ChatGPT answers, unedited

If your priority is self-hosting + complete customization + owning the code/data, I’d narrow it down to Medusa, WooCommerce, Saleor, and Bagisto. The right choice depends mostly on whether you want a traditional store or a custom-built/headless one. Open Source Projects OpenReplay Blog

My recommendation: Medusa

I’d pick medusajs.com for a new, highly customized store.

Why:

• Open source and self-hostable
• Built with TypeScript/Node.js, which makes it particularly nice if you're comfortable with modern JavaScript.
• Headless by design — your storefront is completely separate from the commerce backend.
• You can build the frontend however you want, e.g. Next.js, React, Vue, mobile apps, etc.
• Modular architecture means you can replace/customize things like payments, fulfillment, pricing, inventory, and business logic.
• No need to fight a prebuilt theme when you want a completely custom experience.
• It has become one of the leading open-source options for developer-built stores. Open Source Projects OSSAlt

The architecture would look roughly like:

                    ┌──────────────────┐
                    │   Your Store     │
                    │ Next.js / React  │
                    └────────┬─────────┘
                             │
                           API
                             │
                    ┌────────▼─────────┐
                    │     Medusa       │
                    │ Commerce Engine  │
                    └────────┬─────────┘
                             │
              ┌──────────────┼──────────────┐
              │              │              │
          PostgreSQL      Payments      Fulfillment

That gives you a lot more freedom than Shopify/WooCommerce if you're willing to develop the store yourself.

The alternatives

WooCommerce

woocommerce.com is probably the practical choice if you don't want to build much yourself.

Its enormous WordPress ecosystem is its killer feature: payments, shipping, subscriptions, SEO, marketing, product types, memberships, etc. are already available as plugins. OSSAlt WPBundle

The downside is that you're customizing WordPress/WooCommerce, rather than starting with a clean commerce application.

I'd choose WooCommerce if your goal is:

"I want to get a store running quickly and customize it extensively."

I'd choose Medusa if your goal is:

"I want to build my own ecommerce platform around my business."

Saleor

saleor.io is the other one I'd seriously consider.

It's Python/Django + GraphQL, and is particularly strong for more sophisticated multi-channel, multi-warehouse and enterprise-style commerce. The tradeoff is greater infrastructure complexity compared with Medusa. OpenReplay Blog OSSAlt

Bagisto

bagisto.com is excellent if you like PHP/Laravel.

It's more of a traditional full ecommerce application than Medusa, with things like catalog, inventory, admin, multi-store and multi-currency functionality already built in. Open Source Projects

What I'd personally do

If you're starting from scratch in 2026:

Medusa + Next.js + PostgreSQL + your payment provider

I'd use Medusa for the commerce/business logic and build the storefront myself.

That gives you essentially:

Your infrastructure → your database → your backend → your frontend → your code

rather than:

Shopify → their platform → their limitations → apps for anything unusual

The important catch is that self-hosted doesn't mean maintenance-free. You'll be responsible for hosting, updates, backups, security, monitoring, and integrating payment/shipping/tax services. Open Source Projects

If you tell me what you're selling, roughly how many products you expect, and whether you know JavaScript/TypeScript, PHP, or Python, I can tell you which one I'd choose for your specific store and what the recommended stack would look like.

If your priorities are self-hosting + full source-code access + deep customization, I’d narrow it down to Medusa, Saleor, Vendure, and WooCommerce. The right choice depends heavily on whether you want a modern developer-built store or a more traditional turnkey ecommerce system. Open Source Groups OpenReplay Blog

My recommendation: Medusa

I’d pick medusajs.com for a new custom store.

It is particularly good if you want to build your own frontend and essentially treat ecommerce as an API/backend rather than being locked into a predefined storefront. It uses a modern Node.js/TypeScript stack, is modular, and is designed for headless commerce. OSSAlt pkgpulse

A typical setup would be:

                 Your Store
                     │
          ┌──────────┴──────────┐
          │                     │
     Next.js/React          Mobile App
          │                     │
          └──────────┬──────────┘
                     │
                Medusa API
                     │
        ┌────────────┼────────────┐
        │            │            │
     Products      Orders      Customers
        │            │            │
        └────────────┼────────────┘
                     │
              PostgreSQL/Redis

That gives you enormous freedom over the customer-facing experience.

How I'd rank them

Medusa vs. Saleor

The two I'd seriously consider are Medusa and Saleor.

Medusa

• TypeScript/Node.js
• Very developer-friendly
• Headless from the ground up
• Excellent if you're building a custom React/Next.js frontend
• Modular architecture
• Good choice if you want to modify the actual commerce logic

Saleor

• Python/Django backend
• GraphQL-first
• Extremely powerful multi-channel architecture
• Strong choice for sophisticated catalogs, international commerce, B2B, multiple warehouses, etc.
• Its official project describes it as API-only/headless and emphasizes extensibility through apps, webhooks, metadata and API extensions. GitHub GitHub

One licensing detail is worth paying attention to: Saleor's core repository is BSD-3-Clause, but some newer Saleor components have different licensing terms, so I'd inspect the license of the particular components you intend to modify/distribute. GitHub GitHub

When I'd choose WooCommerce instead

If you want:

"I want to get a store running quickly, install plugins, and have an admin interface that my non-developer can use."

then woocommerce.com is hard to beat.

