# Medusa vs Swell

**Leader by vioscaleAI score:** Swell

| Attribute | Medusa | Swell |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 65 (76% (high)) | 74.4 (54% (medium)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 100 | - |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 397 | - |
| adoption.github_stars | 36,728 | - |
| adoption.package_downloads_weekly | 188,278 | - |
| content.faq | `[{"answer":"A modular, extensible commerce platform that enables developers to create custom storefronts, marketplaces, and commerce systems while reusing foundational commerce functionality. Provides comprehensive modules for product management, pricing, inventory, and fulfillment with extensive customization through APIs and workflows. It is indexed under E-commerce Platforms.","source":"https://medusajs.com/pricing-module/","question":"What is Medusa?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Medusa offers a free tier, so you can start without paying. Paid plans start at $29 per month. Prices are published openly on the vendor's own pricing page. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://medusajs.com/pricing-module/","question":"Is Medusa free?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Medusa supports the web and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://medusajs.com/pricing-module/","question":"What platforms does Medusa support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Medusa can be deployed cloud / SaaS, on-premise and self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://medusajs.com/pricing-module/","question":"Can Medusa be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have independently confirmed GDPR for Medusa. Certifications we do not list are ones we have not been able to verify from public sources, which is not the same as Medusa not holding them. Always confirm compliance directly before you rely on it.","source":"https://medusajs.com/privacy-policy/","question":"What security certifications does Medusa have?","confidence":0.7},{"answer":"Yes. Medusa is published under the SEE LICENSE IN LICENSE licence, a copyleft licence, so check its terms before embedding it in a closed-source product. Licence terms can change between releases, so verify against the repository for the version you intend to use.","source":"https://www.npmjs.com/package/@medusajs/medusa","question":"Is Medusa open source?","confidence":0.85},{"answer":"Medusa is available worldwide. Its primary market is the United States.","source":"https://medusajs.com/pricing-module/","question":"Where is Medusa available?","confidence":0.5}]` | `[{"answer":"Swell is a hosted ecommerce solution providing customizable storefronts, API-first capabilities, flexible checkout options, multi-currency support, and comprehensive merchant tools for managing inventory, orders, payments, and subscriptions. It is indexed under E-commerce Platforms.","source":"https://www.swell.is/pricing","question":"What is Swell?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Swell is a paid product; published pricing starts at $29 per month. It is sold across 5 plans (Starter, Professional, Standard and Advanced). There is no free tier. Prices are published openly on the vendor's own pricing page. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://www.swell.is/pricing","question":"How much does Swell cost?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed browser-based access to Swell. That is the extent of what we could verify from public sources, so it may well offer desktop or mobile clients we have not indexed.","source":"https://www.swell.is/pricing","question":"What platforms does Swell support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have only confirmed a cloud / SaaS deployment for Swell, so it appears to be vendor-hosted. If a self-hosted option exists we have not found it documented publicly.","source":"https://www.swell.is/pricing","question":"Can Swell be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 9 integrations for Swell, including Klaviyo, ShipStation, PayPal, Braintree, Sezzle, Resend, Omnisend and Shopify, plus 1 more. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://www.swell.is/pricing","question":"What does Swell integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Swell is available worldwide. Its primary market is the United States.","source":"https://www.swell.is/pricing","question":"Where is Swell available?","confidence":0.5}]` |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true,"hybrid":true,"self_hosted":true}` | `{"cloud":true}` |
| description.long | An open-source commerce platform that enables developers to create fully customized e-commerce applications with built-in commerce primitives and agent-driven automation. | 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. |
| features.capabilities | `{"headless":true,"free_tier":true,"open_source":true,"b2b_features":true,"platform_type":"headless","self_hostable":true,"payments_model":"both","pos_omnichannel":true,"transaction_fees":false,"extension_ecosystem":"Modular architecture with Workflows, custom modules, API routes, and UI extensio","multi_currency_language":true}` | `{"headless":true,"free_tier":true,"open_source":true,"b2b_features":true,"platform_type":"hosted_saas","self_hostable":true,"payments_model":"built_in","pci_compliance":true,"transaction_fees":true,"extension_ecosystem":"Apps and integrations ecosystem with Klaviyo, Omnisend, Resend, and payment prov","multi_currency_language":true}` |
