ChatGPT answers, unedited

For a technically savvy team selling digital downloads, I’d shortlist these:

• spreecommerce.org — strongest if you want control. It’s API-first, self-hostable, has REST APIs/OpenAPI tooling, and supports digital products, subscriptions, and custom fulfillment flows. Good fit if you’ll build your own download entitlement service. Spree Commerce Spree Commerce
• shopify.dev — best ecosystem. Its Storefront API works well for headless builds, but digital delivery usually relies on apps or your own fulfillment layer rather than a native “digital asset pipeline.” Shopify
• bigcommerce.com — strong catalog/order APIs and mature headless support; good if you want SaaS reliability and less infrastructure ownership. BigCommerce
• business.adobe.com — powerful downloadable-product workflows via REST APIs, but heavier operationally. Experience League

For a developer-centric digital download store (files, licenses, memberships, gated content), I’d lean Spree or a custom backend around Shopify/BigCommerce + object storage (S3/R2) + signed URLs. The key API features to evaluate are: webhook reliability, entitlement modeling, download limits, license-key support, refund/revocation workflows, and CDN delivery.

For digital downloads specifically, I’d put Medusa near the top of the shortlist.

Why I'd look at Medusa first

Medusa has an unusually direct path for your use case. Its current documentation has a dedicated digital-products implementation covering:

• Digital product/media data models
• Private storage for the actual downloadable asset
• Customer purchase/entitlement checks
• Authenticated download URLs
• Custom API routes
• Custom fulfillment workflows
• S3 or another file provider for production storage
• A completely custom storefront using its APIs Medusa Documentation Medusa Documentation

Its Store API is REST-based and has an official JS SDK, while the Admin API gives you a separate API surface for back-office automation. Medusa Documentation Medusa Documentation

There's also a Medusa digital-products integration that exposes concepts such as customer entitlements, license issuance/validation, short-lived download tokens, and download-token redemption—useful if you're selling software, courses, assets, or other downloads where simply exposing an S3 URL isn't sufficient. Medusa

When I'd choose Saleor instead

Saleor is particularly attractive if you want GraphQL to be the fundamental interface and expect to build a broader composable-commerce system. Saleor describes itself as API-only and GraphQL-native, and its documentation has a specific digital-products recipe. Saleor Documentation GitHub

So my practical distinction would be:

Medusa → "I want to own the digital-product workflow and customize the backend heavily."

Saleor → "I want a polished API-first commerce core and GraphQL everywhere."

commercetools → "I'm building a larger enterprise composable stack and commerce is one service among many."

For a technically savvy team selling PDFs, ebooks, design assets, software, ZIPs, video/audio downloads, etc., I'd investigate Medusa first, particularly if you want workflows like payment → entitlement → signed download → download limits/expiry → license generation → webhook/event processing. Its architecture maps unusually well onto that model. Medusa Documentation Medusa

If you tell me whether you're thinking Next.js + S3/R2 + Stripe (or another stack), I can also sketch the architecture I'd use and compare Medusa vs. Saleor at the API/data-model level.

Medusa is particularly well-suited if digital downloads are central. Its current docs provide workflows, custom REST APIs, private file storage, authenticated download URLs, and digital-product fulfillment; there’s also a dedicated digital-products plugin with entitlements and expiring download tokens. docs.medusajs.com medusajs.com

Saleor is the main alternative if you prefer GraphQL and a more API-first architecture; it also has a digital-products recipe. saleor.io docs.saleor.io

For a TypeScript-heavy stack, I’d investigate Medusa first.

If you're technically savvy and specifically care about digital-download workflows, I'd shortlist Medusa, Vendure, and Saleor—but my pick would be Medusa for a TypeScript-heavy stack.

My ranking

1. Medusa — best overall for digital downloads

• TypeScript/Node-native and very extensible.
• REST Store API plus JS SDK. Medusa Docs
• Their current docs have an explicit Digital Products recipe showing custom API routes for merchants to create/manage digital products and customer-facing purchase/download flows. Medusa Docs
• Good fit if you want to own the workflow: order paid → entitlement created → signed URL generated → download tracked.
• I'd choose this if you're building a custom Next.js storefront and expect substantial business logic around licenses, bundles, subscriptions, entitlements, etc.
• Vendure — best if you want maximum backend control

• TypeScript/NestJS with a strong plugin architecture.
• GraphQL Shop API handles catalog, carts, checkout and customers. Vendure
• Importantly, Vendure has an official digital-products implementation showing custom fields plus a FulfillmentHandler that generates download URLs when an order is fulfilled. Vendure
• Plugins can add entities, GraphQL APIs, REST endpoints, external integrations and background jobs. Vendure Vendure
• This is arguably the most powerful choice if "digital fulfillment" is a core part of your application rather than merely a product type.
• Saleor — best GraphQL-first option

• API-only, GraphQL-native architecture.
• Has an explicit Digital Products recipe for licenses, services and other non-physical goods. Saleor Documentation
• Particularly attractive if you're already comfortable with Python/Django and want a sophisticated GraphQL commerce backend.
• I'd favor it over Medusa/Vendure for a larger organization where GraphQL and multi-channel commerce are major requirements.

What I'd build

For a digital-download store, I'd avoid treating the downloadable file itself as the "product." I'd model something closer to:

Product
  └── ProductVariant
        ├── price
        ├── SKU
        └── digital_asset_id

Order
  └── OrderLine
        └── Entitlement
              ├── customer_id
              ├── asset_id
              ├── download_count
              ├── expires_at
              └── status

Then put the actual files in S3/R2/etc., not in the commerce database. Your fulfillment workflow can issue short-lived signed URLs rather than permanent file URLs.

For example:

POST /checkout
       ↓
payment succeeded
       ↓
create entitlement
       ↓
generate signed download URL
       ↓
email customer / expose in account
       ↓
GET /downloads/:entitlement
       ↓
new signed URL

That architecture makes things like download limits, expiring links, refunds/revocations, license keys, versioned files, bundles, and customer libraries much easier later.

Bottom line:

• Medusa → my default recommendation for a modern TypeScript/Next.js digital store.
• Vendure → choose this if you want to deeply customize fulfillment and commerce behavior.
• Saleor → choose this if GraphQL/Python and sophisticated multi-channel commerce are your priorities.

For pure digital downloads, I'd lean Medusa vs. Vendure, with Vendure winning if you're comfortable writing the commerce logic yourself. Vendure Medusa Docs

If you tell me your stack (e.g. Next.js + TypeScript + Stripe + S3/R2), I can also compare the three specifically on checkout → payment webhook → entitlement → signed download URL → customer library.

