Medusa and Saleor are both open-source, headless commerce platforms, but they sit at very different price points and maturity levels: Medusa is a…
Best for Medusa: Medusa fits teams that want a low-cost entry point into managed headless commerce ($29/month starting) and want built-in AI/agent tooling via MCP for agent-driven development workflows.
Best for Saleor: Saleor fits larger, compliance-conscious organizations processing significant order volume that need SOC 2 Type II, GDPR, and PCI-DSS compliance out of the box, and are prepared to pay from $1,599/month for the Select Cloud tier.
Free (self-hosted, MIT license) or from $29 per month on Medusa Cloud
$159/month (Saleor Cloud Select plan)
Free plan
Yes
Yes
Free trial
Not documented
Not documented
Platforms
Not documented
Not documented
Team collaboration
Not documented
Not documented
AI features
Yes
Not documented
Public API
Yes
Yes
Key Differences
Cloud Pricing Tier
Medusa: Medusa Cloud starts at $29/month, priced on infrastructure usage with no GMV-based fees.
Saleor: Saleor Cloud starts at $1,599/month for the Select tier (up to $200,000 GMV, 0.8% overage), rising to $3,999/month for Volume (up to $1,000,000 GMV, 0.4% overage).
The roughly 55x gap in entry price makes these platforms fit very different budget stages, from early-stage startups to established, high-volume merchants.
API Architecture
Medusa: Medusa's admin dashboard is customizable and extensible, with modular commerce logic.
Saleor: Saleor is GraphQL-native with 160+ webhooks for integrations and 45+ dashboard mount points for custom UI.
Saleor's GraphQL-first design and extensive webhook count are aimed squarely at complex, high-integration enterprise architectures.
Compliance Certifications
Medusa: Medusa's documented pros and cons do not mention formal compliance certifications.
Saleor: Saleor is SOC 2 Type II, GDPR, and PCI-DSS compliant.
Formal compliance certifications are often a hard requirement for enterprise procurement and regulated industries.
Proven Scale
Medusa: Medusa's proof points center on GitHub adoption (35k+ stars) rather than documented transaction volume.
Saleor: Saleor reports handling 1B+ requests and 400k orders processed monthly at scale, with 23.1k+ GitHub stars.
Documented production-scale numbers give buyers more confidence the platform can handle high-traffic, high-order-volume operations.
AI/Agent Tooling
Medusa: Medusa has built-in Model Context Protocol (MCP) support, a Cloud CLI, and a Development Agent for AI/agent-driven development.
Saleor: Saleor's documented features do not mention AI/agent-specific tooling, though it does support agentic sales channels under its omnichannel processing.
Medusa's explicit MCP support is a more direct fit for teams building AI-agent-integrated development workflows today.
Feature-by-Feature
Licensing & Pricing
Feature
Medusa
Saleor
Open-source core
Available
Available
Free tier for prototyping
Available
Available
Managed cloud starting price
Available
Available
API & Architecture
Feature
Medusa
Saleor
GraphQL-native API
Not documented
Available
Webhook count
Not documented
Available
Extensible admin dashboard
Available
Available
OpenTelemetry observability
Not documented
Available
Compliance & Scale
Feature
Medusa
Saleor
SOC 2 / GDPR / PCI-DSS compliance
Not documented
Available
AI/agent (MCP) support
Available
Not documented
Documented production scale
Not documented
Available
Pricing Compared
Starting price reflects the lowest paid tier, not the full cost for every team size or usage level.
