Tigshop: a Java and PHP open source mall system with a free single-merchant edition

What the free Tigshop edition actually contains

Tigshop is an e-commerce system published by Jiangxi Baishang Technology, with the README describing the team as led by the founder of LYECS. The repository is a monorepo: the top level holds LICENSE, README.md and three directories, java/, php/ and view/. That layout is the first thing to understand, because it means the project is not one application but a set of parallel implementations sharing a front end.

The free tier is the single-merchant standard edition, which the README says is 100% free and open source forever, with no encryption. Its scope is broad: product, order, member, marketing, finance and page-decoration modules, a Nuxt3 SSR storefront with article-level and product-level SEO fields, drag-and-drop DIY decoration for PC, H5 and mini programs, multi-theme colour switching, coupons, flash sales, group buying, bargaining, full-reduction and gift rules, pre-sale with deposit and balance, WeChat and Alipay payment including Huabei instalments and balance, combined payment, shipping templates, electronic waybills and logistics tracking, refund-only, return-and-refund and exchange flows, after-sales tickets and review management.

The target user is a company that wants a self-hosted storefront rather than a SaaS subscription. The README frames the goal as an enterprise e-commerce framework you do not have to build from zero. The catch is in the same README: member tiers, stored value, points, sign-in rewards, birthday gifts, points mall, multi-level distribution, distribution posters and the built-in IM customer service are all marked (Pro).

Two backends, one front end: how the code is arranged

The architecture is a separated front end and back end. The Java backend uses SpringBoot 3.3.4, MySQL 5.7+, Redis plus file cache, Spring Security with JWT, MyBatis3, Nginx for load balancing, RabbitMQ for queues and logback for logging. The PHP backend uses ThinkPHP 8.0 with the same MySQL 5.7+ floor, Redis plus file cache, JWT, crontab for scheduled tasks, Nginx, redis or database queues, and a log handler.

So the two editions are not translations of each other at the framework level: the Java side leans on Spring Security and RabbitMQ, the PHP side on crontab and a choice of redis or database queues. If you pick one, you are choosing an operational profile, not just a language.

The front end splits into a PC build and a mobile build. The PC side is Vue3 with Vite 4, Element Plus, axios, TypeScript, Nuxt3, Pinia and Less. The mobile side is uni-app with Vue3, uView-plus and uni-ui, and SCSS. Nuxt3 on the PC side is what makes the SSR and SEO claims possible; the uni-app layer is what covers H5, WeChat mini program, official account, iOS, Android and HarmonyOS in the product description.

One detail worth noting for anyone planning to read the code: the repository's primary language is listed as PLpgSQL. That is a quirk of how the hosting service counts files, and it does not mean the stack runs on PostgreSQL. Both backend tables in the README specify MySQL 5.7+.

Installing Tigshop: where the instructions live

The README does not contain install commands. It points to two separate guides, one for PHP at tigshop.com/course/tigshop-php/index and one for Java at tigshop.com/course/tigshop-java/index. There is also a usage document, an API document and a developer document linked from the same page. Because the repository itself carries no setup steps, the honest starting point is to read the guide that matches your backend choice, then work from the java/, php/ and view/ directories in the repository.

Before you start, check your environment against the stack tables in the README. Both backends require MySQL 5.7 or newer, and both use Redis plus file cache, so a Redis instance has to be running. The Java edition additionally expects RabbitMQ for queues, while the PHP edition can use redis or database queues, which lowers the number of services you must operate.

The README does not publish a clone URL, so there is no command to copy here. What it does publish is the demo environment, which is the fastest way to see what the product does before you install anything: the admin panel at demo.tigshop.cn/admin/ with account demo and password demo123, the PC storefront at demo.tigshop.cn with 123123 / 123123, and the H5 storefront at demo.tigshop.cn/mobile/ with the same credentials. The demo is the free single-merchant edition, so it shows exactly the feature boundary described above.

The Pro boundary and the copyright notice

The licensing model has two parts that matter to a buyer. First, the README states that the front end carries a notice such as Powered By Tigshop, that removing it is not permitted by default, and that buying an authorisation or a copyright-removal package lets you hide it from the admin panel. Second, the Pro editions (multi-vendor B2B2C, O2O multi-store, S2B2C supplier, cross-border multi-language and multi-currency, B2B2B wholesale) are separate products whose source code you receive after authorisation. There is also an enterprise authorisation that removes the per-instance limit for use inside the licensed company.