For a technically savvy team building a headless ecommerce system focused on digital downloads, I’d shortlist platforms that expose commerce primitives cleanly (products, entitlements, orders, payments, fulfillment events) rather than platforms optimized mainly for physical inventory.

My top picks:

1. Medusa — my default recommendation for a developer-built digital downloads store

Medusa is a strong fit if you want workflows like:

• customer buys a license/download
• generate entitlement
• issue expiring download URL
• track download count
• revoke access
• attach memberships/subscriptions
• connect external storage (S3, Cloudflare R2, etc.)

Medusa has documentation specifically around implementing digital products, including custom digital product modules, file providers, custom fulfillment logic, and API routes. Medusa Documentation Its Store API is designed for custom storefronts and apps consuming commerce data. Medusa Documentation

Why developers like it:

• TypeScript/Node ecosystem
• You can modify business logic instead of fighting plugins
• Good fit with Next.js, React Native, custom apps
• Your digital delivery logic can live close to commerce workflows

A typical architecture:

Next.js storefront
        |
        v
Medusa commerce API
        |
        +--> Stripe payment
        |
        +--> Order completed event
                  |
                  v
          Digital entitlement service
                  |
                  v
          Signed download URLs
          (S3/R2/CDN)

2. Saleor — best if you prefer GraphQL and a more enterprise commerce model

Saleor is attractive if you want:

• GraphQL everywhere
• sophisticated product modeling
• multi-channel sales
• strong permissions
• event-driven integrations

Saleor positions itself as API-first/headless with GraphQL as its core interface and extensive webhook support. Saleor Commerce

I’d lean Saleor if:

• your backend team is Python/Django-oriented
• you expect many storefronts/apps
• you need complex catalog rules

The downside: for a pure digital-download business, some of its commerce machinery may feel heavier than necessary.

3. Shopify headless — best operational choice, not the most flexible

Shopify is compelling if you value:

• mature checkout
• payments
• taxes
• admin workflows
• marketing integrations

But for digital goods, you often end up adding apps or building a separate entitlement/download layer because Shopify is primarily a general commerce platform rather than a digital asset delivery engine.

I’d choose it if:

• nontechnical operators will manage the store
• you need speed more than architectural control
• marketing integrations matter more than backend purity

4. commercetools — for very large systems

commercetools makes sense when you’re building something closer to a commerce platform than a store:

• many brands
• many regions
• many channels
• enterprise integrations

For a digital-download business, it may be overkill unless you already operate at enterprise scale.

My ranking for your use case

Assuming you are comfortable building the frontend and backend pieces:

1. Medusa — best balance of control + developer velocity
2. Saleor — best API architecture if you like GraphQL/Python
3. Shopify headless — best if operational simplicity wins
4. commercetools — best for enterprise composable commerce

For digital downloads specifically, I would also consider whether you actually need a commerce engine to own fulfillment. A common high-quality architecture is:

• commerce backend → orders/payments/customers
• object storage → files
• entitlement service → who can download what
• CDN → delivery
• analytics service → usage tracking

That separation tends to age better than treating a downloadable file as just another product attachment.

If digital downloads are a first-class requirement, I’d put Medusa at the top of your shortlist.

My ranking

1. Medusa — best fit for highly customized digital-product workflows
2. Saleor — best if you strongly prefer GraphQL and a polished headless commerce core
3. commercetools — excellent enterprise composable commerce, but probably more platform than you need for a digital-download business

Why Medusa stands out

docs.medusajs.com has unusually good primitives for building the digital delivery layer yourself. Its current docs explicitly cover a digital-products architecture rather than forcing you to model downloads as an awkward variation of physical fulfillment. Medusa Docs Medusa Docs

You can build:

• Digital product + media models linked to normal commerce products.
• Private file storage for the actual purchased assets, with public files for previews.
• Custom REST API routes for creating products, uploading files, listing a customer's purchases, and obtaining download URLs.
• Workflows for multi-step operations such as provisioning a digital product after payment.
• Custom fulfillment providers, so you can implement things like license generation, entitlement provisioning, or external storage delivery.
• S3-backed file storage rather than keeping downloads on your application server. Medusa Docs Medusa Docs Medusa Docs

The particularly nice part for a technical team is that you aren't confined to the platform's idea of what a "digital product" is. Medusa lets you add your own API routes and workflows directly in the application. Medusa Docs

A purchase → entitlement → download architecture could therefore look roughly like:

Your Next.js / Astro / custom frontend
                │
                ▼
          Medusa Store API
                │
       ┌────────┴─────────┐
       ▼                  ▼
   Commerce           Digital Product
   / checkout        + entitlement logic
                          │
                          ▼
                    Private S3 object
                          │
                          ▼
                 short-lived download URL

Medusa's documented example actually implements authenticated customer endpoints that verify the customer purchased the digital product before returning its download URL. Medusa Docs

Where Saleor wins

saleor.io would be my choice if your priority is API quality and GraphQL architecture over having digital downloads built into the framework you're extending.

Saleor is GraphQL-native, headless, extensible through APIs/webhooks, and specifically documents a Digital Products recipe. It also advertises 140+ webhooks and custom webhook payloads, which is attractive if you're building an event-driven backend around purchases and entitlements. Saleor Documentation Saleor Commerce Saleor Commerce

The tradeoff is that Medusa's architecture feels particularly natural if you want to own the digital-delivery workflow rather than primarily consume a commerce API.

What I'd choose for your use case

Medusa + Next.js + S3-compatible storage would be my default architecture.

I'd keep the commerce platform responsible for:

• products
• pricing
• carts/checkout
• customers
• orders
• payments
• order events

Then make your own digital layer responsible for:

• entitlements
• download authorization
• signed URLs
• download limits/expiration
• versioning files
• license keys
• bundles
• post-purchase access
• revocation
• potentially DRM/watermarking

That gives you a genuinely headless system rather than a SaaS storefront with an API bolted onto it.

One caveat: if your business is essentially "sell a PDF/ZIP and email the buyer a link," I'd actually consider a specialized digital-download service instead of running a full commerce backend. But if you expect subscriptions, bundles, licenses, customer accounts, multiple digital assets, custom fulfillment, or sophisticated entitlement logic, Medusa becomes much more compelling. Medusa Docs

The tradeoff is that Medusa's architecture feels particularly natural if you want to own the digital-delivery workflow rather than primarily consume a commerce API.

If digital downloads are the core workflow and you're technically comfortable building the surrounding system, I’d put Medusa at the top of the shortlist.

