Best open-source ecommerce platforms (2026), compared

Open-source ecommerce platforms compared side by side

The table below compares eight open-source ecommerce platforms on license, stack, API style, GitHub stars, managed hosting and fit. Licenses and star counts come from each project's GitHub repository as of October 28, 2026. Hosting and "best for" notes come from each project's own site.

How to read the license, stars and hosting columns

License type affects what you can do with your changes. MIT and BSD-3-Clause are permissive licenses: you can modify and ship the code without publishing your changes. GPL and OSL are copyleft licenses that attach share-alike conditions in some distribution cases, which is why Vendure also sells a commercial license as an alternative to GPLv3. Medusa's repository is MIT except for its RBAC and SSO code, which is licensed under the Medusa Enterprise Edition license.

GitHub stars measure developer attention, not production installs. Projects that merchants install from a plugin directory or a hosting panel, such as WooCommerce, can run on far more stores than their star count suggests.

Managed hosting differs a lot. Medusa Cloud and Saleor Cloud are generally available, Vendure Cloud has not opened its beta yet, and Spree and Sylius leave hosting to you. WooCommerce, Magento and PrestaShop run on standard PHP hosting.

Which open-source ecommerce platform fits which team

• Medusa fits TypeScript teams that need custom business logic in the backend: custom data models, multi-step workflows, and REST API routes in the same codebase.
• Saleor fits teams that want a GraphQL-only API and prefer to extend through apps, which are separate services that talk to Saleor through webhooks and the API.
• Vendure fits TypeScript teams that prefer GraphQL and the NestJS framework, and teams that want B2B features from a paid plan.
• WooCommerce fits stores where content and WordPress come first and the team is not writing a custom backend.
• Magento Open Source fits PHP teams with large catalogs who may later need Adobe Commerce.
• PrestaShop fits merchants who want themes, modules and a hosted plan without building a headless stack.
• Sylius fits PHP and Symfony teams building custom stores for mid-market and enterprise brands.
• Spree fits Ruby on Rails teams, and ships a marketplace seller panel and B2B features in its open-source core.

How Medusa works as an open-source commerce platform

Medusa is a TypeScript commerce platform that ships commerce modules (products, carts, orders, payments, pricing, inventory and more), a Store API, an Admin API and the Medusa Admin dashboard. Requests flow from API routes to workflows to modules to a PostgreSQL database, as described in Medusa's architecture docs. You add custom modules, workflows, subscribers and admin widgets in the same project.

You can self-host Medusa on any Node.js host with PostgreSQL and Redis; the docs recommend at least 2GB of RAM. Medusa Cloud plans cost $29 (Develop), $99 (Launch) and $299 (Scale) per month, with a 0% GMV fee on every plan.

When Medusa is not the right choice

• You want a GraphQL-first API. Saleor and Vendure both expose GraphQL as their main API. Medusa's APIs are REST.
• Your team writes PHP or Ruby. Sylius, Magento Open Source and Spree let your team stay in its language.
• You run a WordPress site and have no developer. WooCommerce on a managed WordPress host is simpler to run.
• You want a classic store with no custom code. PrestaShop's Hosted offer, or a SaaS platform, gets a small catalog online faster than any headless backend.