Medusa
E-CommerceThe open source Shopify alternative — a headless commerce engine for developers.
About this project
Medusa is an open-source headless commerce platform — a developer-friendly alternative to Shopify that gives you complete ownership over your e-commerce stack. It provides the commerce engine (products, inventory, orders, payments, promotions) via a REST API, while leaving the storefront entirely to you — built in Next.js, React, mobile, or any front end.
Market opportunity
Global e-commerce revenue exceeded $5.8 trillion in 2023 and is projected to reach $8 trillion by 2027. Shopify commands this space at $29–$2,000+/month in platform fees, plus 0.5–2% transaction fees on every sale. For a store doing $500k/year in revenue, Shopify's take can exceed $10,000 annually in fees alone — before apps and themes. Medusa eliminates the platform tax and the front-end constraints entirely. With the rise of headless commerce and composable architecture, developer-led stacks are eating into Shopify's dominance among mid-market and enterprise brands.
Technical overview
- Stack: Node.js + TypeScript backend, PostgreSQL, Redis; deploy on any cloud.
- Modules: products and variants, inventory (multi-warehouse), orders, customers, promotions, shipping, payments (Stripe, PayPal, and more).
- Headless: the storefront is completely separate — use Medusa's Next.js Starter or build from scratch.
- Plugins: an ecosystem of official and community plugins for tax, search, CMS, and more.
- Admin: a full-featured React admin panel included.
Who's it for
Development agencies building custom storefronts, brands that have outgrown Shopify's template constraints, multi-vendor marketplaces, and startups in regulated industries that need full control over checkout and data.
How to use it
Get started
npx create-medusa-app@latest my-store
Choose a storefront template (Next.js Starter recommended), wait for dependencies to install, then:
cd my-store/backend
medusa develop # API at http://localhost:9000
Open the admin at http://localhost:7001, create an admin user, and add your first product. Connect Stripe in the admin panel for payments. For your storefront:
cd my-store/storefront
npm run dev # Storefront at http://localhost:8000
For production, deploy the backend on a Node.js server (Railway, DigitalOcean App Platform, or your own VPS) and the storefront on Vercel.
💡 How to make a business with it
How to make money with it
1. Custom e-commerce builds for brands. Brands that need more than Shopify's templates — unique checkout flows, complex inventory rules, subscription models, B2B pricing — are a strong market for custom Medusa builds.
- Target: D2C brands doing $100k–$5M/year in revenue, B2B e-commerce
- Pricing: $15,000–$80,000 per custom build project + monthly retainer
- Example: 2 projects/quarter at $25,000 each = $200,000/year in project revenue
- Difficulty: Complex — requires TypeScript, e-commerce architecture knowledge, and client management
2. Multi-vendor marketplace platform. Build a niche marketplace (handmade goods, local producers, digital products, B2B supplies) using Medusa as the engine. You own the platform; vendors pay to list and sell.
- Target: A specific niche where existing marketplaces take too high a cut
- Pricing: 5–15% transaction fee or $50–$300/month per vendor
- Example: 100 active vendors × $100/month = $120,000 ARR with nearly zero licensing cost
- Difficulty: Complex — requires multi-tenancy extensions and vendor management UX
3. Shopify migration service. Thousands of Shopify merchants hit limits — banned product categories, checkout customization walls, high fees. Position yourself as the migration specialist from Shopify to a self-hosted Medusa stack.
- Target: Shopify merchants on Plus ($2,000/month) or frustrated by app dependency costs
- Pricing: $5,000–$20,000 migration project
- Example: 2 migrations/month = $10k–$40k/month in project revenue
- Difficulty: Advanced — data migration, payment re-integration, and SEO preservation are complex
Need technical help?
Want help setting up Medusa, customizing it, or building your product on top of it? Knock me — let's talk.