Open-source alternatives to Shopify: 5 e-commerce platform tools compared
Every one of these puts the catalogue, the orders and the checkout on infrastructure you control, and what that costs is a backend your team has to run and upgrade, which is a very different job from running a store. vendurehq/vendure is the one most readers should start with if the team writes TypeScript, and bagisto/bagisto is the answer for a Laravel shop that wants multi-vendor without building it.
What Shopify does, and why people look elsewhere
Shopify is a hosted e-commerce platform: storefront, product catalogue, checkout, payments and an app store, run entirely by the vendor.
- monthly plan plus a transaction fee when you do not use the vendor's payment processor
- checkout customisation is restricted on most plans
- the store and its data cannot be moved to your own servers
The candidates at a glance
| Project | Licence | Maintenance | Language | GitHub stars | Install |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| medusajs/medusa | Custom licenceCustom licence: read the LICENSE file | Commits in the last six monthsLast push November 7, 2026 | TypeScript | 37,122 | See analysis |
| saleor/saleor | BSD-3-ClausePermissive: commercial use allowed | Commits in the last six monthsLast push November 6, 2026 | Python | 23,515 | See analysis |
| vendurehq/vendure | Custom licenceCustom licence: read the LICENSE file | Commits in the last six monthsLast push November 6, 2026 | TypeScript | 8,568 | Command documented |
| bagisto/bagisto | MITPermissive: commercial use allowed | Commits in the last six monthsLast push November 6, 2026 | PHP | 28,343 | Command documented |
| evershopcommerce/evershop | GPL-3.0Copyleft: distributing it means sharing source | Commits in the last six monthsLast push November 7, 2026 | TypeScript | 10,541 | Command documented |
Each alternative in detail
medusajs/medusaThe world's most flexible commerce platform. 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.
- Best for
- You are building a commerce application in TypeScript and expect to write your own logic around orders, inventory or fulfilment rather than configure a finished storefront. The README describes it as a commerce platform with a built-in framework for customization, with core commerce modules published freely on npm, aimed at B2B and DTC stores, marketplaces, distributor platforms, PoS systems and service businesses.
- What you give up
- It is an open-core model, and the repository's licence is one GitHub cannot classify because the core is MIT while the RBAC-based Enterprise Edition materials in ENTERPRISE-LICENSE.md require a commercial agreement with MedusaJS, Inc. Our analysis of Medusa says to read that file against your feature list first, and not to adopt it if the RBAC features are on your critical path without a priced agreement. You also own the application code and the upgrade path.
saleor/saleorSaleor Core: the high performance, composable, headless commerce API.
- Best for
- You have engineers who are comfortable with GraphQL, Django and container deployment, and you need per-channel control of pricing, currencies, stock and product rather than a hosted storefront. The README describes an API-only platform where every interaction including configuration goes through GraphQL, extended with webhooks, attributes, metadata, apps, subscription queries, API extensions and dashboard iframes.
- What you give up
- The README is unusually candid about who this is not for: it says a service-oriented approach might feel more complex than WordPress or Magento for a single developer with a small business, no high traffic and no need for 24/7 availability. It also needs Redis: our analysis of Saleor tells you to confirm your deployment provides it for CACHE_URL and CELERY_BROKER_URL, because the example environment file assumes both, and to pin a 3.x release tag rather than the unstable main branch.
vendurehq/vendureOpen-source headless commerce platform built with TypeScript, NestJS, React, and GraphQL
- Best for
- Your team already writes TypeScript and you need to change core commerce behaviour, such as pricing or order workflows, without maintaining a fork. The README describes stable plugin contracts and service overrides, custom entities, pricing logic and workflows, one GraphQL API serving D2C, B2B, marketplace and omnichannel, and an introspectable schema you can wire to LLM tool-calling, MCP servers and agent frameworks.
- What you give up
- The repository is a monorepo you are meant to contribute to, not to deploy: the README says to run npx @vendure/create rather than clone it, and our analysis of Vendure notes the docker-compose.yml in the repository exists only for local development services. You also own the deployment, the data and the stack, and there is no admin experience that arrives finished, which is the point and also the cost.