Its huge WordPress ecosystem is its biggest advantage. You can find integrations for payments, shipping, taxes, email marketing, SEO, subscriptions, memberships, etc. WPBundle OSSAlt

The downside is that if your vision is something like "I want to completely redesign how ecommerce works", I'd rather start with Medusa/Vendure/Saleor than bend WordPress/WooCommerce into something it wasn't designed to be.

What I'd choose for different projects

• Custom startup / modern ecommerce: Medusa
• Next.js + TypeScript: Medusa or Vendure
• Large catalog / B2B / multiple countries: Saleor
• Python/Django team: Saleor
• WordPress site that needs ecommerce: WooCommerce
• Want the easiest traditional self-hosted store: WooCommerce
• Enterprise-scale traditional ecommerce: Magento Open Source
• Want maximum control over the frontend: Medusa or Saleor

If you tell me what you're selling, roughly how many products you'll have, and what stack you want to use (e.g. Next.js, Laravel, plain PHP, etc.), I can recommend one specifically and give you a self-hosted architecture—including server, database, payments, storage, search, email, and deployment.

"I want to get a store running quickly, install plugins, and have an admin interface that my non-developer can use."

then woocommerce.com is hard to beat.

Its huge WordPress ecosystem is its biggest advantage. You can find integrations for payments, shipping, taxes, email marketing, SEO, subscriptions, memberships, etc.

The two I'd seriously consider are Medusa and Saleor.

Medusa

• TypeScript/Node.js
• Very developer-friendly
• Headless from the ground up
• Excellent if you're building a custom React/Next.js frontend
• Modular architecture
• Good choice if you want to modify the actual commerce logic

Saleor

If your priorities are self-hosting + full source-code access + deep customization, I’d narrow it to Medusa, Saleor, and WooCommerce.

My recommendation: Medusa

medusajs.com would be my first choice if you’re comfortable developing the store yourself.

Why:

• Open source and self-hostable
• Built with TypeScript/Node.js
• Headless by design, so you can build the storefront however you want
• Modular architecture—you can replace/customize payments, shipping, pricing, inventory, etc.
• Excellent fit with Next.js/React
• You aren't fighting against a prebuilt storefront when you want something unusual
• Good choice for a completely bespoke shopping experience

The main downside is that its ecosystem is much smaller than WooCommerce's, so you'll sometimes have to build integrations yourself. OSSAlt WPBundle

The alternatives

When I'd pick each

Medusa → Best overall for a developer-built store.
If you're thinking "I want to own the entire stack and make the store behave exactly how I want," this is probably the one.

saleor.io → Best if you're building something more enterprise-oriented. It's GraphQL-first, headless, and has strong multi-channel/multi-warehouse capabilities. It is also considerably heavier to operate. Saleor's own documentation supports running the entire stack locally with Docker. Saleor Commerce Saleor Commerce

woocommerce.com → Best if you want to get a store running quickly and take advantage of a gigantic WordPress/plugin ecosystem. It's much less "clean slate" than Medusa, but the ecosystem is a massive advantage. OSSAlt Shopify

bagisto.com → Very interesting if you're a Laravel developer. It's more of a complete traditional ecommerce application than Medusa.

Sylius → Excellent if you're a Symfony/PHP developer and want ecommerce functionality integrated deeply into your own application rather than adopting a conventional store platform.

What I'd personally build

For a new, highly customized store in 2026:

Next.js storefront → Medusa → PostgreSQL → Redis → Stripe/payment provider

with everything deployed on your own VPS/cloud infrastructure.

That gives you roughly:

Customer
   ↓
Next.js / React storefront
   ↓
Medusa API
   ├── Products
   ├── Cart
   ├── Checkout
   ├── Orders
   ├── Customers
   ├── Pricing
   ├── Inventory
   └── Promotions
          ↓
     PostgreSQL

You can then add your own services around it without having to bend the ecommerce platform into doing things it wasn't designed for.

One important distinction: if by "customize fully" you mean "I want to be able to change essentially every part of the application and I'm happy writing code," I'd strongly favor Medusa/Saleor/Sylius over WooCommerce. If you mean "I want thousands of existing plugins so I don't have to code everything," choose WooCommerce. WPBundle opensourceprojects.cc

If you tell me what you're selling, expected number of products/orders, your preferred programming language, and whether you want to build the frontend yourself, I can narrow this down to one and give you a recommended architecture/deployment setup.

