KitCommerce vs Medusa

Medusa is the bigger engine. GoCommerce is the smaller one to run.

Medusa is a headless commerce engine in TypeScript: commerce modules, a framework for customising them, and an admin, run on Node.js with PostgreSQL and Redis — and sold as a managed service, Medusa Cloud. GoCommerce is a headless engine in Go: one binary with its admin compiled in and one PostgreSQL database, and Svelte Commerce is a separate SvelteKit storefront. Medusa is far more widely used. GoCommerce asks less of the server it runs on.

$29 a month, where Medusa Cloud’s plans start
36,000+ GitHub stars on Medusa — the far larger community
31/43 Svelte Commerce services wired for Medusa — not yet cart or sign-in

KitCommerce is an open-source ecommerce platform. Its packages are GoCommerce, the backend and admin, and Svelte Commerce, the storefront — MIT licensed, used together or either one on its own. On this page, each claim names the package it is about.

Medusa and GoCommerce, side by side

Medusa’s side is checked against its own site, pricing page, documentation and repository, linked at the foot of this page; ours against the GoCommerce and Svelte Commerce pages on this site.

Medusa compared with GoCommerce and Svelte Commerce, checked 25 September 2026
Aspect	Medusa	GoCommerce + Svelte Commerce
What it is	A headless commerce engine: a Node.js application built from commerce modules, with a framework for customising them and an admin served by the same server.	A headless Go backend with its admin compiled into the same binary; Svelte Commerce is a separate SvelteKit storefront.
Licence	MIT, except the Enterprise Edition materials — role-based access control and single sign-on — which need a commercial agreement with MedusaJS, Inc.	MIT, the whole of both repositories.
Language	TypeScript on Node.js v20.19+ or v22.12+.	Go, compiled to one binary with one production dependency, the PostgreSQL driver.
What production needs	PostgreSQL and Redis, and two deployments of the application — one in server mode, one in worker mode — with Redis-backed caching, event bus, workflow engine and locking modules recommended.	One binary and one PostgreSQL database. No Node.js server, no Redis, no separate worker process, no message broker.
API	REST: a Store API and an Admin API, with OpenAPI specs to download and a JavaScript SDK.	REST: 342 documented operations, published as OpenAPI, the same API the admin uses.
Extending it	Custom modules, workflows with rollback and retry, API routes and subscribers, written in TypeScript inside your project.	44 modules, each a directory under ext/ compiled in only when imported. Anything else is Go you write.
Admin	Medusa Admin, extended with your own widgets and UI routes.	61 Svelte admin screens compiled into the binary.
Marketplace and B2B	Marketplace is a recipe you build: a vendor module, links to products and orders, order splitting. B2B uses customer groups, price lists and sales channels, with a B2B starter.	Vendors built in, with commission recorded but not settled. Customer groups, price lists and quantity breaks; no quotes or approvals.
Agent tooling	Agent skills as Claude Code plugins; a docs MCP server and a development agent for Medusa Cloud users, with agent-led migration guides for Shopify, WooCommerce and Magento.	An MCP module with 19 tools that act on a running store, with no account needed; an AGENTS.md of 18 rules and 16 task guides in the repository.
Hosting	Self-host anywhere Node.js runs, or Medusa Cloud from $29 a month with no fee on sales.	Self-host only. No hosted offering.
Storefront	A Next.js Starter Storefront, or any front end.	Svelte Commerce, whose Medusa connector wires 31 of 43 services — not yet cart or sign-in.
Track record	36,000+ GitHub stars; Heineken, Mitsubishi Motors and Eight Sleep are among the users named on its home page.	Svelte Commerce runs arialshop.com in production. No store we know of runs GoCommerce yet.

What running each one costs

Both engines are free to self-host. Medusa also sells a managed runtime; GoCommerce has none, so its cost is always a server and whoever looks after it.

