NaiForge vs Sky.Garden
Kenya-built marketplace with M-Pesa checkout — but 8% commission and post-2024 trust issues.
What you actually pay
KES 25,000-80,000 one-time
Zero to NaiForge. Payment gateway fees ~2.5-3% per transaction.
No commission.
50% deposit, balance on delivery.
Free to list, 8% commission (or KES 500-3,000/mo SuperSeller)
Free tier: 8% per sale. SuperSeller: KES 500-3,000/month for reduced 5-8% rates depending on tier.
M-Pesa via Sky.Garden checkout. Gateway fees included in commission.
Zero.
At 8% Sky.Garden commission on KES 150,000/month sales, you pay KES 12,000/month. NaiForge Starter (KES 25k) breaks even in month 3. Standard (KES 45k) in month 4. At higher volumes, the gap widens fast.
Feature by feature
| Feature | NaiForge | Sky.Garden |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | KES 25,000-80,000 one-time | Free + 8% commission, or KES 500-3,000/mo + 5-8% |
| M-Pesa | Yes (via gateway) | Yes (built-in) |
| Brand URL | yourbrand.com | Sky.Garden subdomain |
| Commission | 0% | 5-8% |
| Platform risk | Your server, your data | Dependent on Sky.Garden's business health |
| Courier choice | Any (Sendy, G4S, DHL) | Sky.Garden network |
| Customer data | Yours | Shared with marketplace |
- No commission — keep your gross margin
- No dependency on Sky.Garden's ongoing viability (2024 vendor boycott raised concerns)
- Your own brand URL, not a subdomain of sky.garden
- Full control over promotions and pricing
- Works with any courier, not just Sky.Garden's partners
- M-Pesa checkout built-in (same as NaiForge, so parity here)
- Built-in traffic for discovery
- Kenya-specific (unlike Shopify/Wix which are foreign-first)
- Integrated logistics via their courier network
Who should choose what
Choose NaiForge if…
You want to own your brand, your customers, and your margin. After 2024's vendor trust issues, many Kenyan sellers are diversifying off Sky.Garden specifically.
Choose Sky.Garden if…
You're starting cold and want a Kenya-native marketplace with M-Pesa. You have no existing audience and need the marketplace's traffic.
Parity on M-Pesa, but NaiForge wins on ownership, margin, and risk diversification. Several former SuperSellers migrated to owned sites in late 2024 — NaiForge is a clean path.
NaiForge vs Sky.Garden — FAQ
NaiForge vs everything else
vs Shopify
Global SaaS with polished templates — but USD-billed monthly forever.
vs Jumia Seller Center
Free to list, but Jumia takes 6-29% per sale and owns the customer.
vs WhatsApp Business
Free, familiar, and where your customers already are — but manual, unscalable, and invisible to Google.
vs Wix
Drag-and-drop templates billed in USD forever — vs a one-time KES site you own.
Ready to decide?
WhatsApp us — we'll tell you honestly if Sky.Garden is actually a better fit for you. We lose some leads that way; we keep the right ones.