If your priorities are self-hosting + open source + total control + deep customization, I’d narrow it down to Medusa, Saleor, WooCommerce, and Bagisto. The right choice depends heavily on whether you want to build the store or mainly configure one.

My recommendation: Medusa

Medusa would be my first choice if you're comfortable developing.

Why:

• Open source and self-hostable
• Built with TypeScript/Node.js
• Headless by design, so you can build the frontend however you want
• Very modular — payments, fulfillment, promotions, inventory, etc. can be customized/replaced
• Excellent fit with Next.js/React
• You aren't fighting a pre-built storefront architecture
• No platform transaction fee
• Good choice if you expect unusual business logic or want complete control

The main downside is that you're building more yourself. Its extension ecosystem is nowhere near WooCommerce's, so things that WooCommerce has as a plugin may require development with Medusa. www.wpbundle.com

How I'd rank them

Medusa vs. Saleor

This is probably the most interesting comparison if you want a seriously custom store.

Medusa

• TypeScript
• Node.js
• REST-oriented
• Very developer-friendly
• Excellent for Next.js
• More modular/"build it your way"

Saleor

• Python/Django
• GraphQL-first
• Particularly strong for multi-channel, multi-currency, multi-warehouse and more enterprise-oriented commerce
• More infrastructure/DevOps complexity

Saleor is extremely capable, but I'd choose it over Medusa mainly if you specifically want GraphQL/Python or enterprise-grade commerce capabilities. www.wpbundle.com

Don't dismiss WooCommerce

If by "customize fully" you mean "I want lots of existing integrations and don't necessarily want to code everything myself," then WooCommerce is arguably the better choice.

You get WordPress + WooCommerce, an enormous ecosystem of extensions, payment gateways, shipping integrations, tax tools, subscriptions, memberships, etc. You can still modify the PHP code and create a completely custom frontend. www.wpbundle.com

The downside is architectural: you're building on WordPress/WooCommerce rather than starting with a clean commerce API.

What I'd choose for different scenarios

"I'm a developer and want to build something really custom."
→ Medusa

"I'm building a large enterprise store with complex inventory/multiple warehouses."
→ Saleor

"I want to get a store online quickly and have an enormous plugin ecosystem."
→ WooCommerce

"I'm a Laravel developer."
→ Bagisto

"I want maximum control and I'm happy to build a lot of the application myself."
→ Medusa or Sylius

"I want something like Shopify, but the entire stack belongs to me."
→ Medusa + Next.js is probably the architecture I'd investigate first.

One important distinction: self-hosted doesn't mean maintenance-free. You'll be responsible for hosting, updates, backups, security, and payment integration. The payment processor can still handle the sensitive card-processing side, so you don't necessarily need to handle raw card data yourself. opensourceprojects.cc

If you tell me what you're selling, roughly how many products/orders you expect, and what tech stack you prefer (Node/Python/PHP/etc.), I can narrow this down to one platform and a recommended self-hosted architecture.

Yes. If your priority is self-hosting + full source-code control + deep customization, I’d look at modern headless/open-source platforms rather than Shopify-style systems.

My shortlist

🥇 I'd probably choose Medusa

Medusa on GitHub

Medusa is particularly attractive if you're comfortable with TypeScript/Node.js. It's designed as a customizable commerce framework rather than a rigid website builder, and its commerce modules are open source. You can build your own frontend, modify the backend, add custom business logic, and self-host the whole thing. github.com

A typical setup could be:

Next.js storefront → Medusa → PostgreSQL → Redis

with things like Stripe, PayPal, shipping providers, search, email, CMS, etc. plugged in around it.

The big advantage is that you're not fighting the platform when you want to do something unusual.

🥈 Vendure if you want TypeScript + a serious plugin architecture

Vendure

I'd seriously consider Vendure alongside Medusa. It's built with TypeScript, Node/NestJS, React and GraphQL, and its plugin architecture is a major part of the design. It's particularly compelling if you're expecting B2B, multiple channels, complicated pricing, marketplaces, or unusual commerce workflows. vendure.iogithub.com

One thing to pay attention to is licensing: Vendure Core is GPLv3, and Vendure also has commercial Platform functionality. vendure.iogithub.com

🥉 Saleor if you're building something bigger

Saleor

Saleor is another excellent choice, especially if you're comfortable with Python + GraphQL. It's genuinely self-hostable—the project documents running the API, dashboard and other components yourself—and it's built around a headless/composable architecture. saleor.io

I'd lean toward Saleor for something like:

• multiple storefronts
• multiple countries/currencies
• complex catalogs
• B2B
• high-volume commerce
• custom mobile/web clients

For a smaller store, though, it can be more infrastructure than you need.

What about WooCommerce?

WooCommerce

Don't dismiss it. If you want "I want a store running quickly and there are plugins for practically everything", WooCommerce remains extremely difficult to beat. Its enormous WordPress ecosystem is its killer feature. www.wpbundle.com

But if by "customize fully" you mean I want to fundamentally alter how products, carts, pricing, checkout, customers, fulfillment, APIs, etc. work, I'd rather start with Medusa/Vendure/Saleor.