Medusa
Open Source (Self-Hosted) — Free N/A
Medusa Cloud Develop — From $29 per month Monthly
Medusa Cloud Launch — From $99 per month Monthly
Medusa Cloud Scale — From $299 per month Monthly
Medusa Cloud Enterprise — Custom Annual
Saleor
Self-Hosted (Open Source) — Free n/a
Saleor Cloud Select — $159/month monthly
Saleor Cloud Volume — $399/month monthly
Pros & Cons
Medusa
Pros
Core platform is completely free and open source with no license or transaction fees
Modern TypeScript and Node.js stack familiar to most development teams
Highly modular architecture suited to deep customization
Supports B2B, marketplace, and POS use cases beyond simple DTC stores
Official Medusa Cloud offers a managed hosting path when teams want to avoid self-ops
Cons
Requires development resources; not a drag-and-drop store builder like Shopify
Self-hosting demands infrastructure and DevOps expertise to run in production
Smaller ecosystem of themes and pre-built extensions compared to mature platforms like Shopify
Medusa Cloud pricing can add up with usage-based add-ons at scale
Best suited to technical teams rather than non-technical merchants
Saleor
Pros
Fully open-source core with a permissive BSD license and no self-hosting licensing fees
GraphQL-first API gives developers precise, flexible access to commerce data
Backed by venture funding from known investors including Zalando and Target Global
Actively maintained with a large GitHub community and real-world adoption by known brands
Avoids vendor lock-in since the code can be self-hosted and modified
Cons
Headless architecture requires development resources to build a custom storefront rather than an out-of-the-box theme
Not ideal for non-technical merchants wanting a quick, no-code setup
Saleor Cloud managed pricing scales with GMV, adding cost as a store grows
Self-hosting requires ongoing infrastructure management and Django/Python expertise
Smaller ecosystem of themes and plugins compared to mainstream platforms like Shopify
Use Cases
Choose Medusa: Medusa fits teams that want a low-cost entry point into managed headless commerce ($29/month starting) and want built-in AI/agent tooling via MCP for agent-driven development workflows.
Choose Saleor: Saleor fits larger, compliance-conscious organizations processing significant order volume that need SOC 2 Type II, GDPR, and PCI-DSS compliance out of the box, and are prepared to pay from $1,599/month for the Select Cloud tier.
Need both: There's no realistic case for running both together on one store — they're alternative headless commerce backends, so the decision comes down to budget tier and compliance requirements rather than feature complementarity.
Medusa
Custom headless storefronts — Development agencies and brands use Medusa to build fully custom storefronts decoupled from the commerce backend.
B2B and marketplace platforms — Companies use Medusa's modular commerce primitives to build complex B2B ordering systems or multi-vendor marketplaces.
AI and agent-driven commerce — Teams building AI-driven shopping assistants or automated purchasing flows use Medusa's API-first architecture to power commerce logic.
Saleor
Custom storefront development — Development agencies and in-house engineering teams build fully custom, high-performance storefronts on top of Saleor's GraphQL API.
Composable commerce migration — Mid-market and enterprise retailers move off monolithic platforms to a MACH-compliant, API-first commerce backend.
Multi-channel and multi-brand retail — Merchants selling across multiple channels, brands, or currencies use Saleor's channel model to manage them from one backend.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much cheaper is Medusa than Saleor?
Medusa Cloud starts at $29/month while Saleor Cloud starts at $1,599/month for its Select tier — roughly a 55x difference at the entry point, reflecting their different target markets.
Which platform is more compliance-ready for enterprise?
Saleor documents SOC 2 Type II, GDPR, and PCI-DSS compliance. Medusa's available data does not list formal compliance certifications.
Does either platform charge based on order volume (GMV)?
Saleor Cloud charges GMV-based overage fees (0.8% on Select, 0.4% on Volume, as low as 0.2% on Enterprise) beyond each plan's limit. Medusa Cloud explicitly avoids GMV-based fees, pricing on infrastructure usage instead.
Which platform supports AI agents?
Medusa has built-in Model Context Protocol (MCP) support plus a Cloud CLI and Development Agent for AI/agent-driven development. Saleor's documented features do not specifically mention MCP or agent tooling, though its omnichannel processing supports agentic sales channels.
Are both platforms open source?
Yes. Medusa's core is MIT-licensed with 35k+ GitHub stars. Saleor's core is BSD-3-Clause licensed with 23.1k+ GitHub stars.
What free options does each platform offer?
Medusa's self-hosted core is free under MIT. Saleor offers a free Sandboxes tier on Saleor Cloud for non-commercial prototyping and testing, in addition to its free open-source core.