Recurring costs, Medusa against GoCommerce and Svelte Commerce
Cost	Medusa	GoCommerce + Svelte Commerce
Software	Nothing under MIT; RBAC and SSO need an Enterprise agreement	Nothing — MIT
Managed hosting	Medusa Cloud: Develop from $29, Launch from $99, Scale from $299 a month; Enterprise quoted	None offered
Fee on sales	None — Medusa Cloud lists a 0% GMV fee on every plan	None
Self-hosted infrastructure	A server instance, a worker instance, PostgreSQL and Redis	One binary and PostgreSQL
People	A TypeScript developer to deploy and extend it	A developer to deploy it, and Go to extend it

Medusa Cloud prices are ‘from’ figures in US dollars. Each plan includes an allowance of storefront edge requests — 1, 5 or 10 million a month — and bills $0.30 per million beyond it.

Which one fits

Choose Medusa when

Your team writes TypeScript and wants the engine in the same language as the storefront.
You want the makers to run it for you — Medusa Cloud starts at $29 a month with no fee on sales.
You want a large community and named production users behind the engine you choose.
You are building unusual commerce flows and want Medusa’s workflow framework, with rollback and retry, to build them in.

Choose GoCommerce + Svelte Commerce when

You want fewer moving parts: one binary and PostgreSQL, with no Redis and no separate worker deployment.
You want marketplace vendors in the core rather than a recipe to build.
You want every line under MIT, with no enterprise materials reserved in the same repository.
You want an MCP server in the source that lets an agent run the store — stock, prices, orders, refunds — without a cloud account.

What you take on

You host it: a server, a PostgreSQL database, backups and upgrades are yours, or a developer’s you pay.
No app store. What a module does not cover, somebody writes.
GoCommerce has over 1,000 tests, but no store we know of runs it in production yet.
Svelte Commerce reaches GoCommerce through an early connector, version 0.1.0: catalogue, cart, checkout and order lookup work; customer accounts and a search index do not.
No importer from Medusa: GoCommerce imports from Shopify and Amazon only, so moving means a script against both APIs.
Far fewer people have run GoCommerce than Medusa, so fewer answers already exist when something breaks.

Keeping Medusa, or moving off it

Two paths, and neither is finished for you.

Keep Medusa and change only the storefront: Svelte Commerce’s Medusa connector wires 31 of its 43 services, but cart and sign-in are not among them, and product, category and search have gaps of their own. Until those are wired it cannot sell from a Medusa store, so this path starts with connector work, not a choice of theme.

Or move the backend: GoCommerce has no Medusa importer — its import modules cover Shopify and Amazon only — so a move is a script that reads Medusa’s Admin API and writes to GoCommerce’s REST API. Both are described in OpenAPI, which makes the mapping a documented job rather than guesswork.

FAQ

Questions about Medusa and GoCommerce

Is Medusa open source?

Yes, with one carve-out. Medusa’s repository is MIT licensed except for its Enterprise Edition materials — role-based access control and single sign-on — which are proprietary and need a commercial agreement. GoCommerce and Svelte Commerce are MIT throughout.

What does Medusa need to run in production?

By Medusa’s deployment guide: PostgreSQL, Redis, and the application deployed twice, once in server mode for the API and admin and once in worker mode for background jobs. GoCommerce needs one binary and one PostgreSQL database.

How much is Medusa Cloud?

Medusa’s pricing page lists Develop from $29 a month, Launch from $99 and Scale from $299, with Enterprise quoted, and no GMV fee on any plan. GoCommerce has no hosted offering; you run it on your own server.

Can Svelte Commerce run on Medusa?

Not for selling yet. Its Medusa connector wires 31 of 43 services, but cart and sign-in are unwired and product, category and search have gaps. Coverage is traced by a script on the backends page, and no connector has been run against a live production store.

Which API style does each use?

Both use REST described by OpenAPI. Medusa splits it into a Store API and an Admin API and adds a JavaScript SDK; GoCommerce publishes 342 documented operations in one OpenAPI file, used by its admin and any storefront alike.

Sources

Medusa’s prices and features were checked on 25 September 2026 against the pages below. Prices change; when one here disagrees with the source, the source is right and this page is out of date. Medusa is a trademark of its owner, named here only to compare; no endorsement or affiliation is implied — see trademarks.

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