| integrations.count | 28 | 10 |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"Stripe"},{"name":"Google Analytics"},{"name":"PayPal","category":"payments"},{"name":"Braintree","category":"payments"},{"name":"Authorize.net","category":"payments"},{"name":"Mercadopago","category":"payments"},{"name":"Mollie","category":"payments"},{"name":"MakePay","category":"payments"},{"name":"Slack","category":"notifications"},{"name":"Resend","category":"email"},{"name":"Klaviyo","category":"marketing"},{"name":"Postal","category":"email"},{"name":"ShipStation","category":"fulfillment"},{"name":"Apiship","category":"fulfillment"},{"name":"InPost","category":"fulfillment"},{"name":"Packeta","category":"fulfillment"},{"name":"Algolia","category":"search"},{"name":"Contentful","category":"cms"},{"name":"Strapi","category":"cms"},{"name":"Tolgee","category":"localization"},{"name":"Storyblok","category":"cms"},{"name":"PostHog","category":"analytics"},{"name":"Odoo","category":"erp"},{"name":"1C","category":"erp"},{"name":"PunchCommerce","category":"erp"},{"name":"Avalara","category":"tax"},{"name":"AWS S3","category":"storage"},{"name":"Cloudflare R2","category":"storage"},{"name":"GCP Cloud Storage","category":"storage"},{"name":"GitHub","native":true,"category":"deployment","direction":"inbound"}]` | `[{"name":"Klaviyo"},{"name":"ShipStation"},{"name":"PayPal"},{"name":"Braintree"},{"name":"Sezzle"},{"name":"Resend"},{"name":"Omnisend"},{"name":"Shopify"},{"name":"Avalara","native":true,"category":"taxes","direction":"bidirectional"},{"name":"Stripe","native":true,"category":"payments"},{"name":"Klarna","native":true,"category":"payments"},{"name":"Apple Pay","native":true,"category":"payments"},{"name":"Google Pay","native":true,"category":"payments"},{"name":"Resolve","native":true,"category":"b2b"}]` |
| language.primary | TypeScript | - |
| license.spdx | SEE LICENSE IN LICENSE | - |
| market.availability | `{"primaryMarkets":["US"],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | `{"primaryMarkets":["US"],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"web":true}` | `{"web":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"subscription","plans":[{"free":false,"name":"Develop","summary":"$29/month","features":["Storefront and backend hosting","Medusa MCP and Cloud CLI","Search and email services","Pre-configured cache"],"commitment":"monthly","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":29,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"contactSales":false},{"free":false,"name":"Launch","summary":"$99/month","features":["All Develop features","Autoscaling infrastructure","Custom storefront domains","Automatic backups","Webhook events","Redis-backed KV store","Concurrent previews"],"commitment":"monthly","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":99,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"contactSales":false},{"free":false,"name":"Scale","summary":"$299/month","features":["All Launch features","Background workers","Priority Cloud support","Semantic search","Extended backup retention"],"commitment":"monthly","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":299,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"contactSales":false},{"free":false,"name":"Enterprise","summary":"Custom pricing","features":["Custom licensing","24/7 support","SLA-backed response times","RBAC, SSO, audit logs","Dedicated support engineer","Bring-your-own-cloud option","99.99% uptime SLA","Data sovereignty and SOC2 compliance"],"contactSales":true}],"addOns":[{"name":"Preview Environments","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":50,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}]},{"name":"Storefront Previews","components":[{"per":{"qty":1000000,"unit":"requests"},"kind":"metered","amount":0.3,"currency":"USD"}]},{"name":"Additional Cloud Seats","components":[{"kind":"per_unit","unit":"seat","amount":30,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}]},{"name":"Free-text Search","components":[{"per":{"qty":100000,"unit":"queries"},"kind":"metered","amount":20,"currency":"USD"}]},{"name":"Semantic Search","components":[{"per":{"qty":100000,"unit":"queries"},"kind":"metered","amount":40,"currency":"USD"}]},{"name":"Transactional Emails","components":[{"per":{"qty":1000,"unit":"emails"},"kind":"metered","amount":0.7,"currency":"USD"}]}],"summary":"From $29/month. Free trial included. Zero platform fees on commerce transactions.","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://medusajs.com/pricing/","retrievedAt":"2026-10-13T15:10:22.720Z","startingPrice":{"amount":29,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},"billingPeriods":["month"]}` | `{"type":"subscription","plans":[{"free":false,"name":"Starter","summary":"$29/month billed