Shopify or MedusaJS: How to Decide for Your Store

Short answer: stay on Shopify if its product model, checkout and apps cover your business rules. Consider MedusaJS when your core logic keeps ending up outside the platform, and you have developers to run it. Shopify is hosted for you. You host MedusaJS yourself or on Medusa's managed cloud.

Many stores should stay on Shopify. This guide helps you tell which group you're in. It is for e-commerce managers, CTOs and agencies advising a client.

How do Shopify and MedusaJS differ?

Shopify is a hosted commerce platform. Shopify runs the servers, the checkout and the platform upgrades. You extend it with themes, apps and APIs.

MedusaJS is an open-source commerce framework built with Node.js and TypeScript. Its core is MIT-licensed (GitHub). You run it on your own infrastructure or on Medusa Cloud.

Medusa is built from modules. Developers can add custom modules with their own data models (Medusa docs).

The real trade-off is ownership. With Shopify, you accept its rules and someone else maintains the platform. With MedusaJS, you write the rules and you maintain the result.

When should you stay on Shopify?

Stay on Shopify when most of these are true:

• Your products fit its model. A Shopify product can have up to three options and 2,048 variants (Shopify Help Center).
• Your extra data fits custom fields. Shopify stores extra product data in metafields and metaobjects.
• Your checkout needs fit Shopify's checkout. One-page checkout has been the default since 2023 (Shopify changelog).
• Your custom rules fit Shopify Functions. Functions cover discounts, delivery and payment rules, and cart validation (Shopify docs). Custom apps that use Functions need Shopify Plus.
• No developer will be available after launch. Shopify still works when nobody writes code for a month.

Removing apps is not a good reason to leave on its own. App subscriptions are real costs. A custom platform has its own running costs: hosting, upgrades, monitoring and developer time.

Is headless Shopify a middle path?

Yes. You keep Shopify for products, orders and checkout, and you build your own storefront. The storefront reads data through the Storefront API.

Shopify offers its own framework, Hydrogen, with Oxygen hosting. You can also use any framework, such as Next.js (Shopify docs).

Checkout stays with Shopify. The cart returns a checkout URL that sends the customer to Shopify's web checkout (Shopify docs).

This suits brands whose commerce rules fit Shopify but who want more control over pages and content. Campaigns and landing pages often move to a CMS such as Sanity. See headless commerce for how we split product data and content.

The cost is a second system to build and maintain. Changes that a theme editor handles today will need a developer.

When does MedusaJS fit?

MedusaJS starts to make sense when several of these are true:

• Pricing follows your own rules. Prices depend on customer, contract or quantity in ways that apps model poorly.
• Products don't fit variants. Items are configurable, bundled or built to order, and the variant model has become a workaround.
• Other systems own the rules. Orders pass through an ERP, a warehouse or a subscription engine that decides what happens next.
• Channels and markets differ. Each needs its own stock, prices or fulfilment rules.
• Developers will run it. You have developers, in-house or through a partner, for the years after launch.

The last point decides the others. MedusaJS without long-term development support is a risk, not a saving.

With MedusaJS, you also build the checkout. You connect the payment and tax providers, and you own the checkout flow. For an example of custom logic, see our guide to subscription commerce on MedusaJS.

Which product data and integrations change the answer?

Start with a list of your data, not a list of features. For each item, write down which system owns it.

• Product structure: options, variants, bundles and configurable products.
• Prices: price lists, customer groups, currencies and tax rules.
• Stock: warehouses, physical stores and supplier stock.
• Content: product stories, campaigns and landing pages.
• Orders: where they go after checkout, and which system sends status updates.

If a PIM or ERP already owns most of this, the commerce platform matters less. It becomes a checkout and order layer, and both platforms can do that job.

If the commerce platform must own complex rules, the choice matters more. On Shopify, that is where apps and workarounds pile up. On MedusaJS, that is where custom modules earn their place.

What does each option cost?

We don't publish prices here, because they depend on scope. The shape of the costs is still clear.

• Shopify: a plan fee, payment fees and app subscriptions. The platform is maintained for you.
• Headless Shopify: the Shopify costs, plus a custom storefront build, frontend hosting and ongoing frontend development.
• MedusaJS: no license fee for the open-source core. You pay for hosting, the build and the developers who maintain it. The build is usually the largest item, and upgrades continue after launch.

Compare the options over several years, with maintenance included. A comparison of monthly fees alone makes a custom platform look cheaper than it is.

What are the migration risks, and how do you reduce them?

A platform move touches every part of the store. These are the risks we plan for:

• Search traffic. Decide early whether URLs will change. If they do, map each old URL to a new one with a 301 redirect before launch.
• Customer accounts. Passwords usually can't move between platforms. Plan the email and the reset flow for returning customers.
• Order history. Decide how much history to import and where older orders stay readable.
• Apps and integrations. List every app and connected system. For each one, decide to replace it, rebuild it or drop it.
• Subscriptions and saved cards. These live with the payment or subscription provider. Check whether they can move before you commit.
• Analytics. Set up tracking on the new store and compare its order counts with the old one.

Run both stores side by side for a period. Place real orders through payment, fulfilment and refund. Switch when the numbers match, and keep a rollback plan ready.

Testing reduces risk, but it doesn't remove it. Plan the switch for a quiet sales period.

What should you check before you commit?

• Who owns the platform after launch, in-house or a partner?
• Which system owns product data, prices and stock?
• Which rules live in apps today, and would they move into code?
• Do editors have previews that match the live store?
• How often do you ship changes, and who ships them?
• What is the rollback plan if the launch goes wrong?

How we help with the decision

We help agencies and brands with this decision and with the build that follows. For product data and storefronts on either platform, see headless commerce. For builds on MedusaJS, see MedusaJS development. If Shopify is the better fit, we'll say so.

Tell us what you are building, your current systems and where you need development support. Discuss a project.