From zero to a working online store in under 30 minutes. This guide covers everything from installation to your first product listing, whether you are an experienced Joomla administrator or completely new to the platform.
Solidshop is a free, open-source e-commerce component for Joomla, one of the most popular open-source content management systems in the world. It turns any Joomla 6 website into a fully functional online store — complete with products, a shopping cart, checkout, orders, tax, shipping, and customer accounts.
Unlike SaaS platforms such as Shopify or BigCommerce, Solidshop runs entirely on your own server. You own your code, your data, and your customer relationships. There are no monthly platform fees, no transaction fees, and no vendor lock-in.
New to Joomla? Joomla is a free CMS (like WordPress or Drupal) that you install on a web server. You manage content, users, and extensions through a browser-based admin panel. Solidshop installs as a Joomla “extension” — think of it as an app that plugs into your Joomla site.
If you don’t have Joomla installed yet, start at launch.joomla.org for a quick setup, or download the latest release from downloads.joomla.org.
What the core includes (free, forever)
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Product catalogue | Physical products with variants, options, inventory tracking, images, videos, and 3D models |
| Cart & checkout | Multi-step checkout with guest checkout support, saved addresses, and order notes |
| Order management | Full lifecycle — order status, payment status, fulfillment, returns, and tracking |
| Zone-based tax | Tax classes, zones, compound rates, inclusive/exclusive pricing, and tax-on-shipping |
| Flexible shipping | Shipping profiles with zones, regions, weight/value tiers, and carrier integration |
| Dashboard | Sales KPIs, recent orders, low-stock alerts, and product insights |
| Basic invoicing | Auto-generated invoices on every order with PDF download |
| Basic discounts | Apply discounts directly to orders from the admin panel |
| Email templates | Customisable notification emails for order confirmations, shipping updates, and more |
| Wishlists | Customers can save and share product wishlists |
| Customer accounts | Order history, address book, and downloads — integrated with Joomla user accounts |
| Granular ACL | Role-based access control across every admin view, using Joomla’s permission system |
Commercial extensions (plugins, templates, and modules) add advanced features like rule-based discounts with coupon codes, reviews and ratings, downloadable products, service bookings, subscriptions, and the Foundra storefront template. See the extensions catalogue for the full list.