Medusa vs Saleor - headless comparison 2026

Medusa and Saleor solve a similar problem - they separate the commerce backend from the customer experience - but they do it with a different philosophy. Medusa v2 feels more like a commerce framework for JavaScript/TypeScript teams that want to compose their own modules, workflows and integrations. Saleor feels more like a GraphQL-first commerce backend for organisations that want one API contract and are ready to operate Python/Django on the platform side.

For a CTO, the real question is not: “which one has more features in a table?”. It is: “which stack will be cheaper to maintain over three years, faster for our team to evolve, and less risky around ERP, PIM, WMS, payments and mobile?”.

GMI most often recommends Medusa for B2B, marketplaces, custom checkout, ERP integrations and a web + React Native app roadmap. Saleor deserves serious consideration for clean D2C, strong variant catalogues, strategic GraphQL and a team that already knows how to run Python/Django in production.

Headless commerce TCO rarely comes from the “platform cost” in month one. The real cost sits in extensions, data migration, integrations, version maintenance, regression tests and the team time needed to evolve the roadmap after go-live.

For B2B and many integrations, Medusa usually wins 3-year TCO: no classic SaaS GMV fee, one JS/TS stack from backend to frontend and mobile, broader TypeScript hiring supply and less context switching between channels.

Saleor can be faster for fashion, beauty or lifestyle D2C MVPs when the catalogue is well-modelled, GraphQL is a standard and the team has Python/Django experience. Cost grows when the project needs wholesale exceptions: credit limits, order approvals, split fulfilment, contract pricing and custom ERP flows.

GMI ranges: Medusa D2C/B2B MVP EUR 45,000 - 90,000; complex B2B with ERP and data migration EUR 55,000 - 120,000. A Saleor D2C MVP usually lands in a similar range, but custom B2B needs a separate estimate. We give fixed price only after DDT, because without an integration map every number is guesswork.

In B2B, products, cart and checkout are not enough. You need contract price lists, customer groups, credit limits, buyer-side roles, reorder, invoices, partial fulfilment and exceptions that currently live in ERP or in sales reps’ heads.

Medusa gives a strong starting point because its module and workflow model naturally leads to extending the client’s commerce domain in code. That is valuable for marketplaces and B2B, where one seller has different fulfilment rules and one customer can have multiple pricing levels.

Saleor can also support B2B, especially when the team designs GraphQL schema, apps and webhooks well. The risk appears when every wholesale exception becomes a separate extension around the platform and the organisation does not have a strong architecture owner.

Medusa works well with a Next.js + React Native architecture because the team can keep one main language and one way of thinking about the commerce domain. For a shopping app, sales-rep panel or loyalty app, that reduces the cost of maintaining API contracts.

Saleor GraphQL gives a clean contract for many API clients. That is strong in organisations that already have schema governance, Apollo/urql, query monitoring and GraphQL versioning practices. Without those practices, GraphQL can move chaos from the backend into clients.

Maintenance: both platforms need upgrades, regression tests, checkout monitoring, integration alerts and a rollback plan before sales peaks. Open source does not mean “free of cost”; it means “not locked into a vendor, but responsible for your own architecture”.

GMI mobile commerce proof: SFD has 100k+ downloads and a 4.9 App Store rating on a React Native app backed by commerce architecture. That argues for designing channels together, not adding an app a year later as a separate project without a shared data model.

At GMI we do not start by pitching Medusa. We start with an operating map: channels, margin, cart, pricing rules, integrations, data, teams and deadline. Only then do we recommend Medusa, Saleor, SaaS or a transition stage.

If the choice points to Medusa, we design a Next.js/React Native/Medusa architecture with clearly described module and integration boundaries. If it points to Saleor, we document GraphQL governance, apps/webhooks and Python/Django ownership. In both cases, the goal is fixed price after DDT, not an open bill for uncertainty.