Comparison

Medusa vs Swell

On the evidence we track, Swell leads this comparison with a composite score of 74/100. Scores are only directly comparable because these tools share a category; the full breakdown and every source is below.

Medusa full profile →Swell full profile →

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Medusa65

★Swell74

Attribute comparison across 2 tools
Attribute	Medusa	SwellLeader
vioscaleAI score	65 / 100high · 76%	74 / 100medium · 54%
Pricing
Free tierpricing.free_tier	✓	✓
Modelpricing.model	freemium	freemium
Price levelpricing.price_level	mid	mid
Starting pricepricing.starting_price	$29	$29
Transparentpricing.transparent	✓	✓
Integrations
Countintegrations.count	28	10
Security
Certificationssecurity.certifications	SOC 2	-
Gdprsecurity.gdpr	✓	-
Scorecardsecurity.scorecard	5.7	-
Soc2security.soc2	✓	-
Trust centersecurity.trust_center	https://medusajs.com/privacy-policy/	-
Vulnerabilitiessecurity.vulnerabilities	Count: 0 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=npm&package_name=%40medusajs%2Fmedusa&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 0	-
Reliability
Sla pctreliability.sla_pct	99.99	100
Status pagereliability.status_page	-	✓
Adoption
Dependent reposadoption.dependent_repos	397	-
Github starsadoption.github_stars	36,728	-
Package downloads weeklyadoption.package_downloads_weekly	188,278	-
Activity
Commits last 30dactivity.commits_last_30d	100	-
Release
Cadence daysrelease.cadence_days	7	-
Historyrelease.history	20 items	-
License
Spdxlicense.spdx	SEE LICENSE IN LICENSE	-
Language
Primarylanguage.primary	TypeScript	-
Market
Availabilitymarket.availability	Available worldwide · Popular in US	Available worldwide · Popular in US
Content
Faqcontent.faq	7 items	6 items

Score

vioscaleAI score

Medusa65 / 100high · 76%

Swell74 / 100medium · 54%

Pricing

Free tier

Medusa✓

Swell✓

Model

Medusafreemium

Swellfreemium

Price level

Medusamid

Swellmid

Starting price

Medusa$29

Swell$29

Transparent

Medusa✓

Swell✓

Integrations

Count

Medusa28

Swell10

Security

Certifications

MedusaSOC 2

Swell–

Gdpr

Medusa✓

Swell–

Scorecard

Medusa5.7

Swell–

Soc2

Medusa✓

Swell–

Trust center

Medusahttps://medusajs.com/privacy-policy/

Swell–

Vulnerabilities

MedusaCount: 0 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=npm&package_name=%40medusajs%2Fmedusa&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 0

Swell–

Reliability

Sla pct

Medusa99.99

Swell100

Status page

Medusa–

Swell✓

Adoption

Dependent repos

Medusa397

Swell–

Github stars

Medusa36,728

Swell–

Package downloads weekly

Medusa188,278

Swell–

Activity

Commits last 30d

Medusa100

Swell–

Release

Cadence days

Medusa7

Swell–

History

Medusa20 items

Swell–

License

Spdx

MedusaSEE LICENSE IN LICENSE

Swell–

Language

Primary

MedusaTypeScript

Swell–

Market

Availability

MedusaAvailable worldwide · Popular in US

SwellAvailable worldwide · Popular in US

Content

Faq

Medusa7 items

Swell6 items

Capabilities

Feature-by-feature on the axes that matter for e-commerce platforms. “-” means undocumented, not absent.

Capability comparison for E-commerce Platforms
Capability	Medusa	Swell
Core
Platform type	Headless / composable	Hosted all-in-one SaaS
Licensing
Open-source	✓	✓
Deployment
Self-hostable	✓	✓
Pricing
Free / open tier	✓	✓
Transaction fees beyond plan	✗	✓
Payments
Payments model	Built-in + BYO gateway	Built-in payments
Architecture
Headless / API-first storefront	✓	✓
Compliance
PCI-DSS compliance provided	-	✓
Reach
Multi-currency / multi-language	✓	✓
Selling
B2B / wholesale features	✓	✓
POS / omnichannel	✓	-
Extensibility
App / extension ecosystem size	Modular architecture with Workflows, custom modules, API routes, and UI extensio	Apps and integrations ecosystem with Klaviyo, Omnisend, Resend, and payment prov

