Medusa vs PrestaShop: which one to choose in 2026?
Both are open source alternatives to Shopify. We compare license, tech stack and features to help you decide which fits your team best.
| Medusa | PrestaShop | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | E-commerce | E-commerce |
| License | MIT | OSL-3.0 |
| GitHub stars | 26k | 8k |
| Tech stack | Node.js, PostgreSQL, Redis | PHP, Symfony, MySQL |
| Replaces | Shopify | Shopify |
Medusa has more GitHub stars, which usually indicates a larger community (not necessarily that it's the best option for your use case).
Medusa
Headless ecommerce in Node.js, an alternative to Shopify for developers.
Pros
- No commission per sale, unlike Shopify
Things to consider
- Requires development skills to fully customize
PrestaShop
Established online store platform, a European alternative to Shopify.
Pros
- Mature ecosystem with many years of development
Things to consider
- Admin interface feels less modern than Shopify's
Key features
Medusa
- Customizable order, inventory and pricing modules
- REST API and admin panel included
- Native multi-region and multi-currency
PrestaShop
- Thousands of modules and templates
- Multi-store management
- Strong adoption in the European market