Medusa vs Django Shop
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted e-commerce platforms options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Medusa
Composable commerce engine for developers
VS
Django Shop
E-commerce framework for the Django web framework
| Feature | Medusa | Django Shop |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 99 · Excellent | 23 · At risk |
| Category | E-commerce Platforms | E-commerce Platforms |
| License | MIT | BSD-3-Clause |
| Language | TypeScript | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 36,440 | ★ 3,317 |
| First released | 2021 | 2011 |
| Replaces | Shopify, commercetools | Shopify, WooCommerce |
What are Medusa and Django Shop?
Medusa
Medusa is a headless, open-source commerce platform written in JavaScript. It provides modular building blocks for building custom online stores, marketplaces, and B2B commerce experiences with a powerful admin and API.
- Headless commerce architecture
- Modular plugin system
- Built-in admin dashboard
- Multi-region and multi-currency
Django Shop
django SHOP is an open-source e-commerce framework for building online stores on top of Django. It provides a flexible product model, cart, and checkout that developers extend for custom shops.
- Django e-commerce framework
- Flexible product model
- Cart and checkout
- Highly extensible
Medusa vs Django Shop: key differences
Medusa is written in TypeScript, while Django Shop is built with Python. Licensing differs — MIT for Medusa versus BSD-3-Clause for Django Shop. Django Shop is the lighter option, starting around 512 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Medusa. Django Shop is the more established project (first released 2011), while Medusa arrived in 2021. Medusa has the considerably larger community, at 36,440 GitHub stars versus 3,317.
Why pick each one
Choose Medusa if…
- Highly customizable for developers
- Modern TypeScript codebase
Watch out for
- Requires development effort for storefront
- Less turnkey than hosted platforms
Choose Django Shop if…
- Released under the BSD-3-Clause license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (3.3k GitHub stars)
- Written in Python
Frequently asked questions
Is Medusa or Django Shop better?
Medusa is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider Django Shop if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Medusa and Django Shop free and open-source?
Yes. Medusa is licensed under MIT and Django Shop under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Medusa and Django Shop with Docker?
Medusa: yes. Django Shop: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Medusa or Django Shop?
Django Shop has the smaller minimum footprint at 512 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Medusa. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.