My ranking

Why I'd choose Medusa

Medusa is unusually well suited to the "I want to build the commerce system around my own digital-delivery logic" use case. Its current documentation has a dedicated digital products recipe, including a Digital Product Module, file storage, custom API routes, and fulfillment logic. You can also build your own storefront entirely against its APIs. Medusa Docs Medusa Docs

More importantly, its digital-product implementation can expose workflows such as:

• customer entitlements
• license issuance/activation
• short-lived download tokens
• download redemption
• file-provider URLs
• custom fulfillment
• custom admin APIs

The current digital-products integration specifically exposes APIs for issuing licenses, creating download tokens, redeeming them, and validating/activating licenses. Medusa

That gives you a nice architecture like:

Your Next.js / Astro / custom frontend
                 │
                 ▼
          Medusa Store API
                 │
        ┌────────┴────────┐
        ▼                 ▼
   Commerce/order     Digital Product
      system             module
                           │
                 ┌─────────┴─────────┐
                 ▼                   ▼
            Object storage      Entitlements
            / CDN               / licenses

You can also add your own API routes and workflows rather than fighting a predefined digital-download model. Medusa's Admin and Store APIs are documented separately, and its API reference can be consumed as OpenAPI. Medusa Docs Medusa Docs

Saleor is the strongest alternative

I'd pick Saleor instead if your preference is GraphQL + highly composable services rather than Medusa's JavaScript-native framework approach.

Saleor is API-only/headless, GraphQL-native, and supports apps/webhooks for extending the system. Its documentation explicitly has a Digital Products recipe, while its current platform advertises 160+ webhooks and technology-agnostic integrations. Saleor Documentation Saleor Commerce Saleor Commerce

The distinction I'd make is:

• Medusa: "Give me a commerce backend I can deeply customize in TypeScript."
• Saleor: "Give me a composable GraphQL commerce engine and I'll build the surrounding services."

For something like selling software, ebooks, design assets, datasets, courses, templates, or API-generated digital goods, I'd lean Medusa if you want the digital fulfillment logic to live close to commerce.

For a larger distributed architecture where commerce is one service among many, I'd lean Saleor.

One important architectural consideration

I wouldn't store the actual downloads in the ecommerce database. I'd have the commerce platform own product metadata + entitlement, while something like S3-compatible object storage/CDN owns the files:

Purchase
   ↓
Order paid
   ↓
Entitlement created
   ↓
Customer requests download
   ↓
Authorization check
   ↓
Generate short-lived signed URL
   ↓
CDN/object storage serves file

That makes revocation, expiring links, download limits, versioning, large files, and potentially DRM/licensing much easier to handle.

Bottom line: for your description—technically savvy + headless + digital downloads + strong APIs—I'd start with Medusa, with Saleor as the serious alternative. Medusa's current digital-product APIs make it particularly compelling rather than merely being a generic headless commerce platform. Medusa Medusa Docs

docs.medusajs.com · docs.medusajs.com · docs.saleor.io

If digital downloads are the core workflow, I’d put Medusa at the top of your shortlist.

My ranking

1. Medusa — best fit for digital-download-heavy builds

• TypeScript/Node-oriented and highly modular.
• REST Store API plus JS SDK, which is convenient if you're building a Next.js/custom frontend. Medusa Docs
• Has an explicit digital-products architecture: file storage, digital-product modules, fulfillment, custom API routes, and customer download flows. Medusa Docs Medusa Docs
• The current digital-products integration supports customer entitlements, expiring download tokens, license keys, device activation, and license validation—very useful if you're selling software rather than just PDFs/ZIPs. Medusa
• You can keep the actual files in an S3/R2-style object store rather than tying your frontend to the commerce platform.
• Saleor — best if you strongly prefer GraphQL

• Very API-centric: GraphQL is the primary interface.
• Has a dedicated Digital Products recipe and an extensible apps architecture. Saleor Documentation GitHub
• I'd favor it if you're building a sophisticated multi-channel/multi-region commerce system and want GraphQL as the central contract.
• Vendure — excellent if you want maximum framework control

• TypeScript/NestJS ecosystem with a strong GraphQL API and plugin architecture.
• It has an official digital-products implementation, but digital delivery is more explicitly something you build through a plugin/customization layer. Vendure Developer Hub
• Great choice if you enjoy owning the domain model and want commerce to behave more like an application framework.

What I'd build

For something like:

Next.js → Medusa → Postgres
↘ S3/R2 for files
↘ Stripe for payments
↘ email provider for delivery

I'd model the purchase roughly as:

Product
  └── DigitalProduct
        ├── assets[]
        ├── version
        ├── license policy
        └── download policy

Order
  └── Entitlement
        ├── customer
        ├── product
        ├── purchased_at
        ├── downloads
        └── license

Then your frontend never exposes a permanent file URL. A successful purchase creates an entitlement, and your API issues a short-lived download URL/token when the authenticated customer requests the asset.

That architecture maps unusually well onto Medusa's current digital-product capabilities. Medusa Docs Medusa

Bottom line: if you're technically comfortable and want to own the workflow rather than bolt digital downloads onto a conventional ecommerce SaaS, I'd choose Medusa. I'd choose Saleor instead if GraphQL is a hard requirement, and Vendure if you specifically want a TypeScript/NestJS framework you can deeply customize.

docs.medusajs.com
docs.medusajs.com
docs.saleor.io
docs.vendure.io

If digital downloads are the core workflow and you're comfortable building the custom pieces yourself, I’d shortlist Medusa, Saleor, and Vendure—with Medusa as my first choice.

My ranking

1. Medusa — best fit for custom digital-download workflows

• TypeScript/Node-native, so it's particularly nice if you're building a Next.js/React stack.
• It has a dedicated digital products recipe, including custom APIs for purchased products and download URLs. Medusa Docs Medusa Docs
• Its File Module abstracts storage providers and can be used directly inside workflows; S3 is recommended for production. Medusa Docs
• Workflows give you transactional, composable steps for things like payment → entitlement → download authorization → fulfillment/email. Medusa Docs Medusa Docs
• The Store API is REST/OpenAPI-based, with a JS SDK available. Medusa Docs

I'd choose this if: you want maximum control over the digital-delivery logic without having to fight the platform's assumptions.

2. Saleor — best API architecture

• GraphQL-native and extremely API-oriented.
• Has a specific Digital Products recipe covering non-physical goods. Saleor Documentation
• Particularly strong if you want event-driven architecture: Saleor advertises 140+ webhooks, customizable webhook payloads, dynamic data models, and dashboard extensions. Saleor Commerce Saleor Commerce
• Excellent choice if your digital-product system will eventually become a broader composable platform.

