Bagisto Hosting Guide:  How to install Bagisto on a VPS?

Bagisto is a Laravel-based open-source ecommerce platform to create marketplaces, mobile apps, and B2B shops. It reduces the development cycle and mitigates time, cost, and workforce for building an online store or migrating from physical stores to the dynamic online world. Engineered for rapid deployment, Bagisto serves all businesses from startups to corporates.

Establishing an online presence through this framework may be overwhelming for businesses. A VPS hosting environment provides the technical infrastructure required to run Bagisto efficiently. This blog walks you through the complete Bagisto installation process and the web hosting requirements for optimal performance.

What is Bagisto?

Bagisto is an open-source ecommerce platform built on Laravel. It creates marketplaces, market apps, B2B platforms, and AI-powered ecommerce platforms.

Bagisto features the complete ecommerce solution, from advanced multi-vendor marketplaces and multi-tenant SaaS commerce platforms to integrated POS systems. Its flexible architecture seamlessly delivers an omnichannel experience, supporting blockchain-based integrations and headless commerce infrastructure.

The ecommerce platform fosters innovations through a modular core, extensive extensions, and strong community support. It helps deliver high-performance ecommerce applications customized to any business model. It is used by the enterprises that want to build standalone customisable ecommerce applications.

Bagisto vs Other Platforms: The Honest Assessment

Bagisto: Who Is It Actually for?

Mid-market enterprises are constrained by expensive Shopify subscription costs and WooCommerce technical overhead. For example: multi-store, multi-currency, and multi-warehouse operations. Bagisto features deep customisation of checkout options, pricing rules, or fulfilment workflows to help stores gain a competitive edge.

Where can Bagisto be deployed?

Cloud-based and on-premise.

Weaknesses

• Needs a Laravel development team for comprehensive maintenance.
• This platform is not suitable for non-technical founders who plan to launch in 2 weeks without any developer support.
• Longer setup time than Shopify.

Pricing Structure

Honest Verdict: 

For growing brands, Bagisto offers a cost-effective alternative when the customization and pricing limitations of platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce become a concern. However, solopreneurs just starting out may find it more practical to choose a simpler platform during the initial stages.

Also Read: WordPress vs Shopify

Shopify: Who is it for?

Merchants building their digital marketplace for the first time with fewer deployment cycles use Shopify. Small- to mid-size businesses with straightforward product catalogues and standard checkout requirements use this platform. Businesses without development capacity need Shopify, where the transaction fee model is acceptable.

Where can Shopify be deployed?

Cloud servers, PHP, Node.js, and headless storefronts (e.g., Vercel)

Weaknesses

• Premium transaction fees unless using Shopify Payments.
• Add-on costs for email marketing, reviews, loyalty, and other subscriptions.
• Limited customisation of checkout flow on non-Plus plans.

Pricing Structure

Honest Verdict

Excellent for early merchants to build the foundation of an online store. Gradually, it becomes expensive to scale relative to alternatives. Once the volume fees and app costs exceed $1,500 per month, it becomes financially inefficient to operate on this platform. 

WooCommerce: Who Is It Actually for?

WordPress users who want to design ecommerce stores without technical overhead use WooCommerce. Merchants build SEO-optimised storefronts for building intuitive shopping experiences. Businesses with an in-house WordPress developer can opt for this medium to build the online store, maximising their technical expertise.

Where can WooCommerce be deployed?

WordPress, Cloud, and PaaS (Platform-as-a-Service).

Weaknesses

• Performance tanks as order volume scales.
• Security overhead is substantial due to different plugin update cycles.
• Hosting costs increase at a disproportionate rate.

Pricing Structure

Honest Verdict

WooCommerce serves as an excellent, scalable solution for businesses requiring a foundational yet capable e-commerce platform. However, it doesn’t align with the extensive customization, and peak performance. The WordPress plugin is engineered for mid-size business owners whose scalability is currently limited. This is where Bagisto serves as a definitive groundwork for exponential digital scaling. 

Also Read: Magento vs Shopify

Bagisto Store: System Requirements

Before installing Bagisto in your system, ensure you have these key prerequisites:

Server Configuration

• Server: Apache 2 or NGINX
• RAM: 4GB or higher
• Node: 22.13.1 LTS or higher
• PHP: 8.3 or higher
• Composer: 2.5 or higher

PHP Extensions

• php-intl: Required for internationalization support
• php-gd: Required for image processing and manipulation
• Other standard Laravel extensions: Check via the php -m command.

PHP Configuration

Key settings in your php.ini:

• memory_limit = 4G
• max_execution_time = 360
• date.timezone = Asia/Kolkata # Change to your timezone

Database

• MySQL: Version 8.0.32 or higher
• Collation: utf8mb4_unicode_ci (recommended)

Pro Tip

Run php -v and composer –version to verify your PHP and Composer versions meet the requirements.

How to install Bagisto On Your System?

Method 1: Quick Installation (on Local Machine)

This is the quickest way to install Bagisto.

Note: Ensure you have complete prerequisites before installing Bagisto.