What I'd pick for different projects

Small/medium store, developer-built:
→ Medusa

Custom marketplace / B2B / complicated business logic:
→ Vendure

Large enterprise/headless operation:
→ Saleor

PHP/Symfony developer:
→ Sylius — it's explicitly designed as a highly customizable open-source ecommerce framework. github.com

Non-developer or conventional WordPress store:
→ WooCommerce

One important distinction

I'd decide between Medusa, Vendure, and Saleor before worrying about themes.

They're essentially the commerce backend, while you can build the storefront separately with something like Next.js. That means you aren't locked into the platform's visual design or frontend.

If you tell me what you're selling, roughly how many products, whether you need subscriptions/B2B/marketplace functionality, and what tech stack you're comfortable with, I can narrow this down to one platform and give you the exact self-hosted architecture I'd use.

If your priorities are self-hosted + open source + extremely customizable, I’d shortlist these:

🥇 I'd choose Medusa for a new custom build

Medusa is particularly attractive if you want to build the store around your own design and business logic rather than adapt your business to a prebuilt storefront.

It's a headless commerce engine built around Node/TypeScript, and its commerce modules are open source under the MIT license. You can use it as the backend and build essentially whatever frontend you want with Next.js, React, Vue, mobile apps, etc. github.com

A typical architecture would be:

                    ┌── Next.js storefront
                    │
Customers ──────────┼── Mobile app
                    │
                    └── Custom frontend
                           │
                           ▼
                    ┌──────────────┐
                    │    Medusa    │
                    │  Commerce API│
                    └──────────────┘
                       │    │    │
             ┌─────────┘    │    └─────────┐
             ▼              ▼              ▼
          Postgres        Redis       Your services

That gives you control over the frontend, checkout, pricing logic, products, orders, integrations, database, deployment, and APIs rather than being constrained by a hosted platform.

🥈 Saleor if you're building something really sophisticated

Saleor is another excellent option. It's open source, headless, GraphQL-based, and designed around composable commerce. You can self-host the entire stack, including the dashboard. saleor.io

I'd lean toward Saleor over Medusa if you expect things like:

• multiple countries/currencies
• complex product catalogs
• multiple sales channels
• sophisticated B2B requirements
• very large scale
• GraphQL being central to your architecture

The downside is that it's a more substantial engineering project.

🥉 WooCommerce if you don't want to build as much

WooCommerce is still incredibly compelling. It's genuinely open source, self-hostable, and gives you source-level customization. It also has a gigantic WordPress/plugin ecosystem. woocommerce.com

I'd choose WooCommerce if you want:

"I want a complete store that I can customize."

I'd choose Medusa if you want:

"I want a commerce engine that I can turn into whatever store I want."

That's an important distinction.

What I'd pick based on your situation

If you're a developer building from scratch:
→ Medusa

If you're building a highly sophisticated/large-scale commerce system:
→ Saleor

If you're a small business and want to get selling quickly:
→ WooCommerce

If you specifically like Laravel/PHP:
→ Bagisto — it's an MIT-licensed open-source Laravel ecommerce framework with marketplace, PWA, mobile and multi-tenant capabilities. github.com

If you're all-in on TypeScript and want an alternative to Medusa:
→ Vendure

If you tell me what you're selling, roughly how many products you expect, whether you're comfortable with coding, and what stack you prefer (PHP/WordPress vs Node/TypeScript vs Python), I can narrow this down to one recommendation and give you the exact self-hosted stack I'd use (Docker, database, frontend, payments, search, storage, etc.).

If your priorities are open source + self-hosting + deep customization, I’d shortlist Medusa, Saleor, Bagisto, and WooCommerce. My default recommendation for a new, developer-built store would be Medusa.

My picks

1. Medusa — best overall for developers

Medusa

• MIT-licensed and genuinely open source. github.comdocs.medusajs.comgithub.com
• Node.js/TypeScript, so it's particularly nice if you already work with React/Next.js.
• Designed as a commerce engine/framework, rather than a rigid storefront.
• You can replace or customize products, pricing, carts, checkout, promotions, fulfillment, payments, etc.
• Supports self-hosting; its documentation explicitly provides self-hosting deployment guidance. docs.medusajs.com
• Particularly good if you want a completely custom frontend.

I'd choose this if: you want to build something that feels more like your own ecommerce application than a customized off-the-shelf store.

2. Saleor — best for serious/large-scale commerce

Saleor

Saleor is extremely customizable and API-first. It's GraphQL-native, headless, and designed around composable commerce. You can self-host the API, dashboard, and storefront. saleor.io

It's my choice over Medusa when you anticipate things like:

• multiple storefronts/channels
• multiple currencies and countries
• complex catalogs
• sophisticated B2B
• very large scale
• a team comfortable with Python/Django + GraphQL

The downside is that Saleor is more infrastructure-heavy than something like WooCommerce.

