head to head · open source
Medusa vs mall4j
Medusa has 37,059 GitHub stars, 5,487 forks, 194 open issues and last shipped yesterday. mall4j has 5,313 stars, 1,374 forks, 14 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Medusa leads on adoption by 598% (37,059 vs 5,313 stars). Medusa is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; mall4j is written in JavaScript under AGPL-3.0. Medusa has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, mall4j 26%. Medusa was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (ecommerce), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Medusa | mall4j | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 37K | ★ 5.3K |
| License | Custom / other | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.5K | ⑂ 1.4K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Medusa if
- You weight community size — 37K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick mall4j if
- You want the mall4j feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and mall4j fits your workflow better
About Medusa
Medusa Documentation Website Building blocks for digital commerce Getting Started The fastest way to get started is with Medusa Cloud. It provides a managed environment optimized for Medusa applications, with automated deployments, scaling, and maintenance. Get started on Medusa Cloud To set up a Medusa application locally, visit the Documentation. About Medusa Medusa is a commerce platform with a built in framework for customization that allows you to build custom commerce applications without reinventing core commerce logic. The framework and modules can be used to support advanced B2B or DTC commerce stores…
read the full Medusa overview →
About mall4j
Mall4j Java 商城系统 Mall4j 是 Java 商城系统源码产品体系。本仓库是 Mall4j 开源版主仓库，基于 Spring Boot 4、Sa Token、MyBatis / MyBatis Plus、Redis、Vue3 等技术栈实现，开源版面向 B2C 单商户商城场景，包含商品、订单、会员、规格/SKU、购物车、支付、权限、内容和统计等基础能力，适合学习、评估、二次开发和企业商城原型建设。 如果你正在选型 Java 商城系统、商城源码或电商系统源码，可以先从本仓库了解 Mall4j 的开源实现；需要多商户、供应链、SaaS、跨境、多端交付或企业级技术支持时，再参考官网版本说明。 项目说明 项目名称：Mall4j Java 商城系统、Mall4j 商城源码、Mall4j 电商系统源码。 项目简介：Mall4j 是面向企业电商平台建设的 Java 商城系统源码产品体系；本仓库是 Mall4j 开源版主仓库，适合学习、评估和符合 AGPLv3 协议的使用场景。 技术说明：Mall4j 主线已升级到 Spring Boot 4 和 Vue3，具体依赖版本以后端 pom.xml 和前端 package.json 为准。 开源授权：本仓库开源版遵守 AGPLv3 协议，适合学习、评估和符合协议的使用场景。 商业授权：闭源商用、企业私有化交付、企业级售后和更多业务版本应参考 Mall4j 官网商业授权说明。…
read the full mall4j overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Medusa or mall4j more popular?
Medusa has 37,059 GitHub stars and mall4j has 5,313. Medusa has the larger community by that measure.
Are Medusa and mall4j free?
Both are open source. Medusa has no licence declared in this registry, and mall4j is licensed under AGPL-3.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Medusa and mall4j?
Medusa is written in TypeScript and mall4j in JavaScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Medusa or mall4j?
Choose Medusa if you want the larger community (37,059 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose mall4j if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.