- First install step
- Full setup guide
npx @vendure/create my-shop
bagisto/bagistoOpen Source eCommerce & Multi-Vendor Marketplace Platform Built with Laravel for Enterprise-Scale Commerce, Supporting 10M+ SKUs
- Best for
- You have PHP and Laravel engineers who want to own the storefront code and need vendor onboarding, commissions and per-vendor catalogues without writing them. The README describes an open source Laravel and Vue.js platform for single-vendor stores, B2B commerce and multi-vendor marketplaces, with an installation guide and a Docker installation path.
- What you give up
- The 2.5 line is still in beta. Our analysis of Bagisto notes that v2.5.0-beta3 is the newest tag while v2.4.11 is the stable release, so there is no stable 2.5 feature set today. It also needs capacity you may not have: the choice is between the docker-compose.yml Sail stack and running your own MySQL, Redis and Elasticsearch, and our analysis tells you to read UPGRADE.md in the repository root and check whether packages/ holds the modules you actually need.
- First install step
- Full setup guide
npm run build
evershopcommerce/evershop🛍️ Typescript E-commerce Platform
- Best for
- You have TypeScript developers who intend to write modules and themes against a GraphQL and React codebase rather than click through an admin panel. The README describes a modular architecture with separate documentation for extension development and theme development, on Express, React, GraphQL and Postgres, and its Docker path gets a store running quickly.
- What you give up
- GPL-3.0 is the condition that shapes who can adopt it, and our analysis of EverShop says not to use it if you need a vendor to carry the compliance burden or if distributing your store under GPL-3.0 is not acceptable. There is also a database to wire up: the analysis asks you to confirm your Postgres instance is reachable through the DB_HOST, DB_PORT, DB_USER, DB_PASSWORD and DB_NAME variables the compose file expects, and to be comfortable with @evershop/evershop being what your production image actually runs.
- First install step
- Full setup guide
curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/evershopcommerce/evershop/main/docker-compose.yml > docker-compose.yml docker compose up -d
Two extensible backends, an API-only engine, a Laravel store and a developer-first shop
Shopify is a hosted e-commerce platform: storefront, product catalogue, checkout, payments and an app store, run entirely by the vendor. People look elsewhere for three reasons. A monthly plan plus a transaction fee when you do not use the vendor's payment processor. Checkout customisation restricted on most plans. And a store and its data that cannot be moved to your own servers.
Those reasons produce five tools that all give you the backend and differ entirely on what they expect of you afterwards.
medusajs/medusa is the commerce framework. The README describes a commerce platform with a built-in framework for customization that lets you build custom commerce applications without reinventing core commerce logic, with the core commerce modules open source and freely available on npm, and it names the shapes it is aimed at: advanced B2B or DTC stores, marketplaces, distributor platforms, PoS systems and service businesses. The commercial boundary is explicit too, with Enterprise Edition features identified separately in the repository.
saleor/saleor is the API-only engine. The README describes a GraphQL-native, API-only platform with no monolithic plugin architecture and no technology lock-in, one version without feature fragmentation or commercial limitations, and native multichannel with per-channel control of pricing, currencies, stock and product. Extensibility comes through webhooks, attributes, metadata, apps, subscription queries, API extensions and dashboard iframes, and the feature list covers a CMS, a rich product content model, a flexible order model with split payments, multi-warehouse and returns, a promotion engine with sales, vouchers, cart rules and giftcards, payment orchestration across multiple gateways, and translatable catalogues. It also has a decoupled dashboard repository.
vendurehq/vendure is the plugin-first TypeScript backend. The README describes modelling your catalogue, orders, pricing, promotions and customers on one backend you can change at the core, through stable plugin contracts and service overrides, so you can add custom entities, pricing logic and workflows without patching. Building blocks for catalogue, orders, customers, promotions, channels, tax, shipping, payments and stock are built in, and the same extension model is what you use for your own workflows. It runs self-hosted, on Docker, on Kubernetes, or on any cloud.
bagisto/bagisto is the Laravel monolith, and the only one of the five that ships a storefront and an admin you configure rather than build. The README describes an open source Laravel and Vue.js platform for single-vendor stores, B2B commerce and multi-vendor marketplaces, and its distinguishing feature is the marketplace side: vendor onboarding, commissions and per-vendor catalogues without writing them.
evershopcommerce/evershop is the developer-first shop. The README describes a modern TypeScript-first platform built with GraphQL and React, on Express and Postgres, with a modular architecture, and it publishes separate documentation for extension development and theme development. That is the pitch in one line: the value is in the extension surface.