Core

Platform type

MedusaHeadless / composable

SwellHosted all-in-one SaaS

Licensing

Open-source

Medusa✓

Swell✓

Deployment

Self-hostable

Medusa✓

Swell✓

Pricing

Free / open tier

Medusa✓

Swell✓

Transaction fees beyond plan

Medusa✗

Swell✓

Payments

Payments model

MedusaBuilt-in + BYO gateway

SwellBuilt-in payments

Architecture

Headless / API-first storefront

Medusa✓

Swell✓

Compliance

PCI-DSS compliance provided

Medusa-

Swell✓

Reach

Multi-currency / multi-language

Medusa✓

Swell✓

Selling

B2B / wholesale features

Medusa✓

Swell✓

POS / omnichannel

Medusa✓

Swell-

Extensibility

App / extension ecosystem size

MedusaModular architecture with Workflows, custom modules, API routes, and UI extensio

SwellApps and integrations ecosystem with Klaviyo, Omnisend, Resend, and payment prov

What each one is

The product in its own terms, so the numbers below have context.

Medusa

An open-source commerce platform that enables developers to create fully customized e-commerce applications with built-in commerce primitives and agent-driven automation.

Independently observed

Swell

Leader

A SaaS ecommerce platform designed to help merchants quickly establish online stores, manage subscription products, and handle wholesale operations with built-in support for multiple currencies, languages, and payment methods.

Independently observed

Pricing

List pricing as published by each vendor, with the date we read it. Always verify at the source before you buy.

Medusa

from $29/moSubscriptionFree tier

From $29/month. Free trial included. Zero platform fees on commerce transactions.

Develop$29/month
- Storefront and backend hosting
- Medusa MCP and Cloud CLI
- Search and email services
- Pre-configured cache
Launch$99/month
- All Develop features
- Autoscaling infrastructure
- Custom storefront domains
- Automatic backups
- Webhook events
- +2 more
Scale$299/month
- All Launch features
- Background workers
- Priority Cloud support
- Semantic search
- Extended backup retention
EnterpriseContact sales
- Custom licensing
- 24/7 support
- SLA-backed response times
- RBAC, SSO, audit logs
- Dedicated support engineer
- +3 more

as of 2026-10-13verify ↗

Swell

Leader

from $29/moSubscriptionFree tier

From $29/month billed annually. Free trial available.

Starter$29/month billed annually
Standard$299/month
Advanced$2,250/month
CustomContact sales

as of 2026-09-22verify ↗

Platform & deployment

Where each product runs and how it can be hosted. A dash means undocumented, not unsupported.

Platform and deployment support comparison
Supports	Medusa	Swell
WebPlatforms	✓	✓
CLIPlatforms	✓	✗
Cloud / SaaSDeployment	✓	✓
Self-hostedDeployment	✓	✗
HybridDeployment	✓	✗

Platforms

Web

Medusa✓

Swell✓

CLI

Medusa✓

Swell✗

Deployment

Cloud / SaaS

Medusa✓

Swell✓

Self-hosted

Medusa✓

Swell✗

Hybrid

Medusa✓

Swell✗

Integrations

What each product connects to. Counts come from the vendor's own integration directory where one exists.

In common (7)

Stripe
PayPal
Braintree
Resend
Klaviyo
ShipStation
Avalara

Medusa

30 total - 23 not shared

Google Analytics
Authorize.net
Mercadopago
Mollie
MakePay
Slack
Postal
Apiship
InPost
Packeta
Algolia
Contentful
Strapi
Tolgee
Storyblok
PostHog
Odoo
1C
PunchCommerce
AWS S3
Cloudflare R2
GCP Cloud Storage
GitHub

Independently observed

Swell

Leader

14 total - 7 not shared

Sezzle
Omnisend
Shopify
Klarna
Apple Pay
Google Pay
Resolve

Independently observed

Still deciding?

Medusa or Swell: which one depends on you

A composite score cannot know your constraints. Describe them and both get re-weighted against what you actually need, with the evidence behind every position.

Free to run, no account needed to start. How the evaluation works

Comparison generated from independently-sourced facts. Every value links to its source and retrieval date. See the method.