Medusa vs Vendure: 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 | Vendure | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | E-commerce | E-commerce |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| GitHub stars | 26k | 6k |
| Tech stack | Node.js, PostgreSQL, Redis | TypeScript, NestJS, PostgreSQL |
| 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
Vendure
TypeScript ecommerce framework, an alternative to Shopify for devs.
Pros
- Carefully crafted developer experience (TypeScript end-to-end)
Things to consider
- Smaller plugin ecosystem than the Shopify App Store
Key features
Medusa
- Customizable order, inventory and pricing modules
- REST API and admin panel included
- Native multi-region and multi-currency
Vendure
- TypeScript plugin system
- Auto-generated GraphQL API
- Multi-store and multi-channel selling