Medusa and Sylius are both MIT-licensed, headless, open-source commerce platforms, but they're built on different stacks for different developer audiences:…
Best for Medusa: Medusa fits JavaScript/TypeScript-first engineering teams who want a modular, MIT-licensed commerce core plus a managed cloud option (from $29/month, priced on infrastructure usage rather than GMV) and native MCP support for AI-agent-driven development.
Best for Sylius: Sylius fits PHP/Symfony development teams, often agencies, who want a mature, MIT-licensed headless framework with a strong testing culture (BDD) and are building for brands like Mytheresa, Carrefour, or Jägermeister that already run on the Symfony ecosystem.
At a Glance
Medusa
Sylius
Primary category
Ecommerce
Ecommerce
Rating
Not documented
Not documented
Pricing model
Open Source with paid Cloud hosting
open-source (free Community Edition) with a paid commercial edition, Sylius Plus
Starting price
Free (self-hosted, MIT license) or from $29 per month on Medusa Cloud
Free
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
Technology Stack
Medusa: Medusa is built as a modular Node.js/TypeScript commerce platform.
Sylius: Sylius is built on PHP and the Symfony framework, exposing REST APIs via API Platform.
The underlying language determines which engineering talent pool and existing codebase a team can reuse.
Managed Cloud Pricing
Medusa: Medusa Cloud starts at $29/month with no GMV-based fees — pricing scales with infrastructure usage.
Sylius: Sylius Plus (its commercial tier) does not publicly disclose pricing.
A visible starting price lets teams budget a managed option immediately, while an undisclosed price requires a sales conversation.
AI/Agent Tooling
Medusa: Medusa has built-in support for AI/agent integrations via Model Context Protocol (MCP), plus a Cloud CLI and a Development Agent.
Sylius: Sylius's documented feature set does not mention AI or agent-oriented tooling.
Teams building AI-assisted commerce workflows or agentic automation get native support from Medusa without custom integration work.
GitHub Community Scale
Medusa: Medusa has 35k+ GitHub stars.
Sylius: Sylius's community is described in terms of 7,400+ Slack developers and 700+ contributors rather than star count.
Community size affects how easy it is to find documentation, plugins, and third-party support.
Testing and Development Culture
Medusa: Medusa's documented strengths center on modular architecture and multi-regional/multi-currency support rather than a specific testing methodology.
Sylius: Sylius emphasizes a Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) testing approach as a core part of its engineering culture.
A platform with a documented testing philosophy can signal more predictable code quality for teams building mission-critical stores.
Feature-by-Feature
Licensing & Deployment
Feature
Medusa
Sylius
Open-source core license
Available
Available
Managed cloud option
Available
Not documented
Docker/Kubernetes-ready
Not documented
Available
Commerce Capabilities
Feature
Medusa
Sylius
Multi-regional / multi-currency support
Available
Not documented
Promotion engine
Available
Not documented
B2B and B2C support
Not documented
Available
Multi-vendor marketplace
Not documented
Available
Developer Experience
Feature
Medusa
Sylius
AI/agent integration (MCP)
Available
Unavailable
REST API
Not documented
Available
BDD testing framework
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
Sylius
Community Edition — Free one-time setup, self-managed
Sylius Plus — Custom quote annual license
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
Sylius
Pros
Fully open-source core under the permissive MIT license
Strong code quality culture with BDD testing built in
Backed by an active community and certified agency partner network
Scales from small stores to complex, modular enterprise commerce
Cons
Requires PHP and Symfony expertise, not beginner-friendly
Not a hosted SaaS option, so infrastructure must be managed separately
Sylius Plus pricing is not publicly listed and requires a custom quote
Building a production store demands significant developer time compared to turnkey platforms
Smaller ecosystem of pre-built themes and plugins than platforms like Shopify or WooCommerce
Use Cases
Choose Medusa: Medusa fits JavaScript/TypeScript-first engineering teams who want a modular, MIT-licensed commerce core plus a managed cloud option (from $29/month, priced on infrastructure usage rather than GMV) and native MCP support for AI-agent-driven development.
Choose Sylius: Sylius fits PHP/Symfony development teams, often agencies, who want a mature, MIT-licensed headless framework with a strong testing culture (BDD) and are building for brands like Mytheresa, Carrefour, or Jägermeister that already run on the Symfony ecosystem.
Need both: There's no practical scenario for running both on the same storefront — they are competing backend frameworks in different languages, so the decision is which stack (Node/TypeScript vs. PHP/Symfony) the engineering team standardizes on.
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.
Sylius
Custom headless storefronts — Agencies and in-house teams building a fully custom frontend on React, Vue, or a native app connected to Sylius via API.
Complex B2B and marketplace commerce — Using Sylius Plus modules to run multi-vendor marketplaces or business-to-business ordering workflows.
Code-quality-focused e-commerce projects — Teams that require rigorous testing and a modular codebase rather than a closed, plugin-based platform.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are Medusa and Sylius both free?
Yes, both have free, MIT-licensed open-source cores. Medusa's paid layer is Medusa Cloud (from $29/month), while Sylius's paid layer, Sylius Plus, has undisclosed pricing.
Which platform supports AI agents natively?
Medusa supports the Model Context Protocol (MCP) for AI/agent-driven development, along with a Development Agent and Cloud CLI tools. Sylius does not document AI or agent-oriented features.
What programming language is each platform built on?
Medusa is built on Node.js/TypeScript. Sylius is built on PHP and the Symfony framework, using API Platform for its REST APIs.
How does pricing compare for a managed/cloud deployment?
Medusa Cloud has a published starting price of $29/month, billed on infrastructure usage with no GMV fees. Sylius Plus pricing is not publicly disclosed and requires contacting sales.
Which platform has a larger open-source community?
Medusa reports 35k+ GitHub stars. Sylius reports 7,400+ developers on Slack and 700+ contributors — both are large but measured differently in the available data.
Does either platform support B2B or marketplace selling?
Sylius documents native B2C and B2B support plus a dedicated multi-vendor marketplace product (Dafre) and B2B product (Elesto). Medusa's documented features do not explicitly mention B2B or marketplace-specific tooling.