I'd choose this if: GraphQL and distributed/event-driven architecture matter more to you than TypeScript ergonomics.

3. Vendure — excellent TypeScript alternative

• GraphQL Shop API, TypeScript/NestJS architecture, and a strong plugin/extensibility model. Vendure Developer Hub
• Custom fields make it straightforward to model things like downloadable, license IDs, fulfillment metadata, etc. Vendure Developer Hub
• Its documentation also explicitly covers selling digital products. Vendure Developer Hub

For your particular use case

I'd architect it roughly like:

Next.js storefront → Medusa → Stripe/payment provider

with:

S3/private object storage → signed download URLs

and a custom entitlement layer:

Product
  └── DigitalAsset(s)
        ├── storage_key
        ├── version
        └── checksum

Order
  └── DigitalEntitlement
        ├── customer_id
        ├── product_id
        ├── asset_version
        ├── download_count
        └── expires_at

Then your post-payment workflow becomes:

payment confirmed
      ↓
create entitlement
      ↓
associate purchased assets
      ↓
emit fulfillment event
      ↓
customer requests download
      ↓
verify entitlement
      ↓
generate short-lived signed S3 URL

That is where Medusa stands out for me: you're not trying to contort a conventional ecommerce product into being a download system—the platform explicitly provides the primitives and example implementation for building digital-product APIs and download flows. Medusa Docs Medusa Docs

Bottom line: Medusa for a TypeScript-heavy custom build; Saleor if you want the strongest GraphQL/event-driven architecture; Vendure if you want TypeScript + GraphQL + a plugin-oriented framework.

If you tell me whether you're using Next.js, Nuxt, Laravel, or something else, I can also compare the three specifically for licenses, expiring downloads, private S3 files, Stripe webhooks, and digital fulfillment.

If digital downloads are the core use case, I’d put medusajs.com at the top of your shortlist.

My ranking

1. Medusa — best overall for your use case

Medusa is particularly interesting because digital products aren't just an afterthought: its current docs have a dedicated digital-products recipe covering product creation, customer entitlements, authenticated download endpoints, and short-lived download URLs. Medusa Docs Medusa Docs

Its architecture is also very friendly to "commerce + your own application logic": you can create custom REST API routes and workflows, while its File Module handles private/public files and can be used directly from your custom workflows. Medusa Docs Medusa Docs

There's also a more complete digital-products integration that exposes APIs for entitlements, license issuance/activation, download tokens, and token redemption—useful if you're selling software, courses, assets, or anything requiring access control rather than simply serving a PDF. Medusa

2. Vendure — arguably the strongest alternative

I'd choose Vendure over Medusa if you want a very extensible TypeScript/NestJS architecture and expect to build substantial custom commerce logic yourself.

Its Shop API is GraphQL, while the Admin API and plugin architecture give you a lot of control. Vendure explicitly documents a digital-products implementation, and its Assets system can store arbitrary binaries including PDFs and videos. Vendure Vendure

It also has long-lived API keys specifically intended for machine-to-machine integrations and automated workflows. Vendure

3. Saleor — excellent if GraphQL is your priority

saleor.io is compelling if you want a very clean GraphQL-native commerce backend. Its docs explicitly include digital products, and its developer stack emphasizes GraphQL, webhooks/extensions, generated types, and custom data models. Saleor Documentation Saleor Commerce

I'd favor it for a large, multi-channel commerce system rather than a relatively focused digital-download store.

What I'd build

For a technically sophisticated digital-download business, I'd lean toward:

Next.js/your frontend → Medusa API → Stripe → private S3/R2 storage → entitlement/download service

The important architectural distinction is: don't make the commerce platform's product record itself your authorization mechanism. Have an order/payment event create an entitlement, then issue short-lived signed download URLs when an authenticated customer requests a file.

That gives you room for:

• expiring/revoking downloads
• download limits
• customer libraries
• license keys
• product/version updates
• bundles
• subscription entitlements
• webhooks into your own systems
• malware scanning / file processing
• Cloudflare R2 or S3 rather than serving large files through your commerce server

Bottom line: If you're comfortable coding the missing pieces and want the most natural TypeScript + API + custom digital-product workflow, I'd start with Medusa. If you expect unusually complex commerce/domain customization, I'd seriously consider Vendure instead. Medusa Docs Vendure

If you tell me whether you're selling ebooks/assets, software licenses, courses, or subscriptions, I can compare Medusa vs Vendure specifically around the entitlement/download architecture.

Its architecture is also very friendly to "commerce + your own application logic": you can create custom REST API routes and workflows, while its File Module handles private/public files and can be used directly from your custom workflows. Medusa Docs Medusa Docs

There's also a more complete digital-products integration that exposes APIs for entitlements, license issuance/activation, download tokens, and token redemption—useful if you're selling software, courses, assets, or anything requiring access control rather than simply serving a PDF. Medusa

2. Vendure — arguably the strongest alternative

I'd choose Vendure over Medusa if you want a very extensible TypeScript/NestJS architecture and expect to build substantial custom commerce logic yourself.

Its Shop API is GraphQL, while the Admin API and plugin architecture give you a lot of control. Vendure explicitly documents a digital-products implementation, and its Assets system can store arbitrary binaries including PDFs and videos. Vendure Vendure

It also has long-lived API keys specifically intended for machine-to-machine integrations and automated workflows. Vendure

3. Saleor — excellent if GraphQL is your priority

saleor.io is compelling if you want a very clean GraphQL-native commerce backend. Its docs explicitly include digital products, and its developer stack emphasizes GraphQL, webhooks/extensions, generated types, and custom data models. docs.saleor.io saleor.io

I'd favor it for a large, multi-channel commerce system rather than a relatively focused digital-download store.

What I'd build

For a technically sophisticated digital-download business, I'd lean toward:

Next.js/your frontend → Medusa API → Stripe → private S3/R2 storage → entitlement/download service

The important architectural distinction is: don't make the commerce platform's product record itself your authorization mechanism. Have an order/payment event create an entitlement, then issue short-lived signed download URLs when an authenticated customer requests a file.

That gives you room for:

For a technically savvy team selling digital downloads (ebooks, assets, audio, video, software, templates, courses, licenses), I’d prioritize platforms where the API model handles more than just products and carts: you want entitlements, secure delivery, webhooks, customer accounts, fulfillment automation, and metadata flexibility.

