Medusa vs Shopify (2026)
By Noahlast updated
Medusa
MedusaAn open-core commerce platform (MIT core license, 35,900+ GitHub stars) for developers building custom B2B, B2C, and marketplace storefronts, self-hosted free or on Medusa Cloud from $29/month.
- Pricing
- Free tier · paid from $29/mo
- License
- Open core
Best for developer teams building custom B2B, B2C, or marketplace commerce storefronts that need more control than templated platforms like Shopify allow
Shopify
ShopifyAll-in-one e-commerce platform for building and running online stores, from $39/month with a 3-day free trial.
- Pricing
- From $39/mo
- License
- Paid
Best for solo entrepreneurs and growing merchants who want an all-in-one hosted platform for building an online store, accepting payments, and selling across multiple channels without managing their own hosting
Which should you choose?
Choose Medusa if…
wins 3/6 use cases
- You have developers and need commerce logic a template cannot express, such as B2B, marketplace or multi-warehouse inventory with order reservations
- You want to self-host an MIT-licensed core for free, or pay only for infrastructure on Medusa Cloud from $29/month
- You want no GMV-based fee or per-transaction commerce tax on any plan
- You are building an AI-agent-driven storefront and want an MCP server and agentic skills in the platform tooling
- You need multi-region currencies, taxes and shipping built into the core platform
Choose Shopify if…
wins 3/6 use cases
- You want a store live quickly without managing hosting, servers or a development team
- You want Shop Pay checkout and the Shop app, which reaches over 250 million shoppers
- You want to extend the store from 21,000+ apps instead of writing custom integrations
- You want built-in multichannel selling across social platforms, marketplaces and in-person POS
- You want a large review base before committing: 4.5/5 from 6,707 Capterra reviews
Medusa vs Shopify: feature comparison
| Feature | Medusa | Shopify |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Yesfree self-hosted; Cloud from $29/mo (Develop) | Yes$39/mo, or $29/mo billed annually (Basic) |
| Free tier | YesMIT core free to self-host | No3-day trial, then $1/mo for 3 months |
| Hosting | Yesself-host or managed Medusa Cloud | PartialShopify-hosted only |
| License | YesMIT open core; Enterprise Edition needs a commercial license | Nopaid hosted platform |
| No GMV or transaction fee | Yesnone on any Cloud tier | Noextra fees with non-Shopify Payments processors, plus card rates |
| Point-and-click store builder | Nodeveloper toolkit | Yesthemes and AI-assisted design |
| Headless and custom storefronts | Yesheadless architecture, customizable admin | YesAPIs, CLI and Hydrogen toolkit |
| App ecosystem | Partialsmaller app and theme marketplace | Yes21,000+ apps |
| Multi-warehouse inventory | Yeswith order reservations | Unknown |
| Multi-region selling | Yescurrencies, taxes and shipping per region | YesShopify Markets; regional customization from $299/mo billed annually (Advanced) |
| B2B commerce | YesB2B, B2C and marketplace models | Yesunlimited B2B catalogs from $2,300/mo (Plus) |
| AI tooling | YesMCP server, agentic skills, Cloud Development Agent | YesSidekick assistant, AI-assisted store design |
| Enterprise controls | YesSSO, RBAC, audit logs, 99.99% uptime on Cloud Enterprise (custom) | Yesunlimited staff, customizable checkout from $2,300/mo (Plus) |
| Support | Partialpriority from $299/mo (Scale), 24/7 on Enterprise | Partialpriority 24/7 support from $2,300/mo (Plus) |
| Platforms | Partialweb | Yesweb, iOS, Android |
| Learning curve | Partialsteep; needs developer resources | Partialmoderate; Liquid templating for custom themes |
| External rating | Yes4.4/5 from 10 reviews (Product Hunt) | Yes4.5/5 from 6,707 reviews (Capterra) |
Medusa vs Shopify: pricing
Every tier both tools publish, as we last checked them — not just the entry price.