3. Bagisto — best if you like Laravel/PHP

Bagisto

Bagisto is MIT-licensed and built on Laravel. It gives you a more traditional ecommerce platform while still allowing substantial customization. It also has headless capabilities and a large extension ecosystem. github.com

I'd seriously consider it if your stack is already PHP/Laravel.

4. WooCommerce — best if you want the easiest ecosystem

WooCommerce

WooCommerce is hard to beat for the sheer number of themes, plugins, integrations, developers, and tutorials available.

But there's an important distinction:

WooCommerce is great for customizing an existing ecommerce system. Medusa/Saleor are better if you want to fundamentally build your own system.

How I'd decide

My recommendation

If you're starting from scratch today, I'd go:

Next.js → Medusa → PostgreSQL → Redis → object storage → your own infrastructure

That gives you a clean separation between the storefront and commerce backend, while keeping the entire system under your control. Medusa specifically describes its architecture as commerce building blocks that can support custom DTC, B2B, marketplace, POS, and other applications. github.comdocs.medusajs.comgithub.com

If you tell me what you're selling and what tech stack you prefer (e.g. Next.js, Laravel, Python, etc.), I can narrow this down to the best 1–2 choices and explain the architecture I'd use.

If your priority is self-hosting + full source-code control + deep customization, I’d narrow it to Medusa, Saleor, Sylius, Bagisto, and WooCommerce. The right choice depends mostly on whether you want a traditional store or a headless/custom application.

My recommendation: Medusa

Medusa would be my first choice for a new, highly customized store.

It’s MIT-licensed, open source, built with TypeScript/Node.js, and designed specifically as a customizable commerce engine rather than a giant monolithic storefront. Its modules cover things like products, carts, orders, payments, fulfillment, and promotions, while you build the frontend however you want. github.com

A typical setup could be:

Medusa + Next.js + PostgreSQL + Stripe

That gives you:

• Full control over the frontend
• Full control over checkout
• Custom product/catalog logic
• Custom customer accounts
• Custom pricing and promotions
• Custom payment/fulfillment integrations
• Self-hosting on your own VPS/cloud
• No Shopify-style platform lock-in
• Ability to modify/fork the underlying code

Medusa is particularly attractive if you're comfortable with JavaScript/TypeScript.

Other strong options

Saleor

Saleor is probably the one I'd consider instead of Medusa if you're building something more enterprise-oriented.

It's API-only and GraphQL-native, with a Python/Django backend. It supports multichannel commerce, sophisticated catalog structures, webhooks, dashboard extensions, and a composable architecture. github.comgithub.com

The downside is that you're taking on considerably more architectural complexity.

Sylius

Sylius is excellent if you're a PHP/Symfony developer. It's explicitly designed as an ecommerce framework for building highly customized B2C/B2B experiences rather than forcing you into a predefined storefront. It's MIT licensed. github.com

I'd choose it over Medusa if your team is already very comfortable with Symfony.

Bagisto

Bagisto is worth serious consideration if you like Laravel/PHP. It's MIT licensed and comes with considerably more traditional ecommerce functionality out of the box than something like Medusa. github.com

It's a particularly nice middle ground between "I want to build everything myself" and "I want a complete store immediately."

WooCommerce

If you want to get a store running quickly rather than build an ecommerce application, WooCommerce is still hard to beat. Its enormous WordPress/plugin ecosystem means you can find existing solutions for an incredible number of requirements. www.wpbundle.com

But there's an important distinction:

WooCommerce = customize an existing ecommerce system

Medusa/Saleor/Sylius = build your own ecommerce system on top of a commerce engine

Since you specifically said "customize fully," I'd lean toward the latter.

What I'd choose

If I were starting a new project today:

Small/medium custom store:
→ Medusa + Next.js

Very custom/large/enterprise store:
→ Saleor + Next.js

PHP/Laravel team:
→ Bagisto

PHP/Symfony team / extremely bespoke business logic:
→ Sylius

Want the easiest path to a conventional store:
→ WooCommerce

If you tell me what you're selling, roughly how many products/orders you expect, and what tech stack you're comfortable with (or whether you want no-code/low-code), I can narrow this down to one and recommend a specific self-hosted architecture.

If your priority is “I want to own the whole thing, self-host it, and be able to change essentially anything”, I’d strongly favor a headless open-source platform rather than something like Shopify or even traditional WooCommerce.

My top picks

🥇 I'd choose Medusa

Medusa is probably the best fit for what you're describing.

