Medusa vs Shopify(2026)
Medusa is better for teams that need open source and self-hostable. Shopify is the stronger choice if most popular platform. Medusa is free and Shopify is paid (from $39/month).
Full feature breakdown, pricing details, and pros & cons below.
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Medusa
Medusa is an open-source headless commerce engine that gives developers full control over their ecommerce stack.
Visit Medusa
Shopify
Shopify is the most popular ecommerce platform for building online stores with built-in payments, shipping, and analytics.
Starting at $39/month
Visit ShopifyHow Do Medusa and Shopify Compare on Features?
| Feature | Medusa | Shopify |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | free | paid |
| Starting price | Free | $39/month |
| Headless commerce | ✓ | — |
| REST + GraphQL APIs | ✓ | — |
| Multi-region | ✓ | — |
| Multi-currency | ✓ | — |
| Customizable workflows | ✓ | — |
| Plugin system | ✓ | — |
| Online store builder | — | ✓ |
| Shopify Payments | — | ✓ |
| App store (8,000+ apps) | — | ✓ |
| POS | — | ✓ |
| Inventory management | — | ✓ |
| Shipping integration | — | ✓ |
Medusa Pros and Cons vs Shopify
M
Medusa
+Open source and self-hostable
+Full developer control
+Node.js/TypeScript native
+No vendor lock-in
−Requires engineering resources
−Smaller ecosystem than Shopify
−No hosted option for free
S
Shopify
+Most popular platform
+Easy to set up
+Largest app ecosystem
+Reliable infrastructure
−Transaction fees unless using Shopify Payments
−Expensive at scale
−Template customization limited
Should You Use Medusa or Shopify?
Choose Medusa if…
- •Open source and self-hostable
- •Full developer control
- •Node.js/TypeScript native
Choose Shopify if…
- •Most popular platform
- •Easy to set up
- •Largest app ecosystem