Left out, and worth saying why: the payment processors and the tax engines, which sit beside a commerce platform rather than replacing one, and the subscription and recurring-billing add-ons, which are usually a separate product for a separate problem. Both exist; neither is a store.
Why BigCommerce is not on this list
BigCommerce is the name that appears next to Shopify in most of these searches, and it is not here because it is a hosted platform, so the store and its data live on someone else's servers. That is the same property that makes Shopify the product being replaced.
The case for staying is not weak. BigCommerce is a mature hosted store with a real admin, a large app ecosystem and a checkout that works, and for a business whose priority is trading rather than owning its stack, a hosted platform is the correct amount of engineering. Plenty of successful stores have never deployed anything.
What changes when the reason is the one in the brief is that checkout customisation and transaction fees become architectural constraints rather than product features. If the checkout has to be yours, the whole platform has to be yours, and that is the decision this page is about.
Also absent, and worth naming: the other hosted store builders, which are the same shape as Shopify, and the open source storefronts that sit on top of one of the five projects here without providing a backend. Both categories exist; neither holds your order data.
One absence worth naming plainly is the enterprise suite that bundles commerce with a CMS, a search product and a CDP. That is a different purchase with a different buyer, and this page is about the backend of a store.
The honest framing for all of it: five of these give you a backend and a checkout, and none of them gives you a business. The catalogue, the pricing rules, the promotions, the fulfilment logic and the customer support around them were never the platform's job, and the migration that assumes otherwise is the one that goes wrong.
Choosing by scenario: a single developer, a small team, a marketplace, a regulated company
Who is writing the code, and in what language, decides this almost entirely.
A single developer with a small store and no requirement for 24/7 availability is the case the Saleor README explicitly warns about, saying a service-oriented approach might feel more complex than WordPress or Magento. If that is you, bagisto/bagisto is the closer fit of these five, because it is a Laravel application you install, configure and extend, and its marketplace and B2B features come ready rather than as extensions you write.
A small team that writes TypeScript and needs pricing or order behaviour the platform does not ship should look at vendurehq/vendure or medusajs/medusa. The difference is emphasis: Vendure is explicit about stable plugin contracts and service overrides so you can change core behaviour without forking, and its TypeScript stack runs end to end from GraphQL API to admin dashboard. Medusa describes itself as a framework for customization with modules published on npm, and it is the one of the two whose commercial boundary is an Enterprise Edition with RBAC.
A team that has engineers fluent in Python and Django, and that needs per-channel pricing, stock and currency across regions, should look at saleor/saleor. Its GraphQL-only API-only design is a real constraint on how you extend it, and a real advantage when every surface you build is API-driven.
A marketplace is the case that separates bagisto from the rest, because vendor onboarding, commissions and per-vendor catalogues are what it is for. Building those on a headless backend is weeks of work that Bagisto has already done, and the headless projects are better when you need a pricing model no marketplace template covers.
A company with data residency requirements can use any of the five, and the question becomes operational. The heaviest are the ones that assume a container platform, and the lightest is the one you can run on a single PHP host.