Step 1: Create Project

Run the following command after opening your terminal:

composer create-project bagisto/bagisto my-bagisto-store

Step 2: Navigate to Directory

cd my-bagisto-store

Step 3: Run Installation

php artisan bagisto: install

Next, the installation process will continue within the terminal, prompting you to input all details of the local hosting environment to create applications, a database, and an admin account.

Step 4: Start Development Server

php artisan serve.

Your Bagisto store is hosted on a local machine: http://localhost:8000.

Method 2: Manual Installation

This method is beneficial for users demanding full root control over the environment. But before that, you need to ensure Composer is installed.

Step 1: Download Bagisto Package

Download the official Bagisto package from the website.

Step 2: Configure Environment

Copy the following environment file and generate a key:

cp .env.example .env.

php artisan key:generate

Configure your .env file with appropriate database credentials and application settings.

Step 3: Set Up Store

Confirm database credentials configured in the .env file are accurate before proceeding. Once confirmed, run the following command:

php artisan migrate:fresh --seed

php artisan storage:link

php artisan optimise:clear

Step 4: Launch Store

php artisan serve.

Visit http://localhost:8000 to access your store.

Method 3: Docker Installation

Method 1: Using Docker Hub (Recommended)

It is the easiest way to get Bagisto running with Docker:

docker pull webkul/bagisto:latest

Step 1: Pull Bagisto Image

docker pull webkul/bagisto:latest

Step 2: Run Container

docker run -it -d -p 80:80 webkul/bagisto:latest

Sometimes port 80 remains active. In such cases, use a different port using the command:

docker run -it -d -p 8082:80 webkul/bagisto:latest

Then, access http://localhost:8082.

Method 2: Using Docker Compose

This method gives you complete control over customisation:

Step 1: Clone Repository

git clone https://github.com/bagisto/bagisto-docker.git bagisto-docker

cd bagisto-docker

Step 2: Pick a Web Server Runtime

Three interchangeable web server runtimes are included in the repository – choose the ones that work best for you. There is a compose file for each application that builds the runtime image and starts MySQL, phpMyAdmin, and Mailpit:

Adjust the UID (to your host UID) or the ports in the chosen file if needed:

Services:

nginx-php:

Build:

args:

uid: 1000 # set to your host UID

user: $USER

container_project_path: /var/www/html/

context: ./runtimes/nginx-php

dockerfile: Dockerfile

image: nginx-php

ports:

- 80:80

- 5173:5173 # Vite dev server

volumes:

- ./workspace/:/var/www/html/

# ... plus MySQL, phpMyAdmin and Mailpit services.

Step 3: Launch Services

Run the setup script to initialise and build everything:

sh setup.sh

Step 4: Access Services

Store: http://localhost

Admin Panel: http://localhost/admin

PHPMyAdmin: http://localhost:3030

Mailpit: http://localhost:8025

Choosing the Right Hosting Plan for Your Bagisto Store

Bagisto’s resources scale along with the catalogue size, concurrent checkouts, and number of stores you are running from one instance. Use current monthly traffic stats as a reference point, then upgrade to top-tier plans for heavy customisation.

Performance Optimisation Tips for Bagisto’s Store

1. LiteSpeed & NVMe Caching

• Use NVMe storage: store the database files and PHP sessions directly on NVMe drives with zero data I/O wait times.
• Install LSCache: Install LiteSpeed Web Server and make use of its built-in page caching.
• Add rewrite rules: If you do need to cache the static pages, you’ll have to add some rewrite rules: For that you need to see the LiteSpeed caching documentation.
• Excluding dynamic paths: Be sure to exclude routes that are checkout (/checkout), cart (/cart), and admin backend (/admin).

2. Redis Configuration

• Install a Redis session driver: Change the session driver from disc to RAM (SESSION_DRIVER=redis) in the .env file.
• In the application cache configuration file, change CACHE_DRIVER=redis to the Redis app cache option. Use Redis for app cache; change the application cache driver: CACHE_DRIVER=redis.
• Create Redis connections: Configure separate connections for both cache clusters to isolate performance issues.

3. Content Delivery Network (CDN)

• Optimise assets: Use CDNs such as Cloudflare and AWS to deliver images, JavaScript, CSS and fonts.
• Update asset URLs: Update the URLs of the assets in the Bagisto.env file to your CDN.
• Cache static files for long periods of time: Cache-Control:max-age=31536000 on the edge server for the static files.

4. Image Optimisation

• Convert from PNG/JPG: Take advantage of one of the image conversion websites and convert normal PNG/JPG files to WebP or AVIF.
• Enable Lazy Loading: Load all product images in the Bagisto catalogue template using the loading=”lazy” attribute.
• Resize on Upload: Implement image resizing during vendor uploads on Bagisto. 
• Optimise images: Optimize image files on your server, without compromising visual quality, using jpegoptim or pngquant.

Also Read: Ecommerce Digital Marketing Tips You Need to Know

Bagisto Store: Common Installation Errors & Fixes