head to head · open source
Medusa vs Saleor
Medusa has 37,059 GitHub stars, 5,487 forks, 194 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Saleor has 23,503 stars, 6,170 forks, 263 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Medusa leads on adoption by 58% (37,059 vs 23,503 stars). Medusa is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; Saleor is written in Python under BSD-3-Clause. Medusa has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, Saleor 26%. Medusa was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (commerce, e-commerce, 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 | Saleor | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 37K | ★ 24K |
| License | Custom / other | BSD-3-Clause |
| Written in | TypeScript | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.5K | ⑂ 6.2K |
| 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 Saleor if
- You want the Saleor feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the BSD-3-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and Saleor 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 Saleor
Commerce that works with your language and stack GraphQL native, API only platform for scalable composable commerce. Get to know Saleor: Talk to a human Talk to the API Join our community: Website Twitter Discord Blog Subscribe to newsletter Table of Contents What makes Saleor special? Why API only Architecture? Features Installation Documentation Saleor Platform Storefront Dashboard Contributing License What makes Saleor special? Technology agnostic no monolithic plugin architecture or technology lock in. GraphQL only Not afterthought API design or fragmentation across different styles of API. Headless and API…
read the full Saleor overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Medusa or Saleor more popular?
Medusa has 37,059 GitHub stars and Saleor has 23,503. Medusa has the larger community by that measure.
Are Medusa and Saleor free?
Both are open source. Medusa has no licence declared in this registry, and Saleor is licensed under BSD-3-Clause. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Medusa and Saleor?
Medusa is written in TypeScript and Saleor in Python. 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 Saleor?
Choose Medusa if you want the larger community (37,059 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Saleor if its feature set, stack or BSD-3-Clause licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.