It's an open-source commerce framework built around TypeScript/Node.js, and unlike WooCommerce, it isn't trying to dictate what your storefront looks like. The commerce engine provides things like:

• Products and variants
• Carts
• Customers
• Orders
• Payments
• Promotions
• Shipping
• Inventory
• Regions/currencies
• Sales channels
• APIs
• Extensibility/custom modules

You can then build the frontend yourself—Next.js, React, Vue, Svelte, mobile app, whatever you want. The Medusa repository is MIT-licensed, and its commerce modules are open source. github.com

That makes it particularly attractive if you want something like:

Your frontend → Your API/business logic → Medusa → PostgreSQL

rather than:

WordPress → WooCommerce → 47 plugins → theme → plugin conflicts

🥈 Vendure is extremely compelling

Vendure is the one I'd investigate alongside Medusa.

It's also TypeScript/Node.js, but uses NestJS + GraphQL and has a particularly strong plugin architecture. Vendure explicitly supports self-hosting, and its open-source Core is GPLv3. vendure.io

I'd lean toward Vendure if you need things like:

• B2B pricing
• Multiple channels
• Complex product structures
• Marketplaces
• Subscriptions
• Complicated business rules
• Lots of custom backend logic

The downside is the GPLv3 licensing model, which is something I'd examine carefully if you're building proprietary extensions or distributing the software. github.com

🥉 Saleor

Saleor is another excellent choice, particularly if you're comfortable with Python/Django and GraphQL.

It's BSD-3-Clause licensed and can be self-hosted; their documentation explicitly describes cloning the platform, running migrations, and running the dashboard locally without requiring their cloud service. saleor.io

I'd consider Saleor over Medusa if you're building a large, sophisticated commerce operation where things like multi-channel, complex catalogs, and GraphQL are particularly important.

What I would not automatically choose

WooCommerce is fantastic, but I'd choose it primarily if you want the enormous WordPress ecosystem and want to get a conventional store running quickly.

If your thought is:

"I'm a developer and I want to completely redesign the architecture and build unusual functionality."

I'd rather start with Medusa/Vendure/Saleor.

If your thought is:

"I want a store I can customize, but I don't want to build much."

I'd choose WooCommerce.

My recommendation

For a new project in 2026, I'd rank them:

1. Medusa — best overall for a developer wanting maximum freedom
2. Vendure — best if your commerce/business logic is unusually complex
3. Saleor — best if you prefer Python/GraphQL and expect serious scale
4. WooCommerce — best if ecosystem and simplicity matter more than architecture
5. Sylius — excellent choice if you're already a Symfony/PHP shop

The biggest thing I'd want to know before choosing, though, is what you're selling and what kind of store you're envisioning. If you tell me whether it's, say, physical products, digital products, subscriptions, B2B, marketplace/multi-vendor, etc., plus what programming language you're comfortable with, I can narrow this down to one specific platform and a recommended self-hosted architecture.

If your priority is “I want to host it myself and customize everything”, I would avoid most SaaS-style solutions and focus on platforms where you own the code, database, and deployment. The best choice depends on how much you want to build yourself. www.wpbundle.com

My shortlist:

blog.openreplay.com

My recommendation by scenario

1. You want a completely custom storefront (React/Next.js/etc.)

Pick Medusa.

Why:

• Headless by design (commerce backend separated from your frontend)
• TypeScript ecosystem
• Easy to create custom checkout flows, pricing logic, integrations, and product models
• You can build a unique UX instead of fighting a theme system

Typical stack:

• Medusa backend
• Next.js storefront
• PostgreSQL
• Stripe/payment provider
• Your own CMS (optional)

This is the closest open-source equivalent to building your own Shopify Plus-style system. www.wpbundle.com

2. You want maximum business features out of the box

Pick Saleor.

Good if you need:

• Multiple warehouses
• Multiple currencies
• Complex permissions
• International selling
• GraphQL APIs

The tradeoff is more infrastructure and engineering overhead. blog.openreplay.com

3. You want to launch quickly and customize later

Pick WooCommerce.

Advantages:

• Huge plugin ecosystem
• WordPress CMS included
• Easy hosting
• Lots of developers available

Disadvantages:

• Plugins can become messy
• Deep customizations often mean fighting WordPress conventions
• Large stores need careful optimization

It is still the most practical option for many small-to-medium stores because the ecosystem is enormous. www.wpbundle.com

4. You want to basically build your own commerce engine

Consider:

• Sylius if you like Symfony/PHP
• Vendure if you prefer Node/TypeScript
• Saleor if you prefer Python/GraphQL

These are more “frameworks for commerce” than traditional store builders. blog.openreplay.com

What I would choose today

For a new project where the goal is maximum control and long-term customization:

1. Medusa + Next.js → best overall developer experience
2. Saleor + custom frontend → best for enterprise complexity
3. WooCommerce headless → best if SEO/content marketing is central
4. Magento Open Source → only if you truly need its enterprise feature depth

A useful question is: are you trying to build a store, or are you trying to build a commerce platform?

