Why We’re Excited to Share It with the World
After 2.5 years of intense development, and a whole lot of learning along the way, I’m thrilled to announce that Blaze Commerce is now open source.
It’s been quite a journey, and today, we’re opening up the platform for everyone to explore, contribute to, and build upon.
For those of you who’ve followed us from the beginning, you know that Blaze Commerce has always been about more than just performance metrics or page speed. It’s been about helping ecommerce stores run smoother, faster, and more efficiently, powered by the latest headless technologies.
And now, by open sourcing Blaze Commerce, we’re taking another big step toward shaping the future of headless WooCommerce together with the community.
You can dive into the code right now over on our GitHub repository, and we’re excited to see where you take it from here.
Our Journey to Open Source: A Learning Process (with a Big Thanks to Emily Omier)
I’ll be honest with you, open sourcing Blaze Commerce wasn’t an easy or obvious decision at first.
We’ve put years into building this platform, refining it based on client projects and real-world needs. The idea of just opening up the codebase felt both exhilarating and terrifying. Would it survive out in the wild? Would we lose control? Would the community see the same value in it that we do?
I spent countless hours reflecting on those questions. In fact, I ended up listening to over 50 hours of podcasts, reading article after article, and diving deep into what it means to build a successful open source business.
The most impactful resource for me was The Business of Open Source podcast, hosted by Emily Omier. If you’re not familiar, she’s put together over 200 episodes of wisdom on what it takes to go open source the right way. For us, her insights were invaluable. They gave me the confidence not only to take the plunge but also to believe that Blaze Commerce could thrive as an open source platform.
So, if you’re reading this, Emily—thank you. Your work helped guide us through this decision, and it’s because of voices like yours that companies like Blaze Commerce can move forward with a solid foundation.
We ultimately chose to release Blaze Commerce under the MIT license. It’s a fully permissive license that gives users complete freedom to use, modify, and build on the platform.
This openness isn’t just a technical decision—it’s a trust-building one. We want our users and contributors to feel empowered, knowing that the project is there for them no matter what.
Why We’re Open Sourcing Blaze Commerce
Open sourcing Blaze Commerce wasn’t just a business decision—it was a strategic move aligned with our core beliefs about transparency, innovation, and community. Below are the primary and secondary motivations that led us to take this step:
1. Building Trust and Brand Awareness
Trust is everything in ecommerce.
Our clients have built their businesses on open source platforms like WordPress and WooCommerce, so they understand the value of transparency and flexibility.
By open sourcing Blaze Commerce, we’re ensuring that our users are never tied solely to us. Should anything ever happen to Blaze Commerce as a company, our clients will still have access to the platform they’ve built their stores on.
This peace of mind is critical in today’s ever-evolving business landscape. Open sourcing is also an extension of our brand ethos—we believe that transparency drives trust, and trust drives growth.
2. Creating a Standard or Ecosystem
Headless commerce is where ecommerce is headed, and WooCommerce is already a force in the market.
With Blaze Commerce, we’re in a position to create a new standard for headless WooCommerce—one that’s built on the latest technologies, like Next.js and Typesense, and designed for performance and scalability.
Our team is excited to be part of something bigger than ourselves. We don’t just want to solve our clients’ problems—we want to shape the future of ecommerce, and open sourcing Blaze Commerce lets us do just that.
3. Giving Back to the Open Source Community
Our business wouldn’t exist without open source software.
We’ve benefited massively from WordPress, WooCommerce, and the countless developers who’ve contributed to those platforms. Open sourcing Blaze Commerce is our way of giving back to the community that’s helped us along the way.
We can’t wait to see what the community does with the platform—how they extend it, innovate on it, and make it their own.
4. Accelerating Development Through Community Contributions
The beauty of open source is the collaborative power of the community.
By opening Blaze Commerce to developers worldwide, we’re not just inviting feedback—we’re opening the door to new features, faster bug fixes, and innovative solutions.
More minds on the project mean more momentum, and we believe the community will help accelerate Blaze Commerce’s evolution far beyond what we could achieve alone.
5. Encouraging Innovation
Open source communities thrive on experimentation and innovation.
When developers are given the freedom to tinker, break, and rebuild, incredible things can happen. We’re excited to see what the community creates with Blaze Commerce.
Whether it’s new integrations, unexpected use cases, or entirely novel features, the innovation potential is vast. We’re looking forward to the ways in which Blaze Commerce will evolve in the hands of its users.
6. Attracting and Retaining Talent
While it’s not the primary reason for open sourcing Blaze Commerce, we do hope that being part of a vibrant open source project will attract talented developers who are passionate about contributing.
Being part of an open, collaborative community creates a sense of ownership and pride, which we believe could be a valuable driver as we continue to grow the team.
7. Monetizing Complementary Services
As a business, we’ve invested significantly in building Blaze Commerce, and while we’re excited to make the platform open source, we still need to sustain that investment.
By open sourcing the core platform, we’re freeing the software, but we’ll continue to offer complementary services like tailored implementations, support, and custom development.
This approach allows us to continue innovating, supporting our users, and meaningfully contributing to the open source community.
What’s Next for Blaze Commerce?
Open sourcing Blaze Commerce is just the beginning.
We’ve got some ambitious plans for the future, and we’re excited to continue building the platform alongside the community. Our public roadmap provides a clear vision of where we’re heading, with key focus areas including:
- Extended WooCommerce Plugin Support: We’re focused on expanding compatibility with a growing list of WooCommerce plugins and features. Our goal is to make Blaze Commerce flexible enough to support a wide range of use cases, from advanced product customizations to specialized shipping options, ensuring that users can continue to leverage their favorite WooCommerce extensions seamlessly in a headless setup.
- Enhanced Performance Optimizations: We’re committed to pushing the boundaries of headless commerce performance, focusing on reducing load times, improving caching, and ensuring scalable solutions.
- SEO and UX Enhancements: User experience and search engine optimization are core to our philosophy, and we’ll be rolling out features that further streamline both.
We’re also continuing to build out our documentation, offering detailed guides, best practices, and real-world use cases to help users get the most out of the platform. Our Quick Start Guide is already available to help you get up and running with Blaze Commerce in no time.
We’d love to hear your feedback as we expand the docs and build the next generation of headless WooCommerce. If you want to contribute, provide suggestions, or ask questions, our Slack channel is open for collaboration and troubleshooting.
Closing Thoughts
Open sourcing Blaze Commerce is a huge milestone for us, and it’s one that we’re incredibly proud of.
This move isn’t just about code—it’s about building a community around a shared vision of the future of ecommerce. We’re excited to see where this journey takes us and how the community will shape Blaze Commerce into something even greater than we imagined.
To the open source community that helped us get to where we are today—thank you.
We’re excited to grow alongside all of you and give back in meaningful ways. Whether you’re a developer, a business owner, or just passionate about the future of WooCommerce, we invite you to join us, contribute, and help drive the future of headless commerce.
Let’s build something great together.
Campbell
Founder, Blaze Commerce
