Medusa vs Spree Commerce
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
Spree Commerce
Open-source Rails e-commerce platform
| Feature | Medusa | Spree Commerce |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 99 · Excellent | 95 · Excellent |
| Category | E-commerce Platforms | E-commerce Platforms |
| License | MIT | BSD-3-Clause |
| Language | TypeScript | Ruby |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 36,440 | ★ 15,718 |
| First released | 2021 | 2008 |
| Replaces | Shopify, commercetools | Shopify, BigCommerce |
What are Medusa and Spree Commerce?
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
Spree Commerce
Spree Commerce is a complete open-source e-commerce platform built with Ruby on Rails. It supports multi-vendor marketplaces, multi-store, and headless API-driven storefronts.
- Modular Rails engine architecture
- Multi-store and multi-vendor
- Headless storefront API
- Admin dashboard included
Medusa vs Spree Commerce: key differences
Medusa is written in TypeScript, while Spree Commerce is built with Ruby. Licensing differs — MIT for Medusa versus BSD-3-Clause for Spree Commerce. Spree Commerce is the more established project (first released 2008), while Medusa arrived in 2021. Medusa has the considerably larger community, at 36,440 GitHub stars versus 15,718.
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 Spree Commerce if…
- Mature and battle-tested
- Flexible Rails ecosystem
Watch out for
- Ruby expertise needed for customization
- Setup can be involved
Frequently asked questions
Is Medusa or Spree Commerce 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 Spree Commerce free and open-source?
Yes. Medusa is licensed under MIT and Spree Commerce under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Medusa and Spree Commerce with Docker?
Medusa: yes. Spree Commerce: yes.