Here are the strongest options:

My shortlist for a developer-heavy digital download business

1. Spree Commerce — best if you want ownership

This is probably the closest match if you think of commerce as infrastructure rather than a hosted storefront.

Good for:

• File downloads behind signed URLs
• License key generation
• Memberships/subscriptions
• Custom fulfillment pipelines
• Multiple frontends (web/app/API clients)
• Owning your data model

Spree specifically positions itself around digital downloads, software licenses, and media subscriptions, with REST APIs and self-hosting. Spree Commerce

Typical architecture:

Next.js / Remix frontend
        |
        |
Spree API
        |
        +-- Orders
        +-- Customers
        +-- Payments
        +-- Entitlements
        |
S3 / Cloudflare R2
        |
Signed download URLs

2. Shopify Headless — best if you want payments + operations solved

Shopify gives you:

• Reliable checkout
• Tax/payment ecosystem
• Customer accounts
• Admin tooling
• Strong APIs

For digital goods, you usually add a digital delivery app or custom fulfillment service. Shopify supports digital products and downloadable assets, including automated delivery workflows through its digital products tooling. Shopify Help Center

A common stack:

Next.js storefront
        |
Shopify Storefront API
        |
Shopify Orders
        |
Digital delivery app/custom service
        |
S3/R2 + entitlement service

3. Medusa — best if you want to code the commerce layer yourself

I’d consider this if:

• your team is TypeScript-first
• you want custom business logic
• you don’t mind building pieces like entitlement management

You can model digital products as:

• products
• variants
• downloadable assets
• licenses
• memberships
• usage rights

…but you’ll likely own more of the workflow.

Features I would specifically evaluate

For digital downloads, don't just ask “does it have APIs?” Check:

Entitlements

Can you answer:

“Does user X currently have access to file Y?”

You want a first-class concept or an easy way to build one.

Secure delivery

Look for:

• signed URLs
• expiring links
• download limits
• IP/device rules
• revocation

Webhooks

You need events like:

payment.completed
order.created
refund.created
customer.updated

so your delivery system stays synchronized.

Metadata flexibility

Digital products often need:

{
  "format": ["pdf", "epub"],
  "version": "3.2",
  "license": "commercial",
  "included_files": 42
}

Rigid catalogs become painful.

My recommendation by scenario

• Building a serious digital marketplace or SaaS-like download business: Spree
• Want to launch quickly but keep a custom frontend: Shopify headless
• Need enterprise commerce + integrations: BigCommerce or Adobe Commerce
• Want maximum engineering control in TypeScript: Medusa

If I were designing a new developer-centric digital download platform today, I’d likely use Spree or Medusa + object storage (S3/R2) + a dedicated entitlement service rather than forcing the ecommerce engine to manage files directly.

You want a first-class concept or an easy way to build one.

Secure delivery

Look for:

• signed URLs
• expiring links
• download limits
• IP/device rules
• revocation

Webhooks

You need events like:

payment.completed
order.created
refund.created
customer.updated

so your delivery system stays synchronized.

Metadata flexibility

Digital products often need:

{
  "format": ["pdf", "epub"],
  "version": "3.2",
  "license": "commercial",
  "included_files": 42
}

Rigid catalogs become painful.

My recommendation by scenario

• Building a serious digital marketplace or SaaS-like download business: Spree
• Want to launch quickly but keep a custom frontend: Shopify headless
• Need enterprise commerce + integrations: BigCommerce or Adobe Commerce
• Want maximum engineering control in TypeScript: Medusa

If I were designing a new developer-centric digital download platform today, I’d likely use Spree or Medusa + object storage (S3/R2) + a dedicated entitlement service rather than forcing the ecommerce engine to manage files directly.

For a developer-first headless store selling digital downloads, I’d put Medusa at the top of your shortlist.

My ranking

Why I'd choose Medusa

Medusa is unusually well suited if the download/entitlement system itself is part of your application, rather than something you want to bolt onto a conventional ecommerce platform.

Its documentation has a specific digital-products architecture: you can create a digital-product module, associate digital media with products, use the file module for storage, and implement custom fulfillment. It also explicitly supports custom API routes for customers to purchase and download products. Medusa Documentation Medusa Documentation

Even better, there are already API patterns for things like:

• customer digital-product entitlements
• issuing license keys
• generating short-lived download tokens
• redeeming download tokens
• license activation/validation
• device deactivation

That makes workflows such as "purchase → entitlement → signed download URL → limited downloads → license activation → revoke access" very natural to implement. Medusa

The underlying Store API is REST-based, with JWT authentication and publishable API keys, and Medusa exposes an OpenAPI specification plus a JS SDK. Medusa Documentation

docs.medusajs.com

When I'd pick Saleor instead

Saleor is probably the stronger choice if your priority is GraphQL + composability rather than having the most straightforward Node/TypeScript customization experience.

Saleor is API-only and GraphQL-native, with extensive webhook and app-extension mechanisms. Saleor Commerce Saleor Commerce

I'd choose it for something like:

Next.js frontend → GraphQL BFF → Saleor → custom entitlement service → S3/R2 → signed download URLs

It's particularly attractive if you expect multiple storefronts, complex catalog modeling, multiple markets/channels, or a broader distributed commerce architecture.

docs.saleor.io

The architecture I'd use

For your use case, I'd actually keep the commerce platform and file-delivery layer separate:

Next.js / custom frontend
        │
        ▼
   Medusa API
        │
   ┌────┴─────────┐
   │              │
Payments       Orders
   │              │
   └──────┬───────┘
          ▼
   Entitlement service
          │
          ▼
   S3 / Cloudflare R2
          │
          ▼
 Short-lived signed URL

That gives you a clean boundary where Medusa answers "did this customer buy it?", while your download service answers "may this customer download this particular asset right now?"

For DRM-ish requirements, download limits, expiring links, license keys, versioned files, bundles, customer-specific watermarks, or revocation, that separation becomes particularly useful.

Bottom line: I'd pick Medusa for a TypeScript-heavy, highly customized digital-download business; Saleor if you're deliberately building a GraphQL-centric composable architecture; and commercetools only if you're operating at enterprise complexity where its additional infrastructure and cost are justified. docs.commercetools.com

If you tell me whether you're selling ebooks/assets, software licenses, courses, or SaaS-like digital products, I can narrow this down further and sketch the exact API/data model I'd use.

If digital downloads are the core workflow, I’d put Medusa at the top of your shortlist.