Medusa
- Self-hosted (open source)MIT-licensed core, free to self-host; Enterprise Edition features require a separate commercial license agreement.Free
- Cloud DevelopZero-config infrastructure with GitHub deployment, storefront and backend hosting, Cloud Development Agent, 1M edge requests/month, 600 compute hours/month, 1 shared server.$29/mo
- Cloud LaunchAdds autoscaling infrastructure, custom storefront domains, automatic backups (7-day retention), webhook events, Redis-backed KV store, 5M edge requests/month.$99/mo
- Cloud ScaleAdds background workers, priority support, 3 Cloud seats, 10M edge requests/month, custom backend domain, longer backup retention.$299/mo
- Cloud EnterpriseCustom pricing; Enterprise License, 24/7 support, platform SLAs, SLA-backed response times, RBAC, SSO, audit logs, dedicated support engineer, 99.99% uptime guarantee, data sovereignty options.Custom
Shopify
- BasicOnline store, unlimited products, checkout, selling on social/marketplaces/AI chats. $29/month billed annually. Target: solo entrepreneurs.$39/mo
- GrowEverything in Basic plus up to 5 staff accounts and enhanced shipping discounts (up to 87% off). $79/month billed annually. Target: small teams.$105/mo
- AdvancedUp to 15 staff accounts, live third-party shipping rates, regional customization. $299/month billed annually. Target: global operations.$399/mo
- PlusUnlimited staff accounts, fully customizable checkout, up to 200 POS locations, unlimited B2B catalogs, priority 24/7 support. Target: complex, high-volume businesses.$2300/mo
Medusa vs Shopify pricing: which costs less?
Medusa has the lower platform cost, since its MIT-licensed core is free to self-host and Medusa Cloud starts at $29/month with no GMV fee, while Shopify starts at $39/month ($29 billed annually) before card processing and app costs.
Medusa Cloud runs Develop at $29/month, Launch at $99 and Scale at $299, with a custom Enterprise tier, and no Cloud tier takes a percentage of sales. Shopify runs Basic at $39/month ($29 annually), Grow at $105 ($79), Advanced at $399 ($299) and Plus from $2,300/month. Shopify adds extra transaction fees on every plan when a merchant uses a processor other than Shopify Payments, and reviewers say apps and themes push total cost up quickly. Medusa's main cost is developer time, because it is a toolkit rather than a store builder.
Which is easier to use, Medusa or Shopify?
Shopify is easier to use, with a moderate learning-curve rating and a hosted store builder, against Medusa's steep rating as a developer toolkit.
Shopify merchants launch with prebuilt themes, AI-assisted design and built-in checkout, without managing hosting; customizing beyond templates means learning Shopify's Liquid templating language. Medusa has no point-and-click store builder, so a team needs developers to configure the backend, build or adapt a storefront and write integrations, and Medusa's app and theme marketplace is smaller than Shopify's.
Which is more customizable, Medusa or Shopify?
Medusa is more customizable, because commerce logic is extended in code on an open MIT-licensed core, while Shopify extends through 21,000+ apps, its APIs and the Hydrogen headless toolkit inside a hosted platform.
Medusa covers advanced product management with bulk editing and bundles, multi-warehouse inventory with order reservations, multi-regional currencies, taxes and shipping, a promotion engine and a customizable admin dashboard, plus an MCP server and agentic skills for AI-agent-driven storefronts. Shopify offers headless storefronts through Hydrogen, Shopify Markets for international expansion, and a fully customizable checkout and unlimited B2B catalogs on Plus from $2,300/month.
Which is better for large or enterprise stores, Medusa or Shopify?
Both serve large stores: Shopify Plus starts at $2,300/month with unlimited staff, up to 200 POS locations and priority 24/7 support, while Medusa Cloud Enterprise is custom-priced with SSO, RBAC, audit logs, a 99.99% uptime guarantee and data sovereignty options.
Shopify's ladder jumps from Advanced at $399/month to Plus at $2,300+, and large brands such as Mattel run on Shopify Plus. Medusa's Enterprise Edition features need a separate commercial license agreement without a published price, so budgeting requires a sales conversation. Medusa Cloud Scale at $299/month adds background workers, priority support and 3 Cloud seats.
