The alternatives
medusa
The world's most flexible commerce platform.
medusajs/medusa Updated 2026-05-05 saleor
Saleor Core: the high performance, composable, headless commerce API.
saleor/saleor Updated 2026-05-05 woocommerce
A customizable, open-source ecommerce platform built on WordPress. Build any commerce solution you can imagine.
woocommerce/woocommerce Updated 2026-05-06 vendure
Open source headless commerce framework built with TypeScript, NestJS, React and GraphQL
vendure-ecommerce/vendure Updated 2026-05-05 Comparison notes
Medusa provides a headless commerce API with no bundled storefront — teams must build a frontend using Next.js or similar, gaining flexibility while adding engineering overhead for every UI component. Saleor is GraphQL-first and designed for developers comfortable with headless architecture, with strong multi-currency and multi-warehouse support but a steeper initial setup curve than Shopify's out-of-the-box tooling. WooCommerce requires WordPress hosting and plugin management overhead but offers the largest ecosystem of payment and shipping extensions outside Shopify's own app store.
Migration tips
- Export your Shopify product catalog via the built-in CSV export and import into your chosen platform's product importer, reviewing field mapping carefully for custom metafields.
- Migrate customer records with attention to email consent status — opt-in records must be preserved to remain GDPR and CAN-SPAM compliant after migration.
- Test payment processing end-to-end in a staging environment before DNS cutover, and keep the old Shopify store in read-only mode until you confirm order volumes are stable on the new platform.
FAQ
Can I fully replace Shopify with an OSS tool?
Feature parity varies. Most OSS alternatives cover 70-90% of core workflows, but may lack polish, integrations, or specialized features. Pilot the alternative with a subset of your team before fully committing.
What's the cost of self-hosting?
Plan for ~$5-50/month in VPS costs (DigitalOcean, Hetzner, etc.) plus 2-8 hours/month in maintenance. For a team of 20+, self-hosting usually breaks even against SaaS pricing within 6-12 months.
Which alternative should I pick?
Sort by GitHub stars (a proxy for community health), check the last-pushed date (avoid unmaintained projects), and read recent issues to gauge responsiveness.