SHSelfHostIndex

Medusa vs Vendure

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted e-commerce platforms options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
ME Medusa Composable commerce engine for developers VS VE Vendure Headless commerce framework built on Node.js
FeatureMedusaVendure
CategoryE-commerce PlatformsE-commerce Platforms
LicenseMITGPL-3.0
LanguageTypeScriptTypeScript
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM1,024 MB1,024 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metal, sourcedocker, bare-metal, source
GitHub stars★ 35,640★ 8,302
First released20212019
ReplacesShopify, commercetoolsShopify, commercetools

Why pick each one

Choose Medusa if…

  • Highly customizable for developers
  • Modern TypeScript codebase
Medusa details

Choose Vendure if…

  • Strong TypeScript developer experience
  • Well-documented plugin system
Vendure details

Frequently asked questions

Is Medusa or Vendure 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 Vendure free and open-source?

Yes. Medusa is licensed under MIT and Vendure under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Medusa and Vendure with Docker?

Medusa: yes. Vendure: yes.

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