annually","minSeats":2,"commitment":"annual","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":29,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},{"of":"sales_over_ceiling","kind":"percentage","rate":2}],"contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"admin_users":"2","annual_sales":"$50k","api_requests":"100k/month"}},{"free":false,"name":"Standard","summary":"$299/month","minSeats":15,"components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":299,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},{"of":"sales_over_ceiling","kind":"percentage","rate":1}],"contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"admin_users":"15","annual_sales":"$1m","api_requests":"2m/month"}},{"free":false,"name":"Advanced","summary":"$2,250/month","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":2250,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},{"of":"sales_over_ceiling","kind":"percentage","rate":0.4}],"contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"admin_users":"Unlimited","annual_sales":"$5m","api_requests":"Unlimited"}},{"free":false,"name":"Custom","summary":"Contact sales for pricing (for merchants over $10M annual sales)","contactSales":true}],"summary":"From $29/month billed annually. Free trial available.","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://www.swell.is/pricing","retrievedAt":"2026-09-22T14:45:12.360Z","startingPrice":{"amount":29,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},"billingPeriods":["month","year"]}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | freemium | freemium |
| pricing.price_level | mid | mid |
| pricing.starting_price | `{"amount":29,"currency":"USD"}` | `{"amount":29,"currency":"USD"}` |
| pricing.transparent | yes | yes |
| release.cadence_days | 7 | - |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/medusajs/medusa/releases/tag/v2.21.2","date":"2026-09-28T10:08:32Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.21.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/medusajs/medusa/releases/tag/v2.21.1","date":"2026-09-22T15:12:45Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.21.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/medusajs/medusa/releases/tag/v2.21.0","date":"2026-09-11T10:13:57Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.21.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/medusajs/medusa/releases/tag/v2.20.1","date":"2026-09-03T09:41:28Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.20.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/medusajs/medusa/releases/tag/v2.20.0","date":"2026-09-02T15:34:03Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.20.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/medusajs/medusa/releases/tag/v2.19.0","date":"2026-08-13T13:09:55Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.19.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/medusajs/medusa/releases/tag/v2.18.0","date":"2026-07-23T14:28:51Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.18.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/medusajs/medusa/releases/tag/v2.17.2","date":"2026-07-01T17:17:33Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.17.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/medusajs/medusa/releases/tag/v2.17.1","date":"2026-06-25T09:49:54Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.17.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/medusajs/medusa/releases/tag/v2.17.0","date":"2026-06-24T18:47:31Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.17.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/medusajs/medusa/releases/tag/v2.16.0","date":"2026-06-18T12:00:47Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.16.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/medusajs/medusa/releases/tag/v2.15.5","date":"2026-06-01T08:49:24Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.15.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/medusajs/medusa/releases/tag/v2.15.3","date":"2026-05-21T11:25:48Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.15.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/medusajs/medusa/releases/tag/v2.15.2","date":"2026-05-13T13:39:45Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.15.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/medusajs/medusa/releases/tag/v2.15.1","date":"2026-05-11T21:16:56Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.15.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/medusajs/medusa/releases/tag/v2.15.0","date":"2026-05-11T15:02:07Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.15.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/medusajs/medusa/releases/tag/v2.14.2","date":"2026-04-30T16:22:18Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.14.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/medusajs/medusa/releases/tag/v2.14.1","date":"2026-04-24T14:11:43Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.14.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/medusajs/medusa/releases/tag/v2.14.0","date":"2026-04-23T12:17:37Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.14.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/medusajs/medusa/releases/tag/v2.13.6","date":"2026-04-08T09:01:38Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.13.6"}]` | - |
| reliability.sla_pct | 99.99 | 100 |
| reliability.status_page | - | yes |
| security.certifications | `[{"name":"SOC 2","status":"active"}]` | - |
| security.gdpr | yes | - |
| security.scorecard | 5.7 | - |
| security.soc2 | yes | - |
| security.trust_center | https://medusajs.com/privacy-policy/ | - |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=npm&package_name=%40medusajs%2Fmedusa&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` | - |

## Capabilities (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 |

*Source: vioscaleAI. Generated 2026-10-16T19:19:25.050Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*