Strengths and weaknesses
Medusa
Pros
- MIT-licensed core is free to self-host with no feature gating on the open-source codebase itself.
- No GMV-based fee or commerce tax on any Medusa Cloud plan, unlike hosted platforms that take a percentage of sales.
- Deep customization for complex commerce needs: multi-warehouse inventory, multi-region pricing, B2B and marketplace support.
- 35,900+ GitHub stars and an active open-source community, plus AI-agent tooling (MCP server, agentic skills) for teams building agentic commerce.
Cons
- Requires real developer resources to configure; it's a commerce toolkit, not a point-and-click store builder like Shopify.
- Enterprise Edition features require a separate, non-public commercial license agreement rather than transparent published pricing.
- Cloud Develop's entry tier caps compute hours and edge requests, so active stores may need to move to Launch or Scale quickly.
- Smaller third-party app/theme marketplace than Shopify, meaning more custom development for integrations.
Shopify
Pros
- Quick to launch an online store without managing hosting or server infrastructure.
- Reliable, high-converting built-in checkout (Shop Pay) and payment processing.
- Large app ecosystem (21,000+ apps) for extending functionality without custom development.
- Multichannel selling built in across social platforms, marketplaces, and in-person POS.
Cons
- Third-party apps and premium themes add up quickly beyond the base subscription price.
- Non-Shopify Payments processors incur extra transaction fees on every plan.
- Customizing beyond templates requires learning Shopify's proprietary Liquid templating language.
- Plus tier jumps to $2,300+/month, a large gap from Advanced's $399/month.
Which fits your use case?
| Use case | Pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Solo entrepreneur launching a first online store | Shopify | Shopify Basic gets a hosted store, checkout and multichannel selling running for $39/month ($29 billed annually) with no developer needed, while Medusa requires developer resources. |
| Development team building a custom B2B or marketplace platform | Medusa | Medusa's MIT-licensed core supports B2B, B2C and marketplace models with multi-warehouse inventory and multi-region pricing, all extensible in code. |
| High-volume store that wants to avoid percentage-of-sales fees | Medusa | Medusa charges no GMV-based fee or commerce tax on any Cloud tier, while Shopify adds transaction fees on every plan when another processor replaces Shopify Payments. |
| Small team that wants apps instead of custom code | Shopify | Shopify's 21,000+ apps extend the store without development work, while Medusa's app marketplace is smaller. |
| Team building an AI-agent-driven storefront | Medusa | Medusa ships an MCP server and agentic skills aimed at agentic commerce, on top of a headless architecture. |
| Retailer selling in physical stores and online | Shopify | Shopify combines online checkout with in-person POS, scaling to 200 POS locations on Shopify Plus. |
Neither a match?
Both lists carry verified pricing and honest weaknesses for every option.
Popular comparisons
Medusa vs Shopify: migration FAQ
Should I use Medusa or Shopify?
- Use Medusa if you have developers and need custom commerce logic on a free, self-hostable MIT core with no GMV fee. Use Shopify if you want a hosted store running quickly from $39/month with 21,000+ apps and Shop Pay checkout.
Is Medusa cheaper than Shopify?
- Yes, on platform fees: Medusa is free to self-host and Medusa Cloud starts at $29/month with no GMV fee, while Shopify starts at $39/month ($29 billed annually) plus card processing and app costs. Medusa needs developer time that Shopify's hosted builder does not.
Can Shopify replace Medusa?
- Yes, for merchants who can work within a hosted platform, since Shopify covers storefront, checkout, inventory and multichannel selling, plus headless builds through Hydrogen. Teams that need self-hosting or an MIT-licensed core they can change freely will not get that from Shopify.
Is Medusa free?
- Yes, Medusa's MIT-licensed core is free to self-host, while Medusa Cloud managed hosting costs $29 to $299/month and Enterprise Edition features need a commercial license. Shopify has no free tier, only a 3-day trial followed by $1/month for 3 months.
Does Shopify charge transaction fees?
- Yes, Shopify adds extra transaction fees on every plan when you use a payment processor other than Shopify Payments, on top of card processing rates. Medusa charges no GMV-based fee or per-transaction commerce tax on any Cloud plan.