• Store → WooCommerce
• Custom branded shopping experience → Medusa
• Multi-region/B2B/enterprise → Saleor or Magento
• “I want to rewrite almost everything” → Medusa/Sylius/Vendure

If you tell me your expected scale (number of products/orders), preferred programming language, and whether you want a traditional storefront or a headless setup, I can narrow it down further.

If your priority is self-hosting + full control + deep customization, I’d shortlist these:

🥇 My pick: Medusa

Medusa is what I’d choose for a new, highly customized store, especially if you’re comfortable with JavaScript/TypeScript.

• MIT-licensed and open source. github.com
• Built as a headless commerce engine, so you can make the storefront whatever you want.
• TypeScript/Node.js, which makes it particularly nice if you're using React/Next.js.
• Commerce functionality is modular, so you can replace/customize things like payments, fulfillment, pricing, and other business logic.
• You can self-host it on your own VPS/cloud infrastructure.
• It is designed for more than just traditional stores—you can build marketplaces, B2B commerce, custom checkout experiences, etc. github.com

The downside: you're building more yourself. Medusa isn't as plug-and-play as WooCommerce.

🥈 Saleor — if you want serious/custom enterprise architecture

Saleor is another excellent choice.

It's open source, self-hostable, GraphQL-first, and extremely extensible. The official project explicitly supports cloning and running the platform yourself, with the Dashboard, API, and other components available as open-source software. saleor.io

I'd lean toward Saleor if you expect:

• Multiple storefronts/channels
• Internationalization
• Complex product catalogs
• B2B
• Multiple warehouses
• A large development team
• A heavily API-driven architecture

The tradeoff is that it's a more substantial engineering project than WooCommerce.

🥉 WooCommerce — if you want the easiest path

WooCommerce is still extremely compelling if you don't need a sophisticated headless architecture.

You get:

• WordPress + ecommerce in one system
• Huge plugin ecosystem
• Very mature payment/shipping/tax integrations
• Self-hosting
• Full access to the PHP source
• Easy content/blog/CMS functionality

Its biggest advantage is the ecosystem. If you need some obscure integration, there's a good chance someone has already built it. Current comparisons still put WooCommerce ahead on ecosystem breadth, while Medusa is stronger for developer-built custom stores. www.wpbundle.com

How I'd choose

For your wording specifically—"host myself and customize fully"—I'd start with Medusa. Its architecture is much closer to "give me the commerce primitives and let me build my store" than "here's a prebuilt store that you customize." github.com

If you tell me what you're selling, roughly how many products/orders you expect, and what tech stack you're comfortable with, I can narrow it down to Medusa vs Saleor vs WooCommerce and tell you which I'd actually deploy.

If your priority is self-hosting + full source-code control + deep customization, I’d shortlist these:

🥇 My recommendation: Medusa

Medusa would probably be my first choice for what you're describing.

It's MIT-licensed, self-hostable, and designed as a modular commerce framework rather than a rigid "store builder." The backend provides things like products, carts, orders, payments and fulfillment, while you can build the storefront however you want. github.com

The big advantage is that you aren't fighting the platform when you want something unusual.

For example, you could build:

Next.js storefront → Medusa → PostgreSQL

and completely control the frontend, backend logic, database, checkout experience, product model, integrations, etc.

I'd choose this if you're comfortable with TypeScript/Node.js.

🥈 Bagisto — if you want more "store out of the box"

Bagisto is particularly interesting if you want something closer to a traditional ecommerce platform.

It's Laravel/PHP + Vue, MIT licensed, self-hostable, and already has a substantial amount of ecommerce functionality. It also supports headless setups with Next.js and has 100+ extensions. github.com

I'd pick Bagisto over Medusa if your goal is:

"I want a complete ecommerce admin/store system that I can modify."

rather than:

"I want a commerce backend that I can build my own application around."

🥉 Saleor — extremely powerful, but heavier

Saleor is excellent if you're building something sophisticated.

It's API-first, headless and GraphQL-native, with a React/Next.js ecosystem and strong support for multichannel commerce. You can self-host the entire stack. saleor.io

The downside is operational complexity: you're dealing with Python/Django, PostgreSQL, Redis and background workers, among other components. blog.openreplay.com

I'd consider it for a serious multi-store, international, B2B, or highly customized operation.

What about WooCommerce?

WooCommerce is still probably the easiest option if you want to get a conventional store online quickly. Its enormous WordPress plugin/theme ecosystem is a major advantage. www.wpbundle.com

But I wouldn't choose it for "I want to customize absolutely everything." WordPress/WooCommerce's plugin architecture can become cumbersome when you're doing something substantially different from a normal ecommerce site.

My ranking for your requirements

If you tell me "I want to own the code, run it on my own VPS, and be able to radically change how the store works", I'd rank them:

1. Medusa — best overall
2. Bagisto — best full-featured traditional platform
3. Saleor — best for sophisticated/headless architecture
4. WooCommerce — easiest, enormous ecosystem
5. Shopware — powerful conventional ecommerce

One important distinction: Medusa/Saleor are commerce engines, whereas Bagisto/WooCommerce are closer to complete store platforms. That distinction matters a lot when choosing.