My ranking

1. Medusa — best fit for a highly customized digital-download stack

• API-first, open-source, and very extensible.
• Its current docs have a dedicated Digital Products implementation covering product modeling, private file storage, fulfillment, customer entitlements, and download URLs. Medusa Docs Medusa Docs
• You can build your own modules/workflows and expose custom REST endpoints, rather than fighting a predefined digital-goods model. Medusa Docs Medusa Docs
• Particularly attractive if you want S3/private storage + signed/expiring downloads + custom entitlement logic + webhooks/workflows.
• Saleor — best if you strongly prefer GraphQL

• Extremely API-centric: Saleor is GraphQL-only and designed to be headless/API-first. GitHub
• It explicitly documents a Digital Products recipe for licenses, services, and other non-physical goods. Saleor Documentation
• Great architecture if your frontend and backend are heavily typed and you want a clean GraphQL domain model.
• I'd choose it over Medusa if GraphQL consistency is more important to you than having Medusa's more framework-like customization model.
• Lemon Squeezy — best if you want the digital-commerce plumbing managed for you

• Its API exposes products, customers, orders, files, subscriptions, and software license keys. Lemon Squeezy Docs
• Much less infrastructure to build yourself.
• But it's more of a digital-commerce/payment service with an API than a general-purpose headless commerce backend. I'd use it when your priority is selling downloads quickly, not building a deeply customized commerce platform.

What I'd pick for your use case

If you're comfortable engineering the stack yourself:

Next.js/Astro/etc. → Medusa → PostgreSQL
** ↘ S3/private object storage**

Then implement:

Product → Variant → Digital Asset → Order → Entitlement → Signed Download URL

Medusa is particularly compelling because its documented implementation already demonstrates private digital-product media, customer purchase verification, and download URLs. Medusa Docs

One important distinction: don't evaluate these platforms merely on whether they have a "digital products" checkbox. For serious downloads, I'd compare their APIs around entitlements, private asset storage, expiring URLs, download limits, license keys, refunds/revocation, webhooks, and custom workflows.

If you tell me whether you're selling ebooks/assets, software licenses, courses, or large files, I can narrow this to a specific architecture and compare Medusa vs Saleor vs Lemon Squeezy API-by-API.

If digital downloads are the core business and you're comfortable building the storefront/workflows yourself, I’d shortlist Medusa first, with Saleor as the strongest alternative.

My ranking

1. Medusa — best fit for custom digital-download workflows

• API-first and headless, with REST APIs and a JS/TS SDK. Medusa Docs Medusa Docs
• Its current digital-products tooling specifically supports customer entitlements, licenses, expiring download tokens, download redemption, and device activation/validation. Medusa
• The File Module supports private files and S3-compatible storage, while workflows let you compose fulfillment/business logic yourself. Medusa Docs Medusa Docs
• You can add your own API routes and workflows, which is particularly attractive if your downloads need things like usage limits, license keys, memberships, versioning, or post-purchase automation. Medusa Docs

I'd choose it if: you're building a TypeScript/Node stack and want the commerce engine to be something you can heavily customize rather than work around.

2. Saleor — best if you prefer GraphQL

• Saleor is genuinely API-only/headless and GraphQL-native rather than simply offering an API alongside a traditional storefront. GitHub
• It has an explicit Digital Products recipe and extensive GraphQL APIs, apps, webhooks, metadata, and extensibility. Saleor Documentation
• I'd favor it when you have complex catalog/channel/permission requirements or strongly prefer a GraphQL architecture.

Tradeoff: Medusa's current digital-product implementation is more directly aligned with the mechanics of downloads/licenses.

3. commercetools — enterprise option

• Extremely strong APIs and composable architecture, with HTTP and GraphQL APIs and extensive catalog/order functionality. commercetools commercetools
• But for a digital-download business, you'd generally be assembling more of the digital fulfillment layer yourself.

The architecture I'd use

For your particular use case, I'd lean toward:

Next.js storefront → Medusa API → Stripe/payment → order workflow → entitlement → S3/R2 private object → short-lived download URL

That gives you a clean separation:

• Commerce: products, prices, customers, carts, orders
• Payment: Stripe
• Digital asset storage: S3/R2
• Entitlement: "user X owns asset Y"
• Delivery: generate short-lived download token/URL
• Your custom logic: licensing, download limits, subscriptions, bundles, version upgrades, etc.

Medusa's current digital-product integration already follows much of this model, including short-lived download tokens and redemption against the underlying file provider. Medusa

Bottom line: For a technically sophisticated team building a digital-download store today, Medusa is probably the sweet spot. I'd pick Saleor instead if GraphQL and API-bound extensibility are more important to you than having the commerce backend itself be highly moddable in TypeScript.

If you tell me whether you're selling ebooks/assets/software/licenses/courses (and whether you need subscriptions), I can also compare Medusa vs Saleor vs Lemon Squeezy/Paddle vs Shopify specifically around the download/entitlement architecture.

If you're technically savvy and the product is primarily digital downloads, I'd put Medusa at the top of the shortlist.

My ranking

1. Medusa — best fit for custom digital workflows

• Node.js/TypeScript, REST APIs, JS SDK, and an extensible backend.
• More importantly, Medusa now has an explicit digital-products implementation pattern: file storage, digital-product data models, custom workflows, authenticated download endpoints, and fulfillment logic. Medusa Documentation Medusa Documentation
• You can expose your own endpoints for things like: - POST /digital-products
• POST /orders/{id}/fulfill
• GET /customers/me/downloads
• signed/expiring download URLs
• license-key generation
• download limits
• entitlement revocation
• Its Store API is REST/OpenAPI-based, which is nice if you're building your own frontend/BFF rather than adopting a prescribed frontend architecture. Medusa Documentation Medusa Documentation
• Best choice if you want the commerce engine to become part of your application rather than just an external SaaS.
• Vendure — excellent TypeScript alternative

• GraphQL-native Store API and a plugin architecture that's particularly attractive if you want to model digital entitlements as first-class domain logic. Vendure Developer Hub Vendure Developer Hub
• Its API-key support is also useful for machine-to-machine workflows and automated product/order operations. Vendure Developer Hub
• I'd choose Vendure over Medusa if you strongly prefer GraphQL + NestJS + TypeScript.
• Saleor — strongest pure API/composable option

• Excellent GraphQL API, webhooks, apps/extensions, and a very headless architecture. Saleor specifically emphasizes API-first extensibility and 140+ webhook events. Saleor Commerce Saleor Commerce
• It's especially compelling if you're building a larger composable architecture where commerce, fulfillment, content, analytics, etc. are separate services.
• But for a small-to-medium digital-download business where you're going to customize download/entitlement logic heavily, I find Medusa's application-framework approach more natural.