The practical consequence: the Apache-2.0 licence covers the code, but the product's own commercial terms sit on top of it, and the two are not the same thing. If your plan depends on white-labelling the storefront or on running a marketplace with third-party sellers, the free standard edition will not get you there. The README lists the multi-vendor features explicitly, including three separate backends for platform, merchant and buyer with isolated data and permissions, merchant self-registration, qualification review, and per-merchant products, inventory, orders, marketing, finance and decoration with product review. None of that is in the free tier.

This is a normal open-core arrangement, and the README is unusually direct about it. The part it does not document is what happens to existing deployments if the terms change later, or whether an enterprise authorisation is transferable. Those are questions for the vendor.

Limitations a Java or PHP team should weigh

The repository has no retrieved releases, so there is no tagged version history to pin against. Upgrades therefore depend on tracking the master branch or on whatever the vendor publishes outside the repository. For a system that will hold orders and payments, that is a real operational gap: you cannot point a dependency manager at a version and expect a changelog.

The documentation is split across the website rather than the repository, and the README is mostly a feature list plus demo links. Installation, API and developer guides all live at tigshop.com/course paths. If that site is unavailable or reorganised, you are left reading the source. The README also does not document rollback, database migration tooling, or a supported upgrade path between versions.

The stack table is another constraint. MySQL 5.7+ is a floor, not a tested ceiling, and neither backend table mentions PostgreSQL, MongoDB or any other store. If your infrastructure standard is Postgres, this project does not meet it. The Java edition's RabbitMQ dependency is a hard operational requirement for queues; teams that run only Redis will find the PHP edition closer to their existing setup.

Finally, the feature list mixes free and Pro items in one block. Reading the B2C section quickly gives the impression that points mall, distribution and IM are included. The (Pro) markers are there, but they are easy to miss on a first pass.

How Tigshop differs from Mall4j, CRMEB and ShopXO

The closest comparisons a buyer will make are Mall4j, CRMEB, ShopXO, iWebShop and Fecmall, all of which appear in search behaviour around this project. The difference that matters most is the dual-backend approach. Mall4j is a Java mall project; CRMEB and ShopXO are PHP-based. Tigshop ships both a SpringBoot 3.3.4 implementation and a ThinkPHP 8.0 implementation of the same product, with a shared Vue3 and uni-app front end. If your team is split, or if you are migrating from PHP to Java, that is a genuine advantage: the storefront and the mobile build stay the same while the backend changes.

The second difference is the edition ladder. ShopXO and CRMEB are known for their own free and paid splits, but Tigshop's README lays out a wider set of vertical editions under one brand: B2B2C multi-vendor, O2O multi-store, S2B2C supplier, cross-border multi-language and multi-currency, and B2B2B wholesale, each with Java and PHP variants. That means you can start on the free single-merchant edition and move to a paid edition without changing vendors, but it also means the free edition is deliberately a single-merchant product, not a marketplace.

The third difference is the front-end stack. Nuxt3 SSR on the PC side and uni-app on the mobile side is a modern combination, and the README's SEO claims rest on it. Projects built on older template engines will not match that out of the box, though they may be easier to host if you do not want a Node build step in production.

Maintenance, licence and upgrade cost

The repository is not archived, and the last push was on 2026-09-18, which is recent. The README states that the team has 14 years of experience in mall software and intends to keep maintaining the project. That is a statement of intent, not a guarantee, and the absence of tagged releases means you should judge maintenance by watching commit activity on the directories you actually deploy rather than by the README's promise.

On licence: the repository is Apache-2.0, which permits commercial use, modification and redistribution with the usual notice and patent terms. That is the code licence. Separately, the README describes a copyright notice on the front end that cannot be removed without an authorisation, paid Pro editions, and an enterprise authorisation. Apache-2.0 and those commercial terms can coexist, but the interaction is worth reading carefully, and I am not in a position to give legal advice on it. If you plan to redistribute the storefront or run it for clients, have someone check the notice terms against the licence text in the LICENSE file.

Upgrade cost is the weakest documented area. With no releases and no migration notes in the README, a version upgrade means diffing the master branch yourself against your fork, including any schema changes in the MySQL database. Budget for that before you customise heavily.

Editorial conclusion

Adopt the free single-merchant standard edition if you want a SpringBoot3 or ThinkPHP8 mall base with Nuxt3 SEO pages and a DIY page builder, and you accept that multi-vendor, O2O, supplier, cross-border, distribution and IM features sit in paid editions. Do not adopt it if you need a documented public API, a tagged release history, or freedom to remove the front-end copyright notice without buying a licence. Verify first: which repository subdirectory you actually need (java/, php/ or view/), whether your MySQL and Redis versions match the stack table, and what the install guide at tigshop.com/course requires before you commit a team.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources

1. Issues
2. License: Apache-2.0
3. Project website
4. README
5. tigshop/Tigshop on GitHub