What each one asks you to run
The install commands on this page are almost all build or scaffold commands rather than deployments, which is itself the clearest signal about what these projects are.
vendurehq/vendure shows npx @vendure/create my-shop, which scaffolds a new project with the server, admin dashboard and GraphQL API ready to run. The README states the requirements: Node.js 20.19 or later, or 22.12 or later, and a SQL database that can be PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB or SQLite. Our analysis of Vendure makes two further points: the docker-compose.yml in the repository exists only for local development services, and the repository itself is the contribution target, so a team that clones it has misunderstood what it is for.
evershopcommerce/evershop shows a curl of the compose file followed by docker compose up -d, which the README describes as a way to get started without installing dependencies or configuring your environment. What sits behind it is a Postgres instance, and our analysis of EverShop asks you to confirm the database is reachable through the specific variables the compose file expects and that the current release installs cleanly under Node 20.
bagisto/bagisto shows npm run build, which is a front-end build step rather than a deployment, and that matches the analysis: the real question is whether you run the docker-compose.yml Sail stack or your own MySQL, Redis and Elasticsearch services. That is a bigger operational decision than the command suggests, and our analysis tells you to read UPGRADE.md in the repository root before you plan an upgrade.
medusajs/medusa and saleor/saleor have no install command in our analysis, and in Medusa's case the README sends you to its documentation site for a local setup. Saleor's analysis is the more useful of the two: pin a 3.x release tag rather than the unstable main branch, check your Python version against the requires-python range in pyproject.toml, and make sure your deployment provides Redis for both CACHE_URL and CELERY_BROKER_URL, because the example environment file assumes both.
The pattern across all five: a database, a job queue or worker, an object store for images, and a payment integration. None of them handles your payment processing for you, and that is the part of a commerce stack people most often forget is a separate vendor.
Licences: MIT, BSD-3-Clause, GPL-3.0, and two repositories whose metadata disagrees with their README
Three of these five are permissively licensed and two are copyleft, and two more have a licence signal that needs a file opened.
bagisto/bagisto is MIT, and it is the simplest position on the page: run it, modify it, host it. Our analysis of Bagisto does not add a condition to that, which is itself worth noting for a project aimed at enterprises.
saleor/saleor is BSD-3-Clause, and the README says it plainly: a single version of Saleor without feature fragmentation or commercial limitations. That is an unusual and useful commitment for a commerce platform, because it means the feature list you read is the feature list you get.
evershopcommerce/evershop is GPL-3.0, stated in the README and in the badge. Our analysis of EverShop frames the condition precisely: if you need a vendor to carry the compliance burden, or if distributing your store under GPL-3.0 is not acceptable, this is not the tool. A store that publishes its own data model and modules is a store that publishes its licence obligations with them.
vendurehq/vendure is the first of the two that needs a file. The repository metadata reports a custom licence, and the README says Vendure is open source under the GPLv3 license, with a specific and unusually well-explained exception: building against the GraphQL API does not make your storefront or services subject to GPLv3, and a plugin license exception lets you release your own plugins under any licence you choose. That exception is the difference between a usable platform and a trap, and our analysis of Vendure tells you to verify it fits how you plan to distribute your plugins.
medusajs/medusa is the other, and its shape is common in commerce: an open core under MIT plus an Enterprise Edition. The README states that the core is MIT and that the RBAC-based Enterprise Edition materials identified in ENTERPRISE-LICENSE.md require a commercial agreement with MedusaJS, Inc. Our analysis of Medusa says to read that file against your feature list, which is exactly right, because the question is never which licence covers the repository but which licence covers the feature you are about to build on.
One point applies to all five. A permissive licence on the platform says nothing about the payment processor, the tax engine or the fraud tooling you layer on top, and those are the parts of a commerce stack that usually hold the most sensitive data.
Bottom line
Pick bagisto/bagisto for a Laravel team that wants a store and a marketplace without building them, vendurehq/vendure for a TypeScript team that needs to change core pricing or order behaviour through plugin contracts, medusajs/medusa for a TypeScript team that wants commerce modules from npm and can live with the Enterprise Edition boundary, saleor/saleor for a Django and GraphQL team that needs per-channel control, and evershopcommerce/evershop for a TypeScript team that will write modules and themes. Before committing, read ENTERPRISE-LICENSE.md against your Medusa feature list, confirm the Vendure plugin exception fits your distribution, check Bagisto is on the stable 2.4 line rather than the 2.5 betas, and make sure your Saleor deployment provides Redis for both CACHE_URL and CELERY_BROKER_URL.
Sources
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