What I'd build

For your use case, I'd lean toward:

Next.js/custom frontend → Medusa API → Stripe → S3/R2 → download/entitlement service

The important distinction is that I wouldn't treat "digital product" as merely a product with a PDF attached.

I'd model:

Product
  └── Digital Asset(s)
        ├── storage_key
        ├── version
        └── checksum

Order
  └── Entitlement
        ├── customer_id
        ├── product_id
        ├── status
        ├── expires_at
        └── download_count

Then your download endpoint verifies the entitlement and generates a short-lived signed storage URL. That gives you control over expiration, revocation, download limits, versioning, bundles, customer libraries, and future license-key workflows.

Medusa is unusually well aligned with this architecture because its documentation actually demonstrates the pattern of authenticated customer download routes and generating download URLs for purchased digital media. Medusa Documentation

Bottom line:
If you're building this yourself in TypeScript, I'd choose Medusa first, Vendure second, and Saleor third. If GraphQL is a hard requirement, flip Vendure/Saleor ahead of Medusa.

docs.medusajs.com
docs.vendure.io
docs.saleor.io

If you’re technically savvy and want true headless control over digital downloads, I’d put Medusa at the top of the list.

My ranking

1. Medusa — best overall for digital-download workflows

• TypeScript/Node.js, REST APIs, JS SDK, and a highly extensible backend.
• It now has an official digital-products implementation pattern: digital-product data model → file storage → fulfillment → authenticated download endpoint. Medusa Docs Medusa Docs
• You can create your own API routes and workflows, which is particularly useful for things like license keys, download limits, expiring URLs, bundles, entitlement logic, webhooks, and automated fulfillment. Medusa Docs
• Its file module supports uploads and private files, and you can use a file provider rather than tying your commerce system to local storage. Medusa Docs
• The Store API is REST-based and has an OpenAPI specification, which is convenient if you're building your own frontend or integrating other services. Medusa Docs
• Vendure — excellent TypeScript alternative

• Also TypeScript/NestJS and very developer-oriented.
• GraphQL is its primary storefront API, with strong extension/plugin capabilities. Vendure Developer Hub
• It has an explicit digital-products guide, although digital delivery is implemented as a plugin/customization rather than feeling as native to the core workflow. Vendure Developer Hub
• I'd favor Vendure if you particularly like GraphQL + NestJS + plugin architecture.
• Saleor — strongest if GraphQL/Python is your preference

• Very API-centric and particularly attractive for complex catalogs, internationalization, and multi-channel commerce.
• I'd put it behind Medusa for your particular use case because digital-download fulfillment is likely to involve more application-level customization than with Medusa.

Why I'd choose Medusa for downloads

The important distinction is that you're not merely looking for a platform that can label a product "digital." You probably want an architecture like:

              Your Next.js / Astro / custom frontend
                            │
                            ▼
                    Medusa Store API
                            │
              ┌─────────────┴─────────────┐
              │                           │
           Checkout                    Customer
              │                           │
              ▼                           ▼
          Order paid              Entitlements
              │                           │
              └─────────────┬─────────────┘
                            ▼
                    Digital Product
                            │
                            ▼
                   Private object storage
                    S3 / R2 / equivalent
                            │
                            ▼
                 Short-lived download URL

Medusa's current digital-product example specifically demonstrates an authenticated customer endpoint for retrieving purchased products and an endpoint that generates a download URL for the associated media. Medusa Docs

There's also a Medusa digital-products integration that goes further with entitlements, short-lived download tokens, license issuance/activation/validation, and device activation, which is much closer to what you'd want if you're selling software rather than just PDFs/ZIPs. Medusa

My recommendation

If your stack is something like Next.js + TypeScript + S3/R2 + Stripe + a headless CMS, I'd choose:

Medusa + Next.js + S3/R2 + Stripe + your own entitlement/download service

That gives you control over the interesting parts instead of fighting a SaaS commerce platform's opinionated digital-goods implementation.

If you're selling simple files (ebooks, templates, presets, PDFs), Medusa is arguably more than enough. If you're selling software/licenses/subscriptions with protected downloads, Medusa becomes particularly compelling because you can model the entitlement and fulfillment workflow yourself.

docs.medusajs.com docs.medusajs.com

If you tell me what you're selling (PDFs, video, software, courses, assets, etc.) and whether you need subscriptions/license keys, I can narrow this down to a concrete architecture and compare Medusa vs Vendure vs Saleor for that exact workflow.

For digital downloads specifically, I’d put Medusa at the top of your shortlist.

My ranking

1. medusajs.com — best fit for a technical TypeScript team

• TypeScript/Node.js, REST APIs, JS SDK, and a modular architecture.
• More importantly, Medusa has an explicit digital-products implementation pattern: digital product modules, file storage providers, custom API routes, workflows, and fulfillment providers. Medusa Docs Medusa Docs
• You can model something like:

Product → Digital Asset → Order → Entitlement → Signed Download URL

• The fulfillment layer can be customized to deliver the download after purchase. Medusa Docs
• This is particularly attractive if you want to integrate S3/R2, Stripe, your own entitlement service, email provider, CDN, etc., rather than forcing everything through an ecommerce SaaS abstraction.
• vendure.io — excellent if you prefer GraphQL

• TypeScript/NestJS with a strongly typed GraphQL API.
• Its plugin architecture is very good for building a bespoke digital-fulfillment subsystem.
• The docs explicitly cover selling digital products, custom entities/API extensions, and asset storage such as S3/R2. Vendure
• I'd choose it over Medusa if GraphQL + NestJS + a strongly structured plugin architecture is more important to you than Medusa's workflow/module approach.
• saleor.io — strongest pure GraphQL API

• Excellent API architecture and webhooks; Saleor describes its platform as GraphQL-native and fully headless. Saleor Commerce
• Particularly compelling if you're comfortable with Python/Django on the backend.
• For a digital-download business, though, you'll likely be assembling more of the digital-asset/entitlement/fulfillment machinery yourself.

What I'd actually build

For your use case, I'd lean toward:

Next.js / custom frontend
↓
Medusa
↓
Stripe → payment
S3/R2 → encrypted/private files
Postgres → products + orders + entitlements
CDN / signed URLs → downloads
Resend/etc. → purchase/download emails

The key architectural distinction is that the ecommerce platform shouldn't really be responsible for serving the file itself. Have the commerce backend establish an entitlement after successful payment, then issue a short-lived signed URL from your object storage.

