What is PrestaShop used for?

PrestaShop is a PHP open-source e-commerce platform for building online stores, with payment integrations, translations, responsive front and back offices and a customizable architecture. It is a good fit for launching an online store; agencies delivering custom e-commerce sites; and multi-language, multi-country shops.

Is PrestaShop open source?

Yes. PrestaShop is open source under a custom licence. Its source code is on GitHub at PrestaShop/PrestaShop and is written mainly in PHP.

Yes. PrestaShop is open source, so the software itself is free to use under the terms of its own licence.

Can I self-host PrestaShop?

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

What is PrestaShop an alternative to?

PrestaShop is an open-source alternative to BigCommerce, Shopify, Square Online and Big Cartel. Other open-source alternatives to BigCommerce include OpenCart, WooCommerce and Bagisto.

Is PrestaShop actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to PrestaShop was on 1 October 2026, and the latest release is 9.2.0, published on 30 September 2026. The project has 9.2k stars on GitHub.

PrestaShop: open-source alternative to BigCommerce, Shopify

About PrestaShop

PrestaShop is an e-commerce web application written in PHP and released as open source, built to give merchants and shoppers a solid shopping cart experience. It is described as highly customizable, supports the major payment services, is translated into many languages, is localized for many countries and has a responsive design for both the storefront and the back office.

The GitHub repository contains the source code for development and preview, while stable downloads come from the releases page. The stable line is PrestaShop 9.0, first released in June 2025, and the develop branch holds work in progress toward version 9.1. Installing it requires a web server with PHP 8.1 or newer and MySQL 5.6 or later, or a compatible fork such as MariaDB, plus a database tool such as phpMyAdmin. Apache or Nginx are recommended.

PrestaShop is a self-hosted platform, so merchants run it on their own hosting, and the repository lists the licence as Other. Its topics mention CMS and PHP framework use. It suits small and mid-sized merchants and agencies building custom shops with extensions and themes.

Key features

Full e-commerce storefront and back office
Support for major payment services
Translations and country localization
Responsive front and back office
Highly customizable modules and themes
PHP 8.1+ with MySQL or MariaDB

Good fit for

→Launching an online store
→Agencies delivering custom e-commerce sites
→Multi-language, multi-country shops

Built with: PHP
Tags: ecommerce; php; online-store; shopping-cart; cms; prestashop; payments; self-hosted

PrestaShop: questions and answers

What is PrestaShop used for?: PrestaShop is a PHP open-source e-commerce platform for building online stores, with payment integrations, translations, responsive front and back offices and a customizable architecture. It is a good fit for launching an online store; agencies delivering custom e-commerce sites; and multi-language, multi-country shops.
Is PrestaShop open source?: Yes. PrestaShop is open source under a custom licence. Its source code is on GitHub at PrestaShop/PrestaShop and is written mainly in PHP.
Is PrestaShop free?: Yes. PrestaShop is open source, so the software itself is free to use under the terms of its own licence.
Can I self-host PrestaShop?: Yes. PrestaShop can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.
What is PrestaShop an alternative to?: PrestaShop is an open-source alternative to BigCommerce, Shopify, Square Online and Big Cartel. Other open-source alternatives to BigCommerce include OpenCart, WooCommerce and Bagisto.
Is PrestaShop actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to PrestaShop was on 1 October 2026, and the latest release is 9.2.0, published on 30 September 2026. The project has 9.2k stars on GitHub.