Caddy with this command (pulls the image and runs it in the background):

docker run -d -p 80:80 -p 443:443 --name caddy --restart always -v $PWD/Caddyfile:/etc/caddy/Caddyfile -v caddy_data:/data caddy