Medusa vs PrestaShop
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted e-commerce platforms options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Medusa | PrestaShop |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 99 · Excellent | 92 · Excellent |
| Category | E-commerce Platforms | E-commerce Platforms |
| License | MIT | OSL-3.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 36,440 | ★ 9,217 |
| First released | 2021 | 2007 |
| Replaces | Shopify, commercetools | Shopify, BigCommerce |
What are Medusa and PrestaShop?
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
PrestaShop
PrestaShop is a free, open-source e-commerce solution written in PHP. It offers a feature-rich back office, themes, and a marketplace of modules for building and managing online stores of any size.
- Full-featured admin back office
- Large module marketplace
- Multi-store support
- Multilingual catalog
Medusa vs PrestaShop: key differences
Medusa is written in TypeScript, while PrestaShop is built with PHP. Licensing differs — MIT for Medusa versus OSL-3.0 for PrestaShop. PrestaShop is the lighter option, starting around 512 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Medusa. PrestaShop is the more established project (first released 2007), while Medusa arrived in 2021. Medusa has the considerably larger community, at 36,440 GitHub stars versus 9,217.
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 PrestaShop if…
- Mature and well-documented
- No license fees for core
Watch out for
- Paid modules can be expensive
- Upgrades can be tricky
Frequently asked questions
Is Medusa or PrestaShop better?
Neither is universally better. Medusa has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Medusa and PrestaShop free and open-source?
Yes. Medusa is licensed under MIT and PrestaShop under OSL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Medusa and PrestaShop with Docker?
Medusa: yes. PrestaShop: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Medusa or PrestaShop?
PrestaShop 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.