Thirty Bees

What is thirty bees

thirty bees is a free, open-source e-commerce platform designed for businesses to create and manage online stores. It started as a community-driven fork of the PrestaShop e-commerce software, with a primary goal to provide a more stable, faster, and feature-rich platform right out of the box. The core purpose of thirty bees is to offer a robust and reliable solution for merchants without the need for many paid add-ons for basic functionalities. The platform is developed and maintained by a global community of developers and is managed by Thirty Bees B.V., a company based in Middelburg, The Netherlands. It focuses on performance, security, and providing a comprehensive set of tools to help merchants succeed online.

thirty bees Features

thirty bees comes with over 500 features built-in. Here are some of the key features:

• Responsive Design: The default theme is built on Bootstrap, ensuring the store looks and works well on desktops, tablets, and mobile phones.
• One Page Checkout: Offers a streamlined one-page checkout process to reduce cart abandonment. A traditional multi-step checkout is also available.
• Speed Optimized: The code is optimized for speed, using advanced caching systems to ensure fast page load times, which helps with conversions and SEO.
• SEO Focused: Includes built-in tools for search engine optimization, such as customizable URLs, meta tags, sitemaps, and robots.txt file generation.
• Modular Design: The platform's functionality can be extended easily by installing modules. Many essential modules are included by default.
• Multi-Store Support: Manage multiple storefronts from a single administration panel. This is useful for selling in different regions or for different brands.
• Multi-Currency and Language: Supports multiple currencies and languages, allowing merchants to sell to a global audience. It includes tools for localization and translation.
• Customer Service Tools: A built-in customer service manager helps track customer requests, returns, and communication directly from the back office.
• PDF Invoices and Slips: Automatically generate and customize PDF documents like invoices, delivery slips, and credit slips for orders.
• Powerful Filtering: Advanced product filtering (faceted search) allows customers to easily find products based on attributes, features, or price.

thirty bees Pricing Plans

thirty bees is open-source software, which means the core platform is completely free to download and use. There are no monthly subscription fees or pricing tiers for the software itself. Costs associated with running a thirty bees store are external. These typically include:

• Web Hosting: You need to purchase a hosting plan from a provider that supports PHP and MySQL.
• Domain Name: The annual cost for your website's address.
• Premium Modules and Themes: While many features are built-in, you may choose to buy advanced modules or professional themes from the thirty bees marketplace to add specific functionality or a unique design.
• Development and Support: You might hire a developer for custom work or purchase a support plan for technical assistance.

thirty bees Free Plan

The entire thirty bees platform is free. It is not a free plan with limitations, but rather a full-featured, open-source software. Users get access to all core features, can host unlimited products, and manage unlimited orders without any charge from thirty bees. There is no trial period because the software is perpetually free. You can download it from the official website and use it for as long as you want.

How to use thirty bees

Getting started with thirty bees involves a few key steps:

1. Download the Software: Go to the official thirty bees website and download the latest version of the platform as a ZIP file.
2. Choose a Hosting Provider: Select a web host that meets the system requirements (PHP, MySQL, etc.). Many hosts offer one-click installers for popular applications.
3. Install the Platform: Upload the thirty bees files to your hosting server. Create a database. Then, run the installation script by visiting your domain in a web browser. The on-screen installer will guide you through the process.
4. Initial Configuration: After installation, log in to the back office. Here you can set up your store's name, contact information, default currency, language, and shipping zones.
5. Add Products: Begin adding your products, including descriptions, images, prices, and stock levels. Organize them into categories.
6. Set Up Payments and Shipping: Configure payment gateways (like PayPal or Stripe) and set up your shipping carriers and costs.
7. Customize Your Store: Choose and customize a theme to match your brand. Install any additional modules you need for extra functionality.

Pros and Cons of thirty bees

Pros

• Completely Free: The software is open-source and has no licensing fees.
• Excellent Performance: It is designed to be much faster and more efficient than its predecessor, PrestaShop.
• Feature-Rich: Comes with hundreds of features out of the box, reducing the need for paid modules.
• Community Support: Has an active and helpful community forum for support and discussion.
• Easy Migration: Provides a simple migration path for existing PrestaShop users.

Cons

• Technical Knowledge Required: Requires some technical skill to install, configure, and maintain, unlike fully hosted solutions like Shopify.
• Smaller Marketplace: The selection of third-party themes and modules is smaller compared to larger platforms like WooCommerce or PrestaShop.
• Limited Enterprise Support: While community support is strong, official enterprise-level support options are less extensive than those for platforms like Magento.

thirty bees integrations

thirty bees integrates with other services and platforms through modules, which can be installed from the back office. There is no central integration directory, but modules are available for most common needs.

• Payment Gateways: Modules for PayPal, Stripe, Braintree, Authorize.net, and many other regional payment providers.
• Shipping Carriers: Integrations with major carriers like UPS, FedEx, USPS, and DHL to provide real-time shipping rates and tracking.
• Marketing Tools: Connect your store with email marketing services like Mailchimp or Klaviyo.
• Marketplaces: Sync your product catalog with platforms like Amazon and eBay using specific modules.
• Analytics: Easily integrates with Google Analytics and other tracking tools to monitor store performance.

Integrations are typically added by purchasing or downloading a module from the thirty bees marketplace and configuring it in the store's back office.

thirty bees Alternatives

• PrestaShop: The platform thirty bees was forked from. It has a much larger marketplace for themes and modules but can be slower and less stable out of the box.
• WooCommerce: A highly popular open-source plugin for WordPress. It is very flexible and benefits from the vast WordPress ecosystem, but its performance depends heavily on hosting and the number of other plugins installed.
• OpenCart: Another lightweight and straightforward open-source e-commerce platform. It is known for its simplicity and clean architecture, but may require more extensions for advanced features.
• Magento Open Source: A very powerful and scalable platform suitable for large businesses. However, it is much more complex, resource-intensive, and expensive to develop and maintain.

thirty bees API

Yes, thirty bees provides a web service (API) that allows developers to connect the e-commerce store with third-party applications, such as ERP systems, CRM software, or mobile apps. The API is based on REST principles.

To use the API, you must first enable it in the back office and generate an API key. This is done under Advanced Parameters > Webservice. Here, you can create a new key and assign specific permissions, controlling which data the key can access and modify.

Here is a generic PHP cURL example of how you might connect to an API endpoint:

<?php
$apiKey = 'YOUR_API_KEY';
$shopUrl = 'https://yourstore.com/api';

// The resource you want to access, e.g., products
$resource = 'products';

// The ID of the specific item, if any
$resourceId = 1;

$url = $shopUrl . '/' . $resource . '/' . $resourceId;

$ch = curl_init();
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $url);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_USERPWD, $apiKey . ':');
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);

$response = curl_exec($ch);
$httpCode = curl_getinfo($ch, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE);
curl_close($ch);

if ($httpCode == 200) {
    $xml = simplexml_load_string($response);
    print_r($xml);
} else {
    echo 'Error: ' . $httpCode;
}
?>

thirty bees Affiliate program

thirty bees does not have a formal, public affiliate program for promoting the software itself, as the software is free. Open-source projects typically rely on community contributions and partnerships rather than commission-based affiliate sales. However, some third-party developers who sell premium themes and modules for thirty bees may offer their own affiliate programs. If you are interested in partnering with the thirty bees project, it is best to contact the company directly through their official website to discuss potential collaboration or partnership opportunities.