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E-commercedocker-readypermissive-licenseOpen-Core🔴 Full · ~2GB

Saleor: Open-Core alternative to Shopify Plus in 2026

Saleor is a GraphQL-first headless commerce platform, with a customizable checkout and event-driven architecture, built for large-scale stores 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.

Alternative to Shopify Plus
License BSD-3-Clause23.4k starsWebsite GitHub Repository

Audit Snapshot

View notes →

  • License — Matches GitHub

  • GitHub — Active

  • Latest release — 3.23.41 · 5 days ago

  • Docker Compose — Partial

  • Production — Not production-tested by AltFreeStack

Saleor vs. Shopify Plus

Pros

  • Designed from the ground up for very high-traffic stores

Things to consider

  • Steeper learning curve than all-in-one platforms

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:
  saleor:
    image: ghcr.io/saleor/saleor:3.23.37
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "8000:8000"
    environment:
      - DATABASE_URL=postgres://saleor:change-me-postgres-password@saleor-db:5432/saleor # password must match the canonical db password below
      - REDIS_URL=redis://saleor-redis:6379
      - SECRET_KEY=change-me-super-secret
    depends_on:
      - saleor-db
      - saleor-redis
  saleor-db:
    image: postgres:15-alpine
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      - POSTGRES_USER=saleor
      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=change-me-postgres-password # REQUIRED: generate a random secret before first run
      - POSTGRES_DB=saleor
    volumes:
      - saleor_pg_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
  saleor-redis:
    image: redis:7-alpine
    restart: unless-stopped
volumes:
  saleor_pg_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=saleor" -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
BSD-3-Clause
Category
E-commerce
Replaces
Shopify Plus
Tech stack
PythonDjangoGraphQLPostgreSQL

Under the hood

Database

PostgreSQL

Language

Python (Django)

Platforms

Web

Key features

  • Complete GraphQL API
  • Fully customizable checkout
  • Event-driven architecture (webhooks)

Frequently asked questions

What is Saleor?

A GraphQL-first headless commerce framework (BSD-3-Clause license), with a fully customizable checkout and event-driven architecture (webhooks) — built for large-scale stores as an alternative to Shopify Plus.

Saleor vs Shopify Plus: who is each one for?

Saleor is for teams with development capacity who want to control every part of checkout and storefront through its GraphQL API. Shopify Plus is a managed service with no infrastructure to maintain — in exchange for giving up that control and paying the subscription.

Is Saleor actually free?

The core is open source (BSD-3-Clause) and self-hosts at no license cost. It's Open-Core: there's an optional paid managed cloud plan, but it isn't required to run it yourself.

Preview

Saleor interface preview

Public image provided by Saleor on its own website.

💾 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:8000
}

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