Medusa vs Vendure

How Medusa and Vendure differ at a glance

Medusa and Vendure are both open-source, headless commerce platforms written in TypeScript on Node.js. They differ in API style, extension model, database support, license and hosting. Vendure facts below come from Vendure's own docs, repository and pricing page; GitHub stars are as of October 28, 2026.

Architecture: modules and workflows versus plugins

Medusa splits commerce into modules (product, cart, order, pricing and more). Requests move from API routes to workflows to modules to PostgreSQL, per Medusa's architecture docs. You write custom modules with their own data models and link them to core ones, and you put multi-step business logic in workflows that roll back completed steps when a later step fails.

Vendure is built on NestJS. Its developer guide says each unit of functionality is encapsulated in a plugin, and a worker process handles background jobs such as search indexing and emails. Vendure's README says you can extend or override any part of the system through plugin contracts and service overrides. Teams that already know NestJS dependency injection will find Vendure's model familiar.

API style: REST versus GraphQL

Medusa's APIs are REST, and you add your own REST API routes in the same project. Vendure exposes two GraphQL APIs, the Shop API for storefronts and the Admin API for administration, and plugins can add REST-style endpoints. If your team wants an introspectable GraphQL schema as the main contract, Vendure is the closer fit.

License and hosting: Medusa Cloud versus Vendure's plans

Medusa is MIT-licensed except for its RBAC and SSO code. Medusa Cloud lists Develop at $29, Launch at $99 and Scale at $299 per month, with a 0% GMV fee on every plan.

Vendure Framework is free under GPLv3. Vendure's pricing page lists paid plans at €199 (Starter), €599 (Growth) and €2,499 (Scale) per month on annual terms, and Enterprise from €60,000 per year. Paid plans include a commercial license as an alternative to GPLv3, and the Scale plan adds B2B capabilities such as order approvals and contract pricing. Vendure Cloud is not available yet: Vendure says it will open as a closed beta for paid plans first, with general availability planned for Q1 2027.

Choose Vendure if

• Your team wants GraphQL as the primary API for storefront and admin.
• Your developers already build with NestJS and TypeORM.
• You need MySQL, MariaDB or SQLite instead of PostgreSQL.
• You want vendor-built B2B features such as contract pricing and order approvals in a paid plan.

Choose Medusa if

• You want REST APIs for your storefront and admin tools.
• You want a permissive MIT license for the core without buying a commercial license.
• You want generally available managed hosting today at a flat monthly price with no GMV fee.
• You want to start B2B from open-source code: Medusa's B2B starter ships company, quote and approval modules you can change.

When Medusa is not the right choice

Medusa is not the right fit if GraphQL is a hard requirement, or if your database standard is MySQL or MariaDB, since Medusa supports only PostgreSQL as its main database. Teams deeply invested in NestJS conventions may also move faster on Vendure than on learning Medusa's module and workflow model.