Medusa vs Shopify: which fits your store?

Last verified 2026-10-01

Medusa and Shopify are both ecommerce platform tools compared here on pricing verified 2026-10-01, published plans, App Store standing, and themes from recent merchant reviews. Medusa starts cheaper ($29/mo vs ≈ $30/mo); neither offers a free tier. — auto-generated from tracked data; editorial verdict pending.

How do Medusa and Shopify compare?

	Medusa	Shopify
App Store rating	—	—
Price from	$29/mo	≈ $30/mo
Free tier	✗ no	✗ no
Published plans	4	5
Data confidence	high	high

What would you actually pay?

Medusa plans

Plan	Monthly	Limits / notes
Develop	$29	Includes 1M edge requests/month; 10,000 free-text search requests/month; 100 emails/day and 1,000 emails/month hard limit; 1 shared app server; 1 long-lived environment, then $60/LLE/month; 1 preview environment, then $10/PE/month; 600 compute hours/month capped per environment; 10 GB data transfer, then $0.125/GB; 10 GB-month object storage, then $0.025/GB-month; 1 GB-month database storage, then $0.50/GB-month; 300 build minutes, then $0.014/minute; 1 GB logs, then $0.50/GB; 1 cloud seat, then $30/seat/month.
Launch	$99	Includes 5M edge requests/month, then $0.30 per 1M; 10,000 free-text search requests/month, then $20 per 100,000; 1,500 emails/day and 10,000/month, then $0.70 per 1,000; 2 shared app servers with autoscaling; 1 long-lived environment, then $60/LLE/month; 3 preview environments, then $10/PE/month; 1,000 compute hours, then $0.16/hour; 40 GB data transfer, then $0.125/GB; 10 GB-month object storage, then $0.025/GB-month; 5 GB-month database storage, then $0.50/GB-month; 500 build minutes, then $0.014/minute; 250 MB key-value storage, then $100 per 5 GB; 10 GB logs, then $0.50/GB; 1 cloud seat, then $30/seat/month.
Scale	$299	Includes 10M edge requests/month, then $0.30 per 1M; 10,000 free-text search requests/month, then $20 per 100,000; 10,000 vector requests/month, then $40 per 100,000; 1,500 emails/day and 25,000/month, then $0.70 per 1,000; 2 app servers and 1 worker with autoscaling; 1 long-lived environment, then $60/LLE/month; 5 preview environments, then $10/PE/month; 2,800 compute hours, then $0.16/hour; 100 GB data transfer, then $0.125/GB; 10 GB-month object storage, then $0.025/GB-month; 10 GB-month database storage, then $0.50/GB-month; 1,000 build minutes, then $0.014/minute; 250 MB key-value storage, then $100 per 5 GB; 10 GB logs, then $0.50/GB; 3 cloud seats, then $30/seat/month; log drains cost $50/month.
Enterprise	—	Custom limits and pricing for edge requests, search, emails, compute, environments, storage, data transfer, build minutes, key-value storage, logs, seats, and other resources.

Verified 2026-10-01 from vendor pricing page.

Shopify plans

Plan	Monthly	Limits / notes
Basic	≈ $30	10 inventory locations; no additional staff accounts listed; 50 synced marketplace orders/month free, then 1% up to $99 USD/month; 2% fee for third-party payment providers; limited checkout customization and API data access; 1 headless storefront.
Grow	≈ $83	Up to 5 staff accounts; 10 inventory locations; 50 synced marketplace orders/month free, then 1% up to $99 USD/month; 1% fee for third-party payment providers; limited checkout customization; full API data access; 1 headless storefront.
Advanced	≈ $430	Up to 15 staff accounts; 10 inventory locations; 50 synced marketplace orders/month free, then 1% up to $99 USD/month; 0.6% fee for third-party payment providers; limited checkout customization; up to 2x rate on select APIs; 1 headless storefront.
Plus	—	Unlimited staff accounts and B2B catalogs; 200 inventory locations; up to 200 POS Pro locations, with 20 locations included according to the comparison table; 50 synced marketplace orders/month free, then 1% up to $99 USD/month; 0.2% fee for third-party payment providers; full checkout customization and API data access; up to 10x rate on select APIs; 25 headless storefronts; up to 9 expansion stores.
POS Pro	≈ $89	Priced per physical retail location; includes advanced staff roles and permissions, in-store inventory management, in-store pickup, and flexible delivery.

≈ prices converted from EUR at 1.1205 (ECB, 2026-10-22).

Prices are displayed in EUR and were not converted to USD. Some credits, marketplace overage caps, and promotional benefits are separately stated in USD.

Verified 2026-10-01 from vendor pricing page.

Which features does each include?

Feature	Medusa	Shopify
Hosted online store	✓	✓
Point of sale	—	✓
Multichannel selling	✓	✓
B2B / wholesale	—	✓
Headless / API-first	✓	✓
App ecosystem	—	✓
Themes & templates	✓	✓
Abandoned cart recovery	—	✓
Multi-currency	✓	✓
Multilingual storefronts	—	✓
Native subscriptions	—	—
Carrier shipping rates	—	✓ paid
Built-in email marketing	✗	✓
SEO tools	—	✓
Zero platform transaction fees	✓	✓
Free plan	✗	✗

Extracted from each vendor's App Store listing (2026-07-15); "—" = not stated there. Verify tier availability on vendor pricing pages.

FAQ

Which is cheaper, Medusa or Shopify?

Medusa starts lower at $29/mo, vs ≈ $30/mo for Shopify (verified 2026-10-01).

Does Medusa or Shopify have a free plan?

Neither publishes a free tier.

Which is rated higher on the Shopify App Store?

App Store ratings are shown in the table above where available.

How we compare: pricing and plans are collected automatically from vendor pages on a schedule and shown with verification dates; ratings come from the Shopify App Store; merchant sentiment is synthesized from the most recent App Store reviews (paraphrased, never quoted). We currently have no affiliate relationship with either vendor. Found an error? The data snapshot behind this page is dated — check the vendor's page for same-day changes.

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