Medusa vs Shopify: pricing, quotas & features (2026)
Open-source commerce engine — build custom storefronts with Next.js + Node
vs. Dominant SaaS commerce platform — Online Store + Hydrogen headless
Data sourced from vendor documentation · Last updated June 2026
Summary
Medusa and Shopify are both commerce platforms, addressing the same core use case with different implementation philosophies and trade-offs. Both offer a free tier, making it easy to prototype without a credit card. Shopify's paid plans start at $5/month, lower than Medusa's entry point at $99/month. Shopify has a broader documented feature set (22 vs 16 features). Budget-sensitive teams will find Shopify easier to justify early on. All pricing and quota data below is sourced from Medusa and Shopify's official documentation — not generated by AI or estimated.
Medusa vs Shopify: Comparativa de precios, cuotas y características (2026)
En esta comparativa analizamos Medusa y Shopify lado a lado — incluyendo precios mensuales, límites del tier gratuito, características técnicas, cuotas de uso (almacenamiento, transferencia, usuarios activos mensuales) y los interfaces de desarrollo disponibles. Todos los datos proceden de la documentación oficial de cada proveedor, no de respuestas generadas por IA.
Medusa es una plataforma de la categoría commerce — Open-source commerce engine — build custom storefronts with Next.js + Node. Ofrece 4 tiers de precio: OSS (self-host) gratuito, Medusa Cloud Free gratuito, Medusa Cloud Pro desde $99/mes, Enterprise (personalizado). Su catálogo en Staxly documenta 16 características y 7 interfazes para desarrolladores.
Shopify pertenece a la categoría commerce — Dominant SaaS commerce platform — Online Store + Hydrogen headless. Ofrece 6 tiers de precio: Starter desde $5/mes, Basic desde $29/mes, Shopify desde $79/mes, Advanced desde $299/mes. Su catálogo documenta 22 características y 10 interfazes para desarrolladores.
A continuación encontrarás los tiers de precio completos de ambas plataformas, una matriz de cuotas del tier gratuito (transferencia, almacenamiento, MAU, llamadas a la API y otros límites), el listado completo de características y los interfaces (CLI, SDKs, REST, GraphQL, MCP) disponibles para integrar cada servicio.
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Pricing tiers
Medusa
Shopify
Free-tier quotas head-to-head
Comparing oss on Medusa vs starter on Shopify.
| Metric | Medusa | Shopify |
|---|---|---|
| No overlapping quota metrics for these tiers. | ||
Features
Medusa · 16 features
- Admin Dashboard — React-based admin UI.
- Auth — Customer + admin auth with JWT.
- Cart — Multi-region carts with tax/pricing logic.
- Checkout — Multi-step checkout flow.
- Customers + Groups — Customer records + B2B groups.
- Dynamic Pricing — Price lists, rules, customer-specific.
- Event Bus — Async events via Redis / RabbitMQ.
- File Service — Pluggable storage (S3, local).
- Gift Cards — Native gift-card support.
- Inventory + Multi-warehouse — Stock tracking across locations.
- Next.js Starter — Production-ready Next.js storefront.
- Orders + Fulfillment — Full order lifecycle (edits, returns, exchanges).
- Products + Variants — Products with options, variants, images.
- Promotions + Discounts — Rule-based promos, campaigns.
- Tax Providers — Pluggable tax calculation.
- Workflows Engine — Durable saga-style business logic.
Shopify · 22 features
- Admin APIs — REST + GraphQL for management.
- App Store — 8,000+ apps.
- B2B (Plus) — Company accounts + catalogs.
- Checkout — Shopify-managed checkout (PCI-compliant).
- Checkout Extensibility — UI extensions in checkout (Plus).
- Collections — Manual + smart grouping.
- Customers — CRM-lite + B2B (Plus).
- Discounts — Automatic + code-based.
- Hydrogen — React/Remix headless framework.
- Inventory — Multi-location stock.
- Markets — Multi-region selling (currency, language).
- Online Store — Default Liquid-based storefront.
- Orders + Fulfillment — Multi-location fulfillment.
- Oxygen — Edge hosting for Hydrogen (Plus).
- Products + Variants — Full PIM.
- Shipping + Rates — Carrier integrations.
- Shop Pay — Accelerated checkout with saved payment.
- Shopify Functions — Rust/WASM backend extensions.
- Shopify Payments — First-party payment processor.
- Storefront API — GraphQL for custom storefronts.
- Theme Store — First-party + paid themes.
- Webhooks — Event subscriptions.
Developer interfaces
| Kind | Medusa | Shopify |
|---|---|---|
| CLI | medusa CLI | shopify CLI |
| SDK | @medusajs/js-sdk | @shopify/admin-api-client, @shopify/hydrogen |
| REST | Medusa Admin API, Medusa Store API | Admin REST API |
| GRAPHQL | — | Admin GraphQL API, Storefront API |
| MCP | Medusa MCP | Shopify MCP (unofficial) |
| OTHER | Medusa Admin UI, Next.js Starter | Liquid Templates, Shopify Admin, Shopify Webhooks |
Key takeaways
- Both Medusa and Shopify offer a free tier — Medusa ("OSS (self-host)") and Shopify ("Enterprise") — with no credit card required to start.
- The entry-level paid plan is $99/month for Medusa (Medusa Cloud Pro) vs. $5/month for Shopify (Starter).
- Shopify has a broader documented feature set (22 features) vs. Medusa (16 features) in Staxly's catalog.
- Developer integrations differ: only Shopify offers GRAPHQL.
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