head to head · open source
Medusa vs WooCommerce
Medusa has 36,356 GitHub stars, 5,260 forks, 194 open issues and last shipped yesterday. WooCommerce has 10,514 stars, 10,675 forks, 1,638 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Medusa leads on adoption by 246% (36,356 vs 10,514 stars). Medusa is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; WooCommerce is written in PHP under a custom or non-standard licence. Medusa has attracted 14% as many forks as stars, WooCommerce 102%. WooCommerce 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 | WooCommerce | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 36K | ★ 11K |
| License | Custom / other | Custom / other |
| Written in | TypeScript | PHP |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.3K | ⑂ 11K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Medusa if
- You weight community size — 36K 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 WooCommerce if
- You want the WooCommerce feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You evaluated both and WooCommerce fits your workflow better
About Medusa
Medusa is an open source e commerce framework built with Node.js and TypeScript that enables developers to construct custom commerce applications without rebuilding core commerce logic. It provides modular, pluggable backend services for products, orders, inventory, payments, and customer management, all exposed via REST and GraphQL APIs. Medusa lives in the JavaScript/Node.js ecosystem and targets developers who need full control over their storefronts and business logic while relying on battle tested, open source primitives.
read the full Medusa overview →
About WooCommerce
WooCommerce is an open source ecommerce platform built on WordPress. It lives in the WordPress ecosystem, where a website owner can add commerce functionality through a plugin. The project is described as customizable and positioned as an open alternative to Shopify.
read the full WooCommerce overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Medusa or WooCommerce more popular?
Medusa has 36,356 GitHub stars and WooCommerce has 10,514. Medusa has the larger community by that measure.
Are Medusa and WooCommerce free?
Neither Medusa nor WooCommerce declares a licence in this registry, so check each project's own repository before relying on either for a commercial use. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Medusa and WooCommerce?
Medusa is written in TypeScript and WooCommerce in PHP. 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 WooCommerce?
Choose Medusa if you want the larger community (36,356 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose WooCommerce if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.