Medusa vs Shopware: which fits your store?

Last verified 2026-10-01

Medusa and Shopware are both ecommerce platform tools compared here on pricing verified 2026-10-01, published plans, App Store standing, and themes from recent merchant reviews. Shopware starts cheaper (free vs $29/mo); Shopware has a free tier, Medusa does not. — auto-generated from tracked data; editorial verdict pending.

How do Medusa and Shopware compare?

	Medusa	Shopware
App Store rating	—	—
Price from	$29/mo	free
Free tier	✗ no	✓ yes
Published plans	4	7
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.

Shopware plans

Plan	Monthly	Limits / notes
Community Edition	—	Free open-source, MIT-licensed core; self-hosted setup and maintenance are the user's responsibility.
Rise	≈ $672	Price is based on GMV and other individual factors.
Evolve	≈ $2689	Price is based on GMV and other individual factors.
Beyond	—	Custom pricing based on GMV and other individual factors.
Shopware Intelligence+ for Community Edition	$29	Unlimited usage is subject to fair-use restrictions; the unlimited offer transitions to a standard non-unlimited model after September 2026.
Shopware Intelligence+ for Rise, Evolve, and Beyond	$19	Unlimited usage is subject to fair-use restrictions; the unlimited offer transitions to a standard non-unlimited model after September 2026.
Shopware Nexus Early Access	$0	Free introductory phase planned until October 6, 2026; review threshold of 10,000 requests per customer per calendar month. Afterward, each shop receives a plan-dependent free allowance and excess usage is expected to cost €10 per 1,000 executions; beta pricing may change.

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

Main Shopware plans are displayed in EUR and exclude VAT, so their EUR prices were not converted to USD. The Shopware Intelligence+ comparison table also displays USD amounts, which are recorded directly in monthly_usd despite conflicting EUR amounts elsewhere on the page.

Verified 2026-10-01 from vendor pricing page.

FAQ

Which is cheaper, Medusa or Shopware?

Shopware starts lower at free, vs $29/mo for Medusa (verified 2026-10-01).

Does Medusa or Shopware have a free plan?

Shopware has a free tier; Medusa does not publish one.

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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