If you tell me what you're selling, your preferred programming language, and whether you want a normal storefront or something highly custom, I can narrow this down to one platform and give you the recommended architecture/hosting setup.

If your priority is “I own the whole thing, can self-host it, and can modify basically anything”, I’d narrow it to Medusa, Saleor, and WooCommerce.

My recommendation: Medusa

Medusa

Medusa is probably the best fit if you’re comfortable with development. It’s open source, TypeScript/Node-based, headless, and designed around extending and replacing commerce workflows. You can self-host the backend and build whatever storefront you want. medusajs.com

The architecture is roughly:

Next.js storefront → Medusa → PostgreSQL/Redis → payment/shipping/etc.

That gives you very little that you can't change.

Other good choices

Saleor — best for a serious/custom enterprise build

Saleor is Python/Django + GraphQL and is extremely composable. Its dashboard itself is extensible, and the platform supports self-hosting from its open-source repository. saleor.io

I'd choose Saleor over Medusa if you particularly like GraphQL/Python or expect complex multi-channel, multi-market, or enterprise requirements.

WooCommerce — best if you want the easiest route

WooCommerce gives you WordPress + ecommerce in one package. Its huge plugin/theme ecosystem makes it dramatically easier to find existing functionality than with newer headless platforms. www.wpbundle.com

The downside is that it's more of a traditional WordPress application. If your goal is to build a highly custom application rather than a conventional online shop, I'd lean toward Medusa.

How I'd choose

The important distinction is headless vs. traditional. Medusa and Saleor give you a commerce engine/API and let you build the storefront yourself; WooCommerce gives you much more of the storefront/CMS experience out of the box. opensourceprojects.cc

For what you described, I'd personally start with Medusa. It hits a particularly nice balance of open source, self-hosting, modern architecture, and “I can completely change how this works.”

If you tell me what you're selling, your preferred programming language, and whether you're building it yourself, I can narrow this down to the best 1–2 options and explain the hosting architecture I'd use.

If your priority is self-hosting + full customization + owning the code/data, I’d narrow it down to Medusa, Vendure, Saleor, and WooCommerce.

My recommendation: Medusa

Medusa would be my first choice if you're comfortable developing the store yourself.

It’s a TypeScript/Node.js, headless commerce framework designed to be extended and self-hosted. Its modular architecture lets you customize things like products, carts, payments, inventory, fulfillment, pricing, and checkout rather than fighting against a monolithic platform. www.wpbundle.comcontracollective.com

A typical stack could be:

Next.js storefront → Medusa → PostgreSQL → Stripe → your own server/VPS

That gives you essentially complete control over the customer-facing site while Medusa handles the underlying commerce logic.

How I'd rank them

Medusa vs Vendure

These are probably the two I'd investigate first.

Choose Medusa if:

• You want a modern headless architecture.
• You're using Next.js/React/TypeScript.
• You want to build unusual/custom checkout and business logic.
• You want the commerce backend to be modular.
• You don't mind doing some development yourself.

Choose Vendure if:

• You particularly like NestJS/TypeScript.
• You want a very mature plugin architecture.
• You're doing B2B, custom pricing, quotes, etc.
• You want GraphQL as a major part of the architecture.

Vendure is also MIT-licensed and self-hostable. www.wpbundle.comcontracollective.com

Saleor

Saleor is the one I'd consider if you're building something substantially more complicated: multiple countries, currencies, warehouses, channels, large catalogs, etc.

It's Python/Django + GraphQL, and its architecture is particularly suited to multi-region and complex catalog scenarios. contracollective.com

The downside is that if you're a JavaScript/TypeScript developer, you're taking on a Python backend ecosystem.

WooCommerce

WooCommerce is the pragmatic choice.

It's not as architecturally elegant as Medusa/Vendure, but its enormous WordPress/plugin ecosystem means you can often find an existing solution instead of building one yourself. www.wpbundle.com

I'd choose WooCommerce if your priority is:

"I want to get a store running quickly and customize it extensively."

I'd choose Medusa if your priority is:

"I want to build my own ecommerce application and have complete control over the architecture."

What I'd personally pick

If you told me:

"I want to host it on my own VPS, completely customize the frontend and checkout, have access to the source code, and I'm willing to code."

I'd go with:

Medusa + Next.js + PostgreSQL + Stripe

That's a very flexible foundation, and you aren't locked into a particular storefront design or SaaS platform. The main tradeoff is that self-hosting means you're responsible for updates, backups, security, monitoring, and infrastructure. opensourceprojects.cc

If you tell me what you're selling, roughly how many products you expect, and whether you know JavaScript/TypeScript/PHP/Python, I can narrow this down to one platform and suggest a concrete self-hosted architecture.