That gives you useful capabilities later—download limits, expiration, revocation, versioned files, customer libraries, license keys, bundles, subscriptions, and analytics—without coupling your digital-asset system to the storefront.

Bottom line: if you're a technically savvy developer and want maximum control, I'd start with Medusa. Its documented digital-product workflow makes it unusually well aligned with this particular use case. Medusa Docs

If you tell me whether you're using Next.js + TypeScript, Python, or something else, I can also compare Medusa vs Vendure vs Saleor specifically for digital downloads, including Stripe, S3/R2, signed URLs, webhooks, entitlements, and licensing.

If digital downloads are the core workflow, I’d put Medusa at the top of your shortlist.

My ranking

1. Medusa — best fit for highly custom digital products

• REST Store/Admin APIs plus a JS SDK. Medusa Docs
• Has an explicit Digital Products architecture: digital-product module, file storage, workflows, custom API routes, and custom fulfillment. Medusa Docs
• You can expose your own APIs for things like GET /digital-products, purchase entitlements, download authorization, license generation, etc.
• Their current digital-product example actually implements authenticated customer entitlements and short-lived download URLs, which is very close to the workflow you'd want for paid files. Medusa Docs
• Particularly attractive if you're comfortable writing backend code rather than wanting everything configured through a SaaS dashboard.
• Saleor — best API-first alternative

• GraphQL-native and API-only, with strong extensibility through apps, webhooks, metadata and API extensions. GitHub GitHub
• Importantly, Saleor has a dedicated Digital Products recipe. Saleor Documentation
• I'd favor it if you strongly prefer GraphQL and want a more opinionated commerce platform rather than building as much of the digital-delivery layer yourself.
• commercetools — strongest enterprise/composable option

• Extremely capable APIs and product/catalog modeling. commercetools Documentation
• But for a digital-download business, it's likely more infrastructure than you need. You'd generally build more of the entitlement/download experience yourself.

The architecture I'd choose

For a technically sophisticated digital-download store, I'd do:

Next.js/custom frontend → Medusa → Stripe/payment provider → S3/R2 → signed download URLs

With Medusa handling:

• Products and variants
• Prices/promotions
• Customers
• Cart/checkout
• Orders
• Entitlements
• Digital-product metadata
• Download authorization
• Webhooks/events
• Admin workflows

And object storage handling the actual files. The important distinction is don't make the purchased file itself publicly accessible; have your API issue an expiring signed URL after verifying the customer's entitlement.

Medusa's documented digital-product implementation specifically supports this sort of flow, including download tokens and provider URLs. Medusa

Bottom line: If you're building something like “sell ebooks/software/templates/assets with custom licensing, download limits, expiring links, bundles, APIs, and eventually subscriptions”, I'd choose Medusa. If your priority is GraphQL-first commerce and a mature composable architecture, I'd choose Saleor.

docs.medusajs.com
docs.saleor.io

If digital downloads + deep API control are the priority, I’d shortlist Medusa and Saleor, with Medusa as my default pick for a technically sophisticated team.

My ranking

1. medusajs.com — best fit for custom digital-product workflows

• Headless and highly extensible rather than just exposing a fixed commerce API.
• REST Store APIs plus custom API routes.
• Its architecture explicitly supports creating a Digital Product Module, custom workflows, file storage providers, and custom fulfillment logic. Medusa Docs Medusa Docs
• Their digital-products example actually implements the workflow you're describing: digital-product records → purchase → customer entitlement → authenticated download URL. Medusa Docs
• You can use S3 or another file provider and generate your own download/entitlement logic. Medusa Docs

Why I'd choose it: you can treat the commerce engine as infrastructure and build your own digital-entitlement system on top of it without fighting the platform.

2. saleor.io — best if GraphQL is your preferred API paradigm

• GraphQL-native and strongly oriented toward headless development.
• Has an explicit Digital Products recipe for selling licenses, services, and other non-physical goods. Saleor Documentation
• Strong extension model: webhooks, apps, custom data, and an extensible dashboard. Saleor Commerce
• Particularly attractive if you want a clean GraphQL domain model and expect multiple frontend/client applications.

Why I'd choose it: excellent API/DX story, especially for a GraphQL-heavy architecture.

3. commercetools.com — powerful enterprise option

• Extremely capable APIs and composable architecture.
• Its product APIs are designed for programmatic catalog management and complex product models. commercetools Documentation
• But for a pure digital-download business, you're likely building substantially more of the digital fulfillment/entitlement layer yourself.

The architecture I'd use

For your use case, I'd lean toward:

Next.js / custom frontend → Medusa → Stripe → S3/R2 → your entitlement/download service

The important distinction is that I wouldn't simply put the PDF/video/ZIP URL in the product record.

Instead:

Product
  └── Digital Asset
       ├── storage_key
       ├── version
       └── metadata

Order
  └── Line Item
       └── Entitlement
            ├── customer_id
            ├── product_id
            ├── granted_at
            ├── expires_at
            └── download_count

Customer
  └── Entitlements
       └── signed download URL

That gives you room for expiring links, download limits, product updates/versioning, bundles, licenses, refunds/revocation, and multiple files per product without making your storage layer part of your commerce model.

Medusa is especially compelling here because its framework lets you implement those pieces as modules/workflows and expose exactly the API routes you want. Medusa Docs Medusa Docs

Bottom line: if you're comfortable writing backend code and want the platform to bend around your digital-product workflow, I'd pick Medusa. If you strongly prefer GraphQL + a more API-first commerce platform, I'd pick Saleor.

If you tell me whether you're selling ebooks/assets, software licenses, courses/video, or downloadable files, I can also compare Medusa vs Saleor specifically for the entitlement, payment, storage, and download-security pieces.

For a technically savvy team building a headless ecommerce system focused on digital downloads, I’d prioritize platforms that expose:

• Product + variant APIs
• File/asset management or integrations
• Order webhooks
• Customer entitlement models
• Secure, expiring download URLs
• Metadata/custom fields
• Good SDKs and developer tooling

The strongest options are:

Spree Commerce GitHub## My shortlist for a digital-download business

1. Medusa — probably the best developer-first choice

Use this if you want something like:

Customer buys → payment succeeds → webhook fires → entitlement created → secure asset URL generated → customer dashboard shows downloads

Medusa’s strength is that commerce primitives are separated from your business logic. You can model:

• licenses
• memberships
• software keys
• course access
• versioned files
• customer libraries

without fighting a prebuilt marketplace model.

Good fit:

• ebooks
• design assets
• plugins
• software
• paid APIs
• memberships

2. Spree Commerce — best open-source "commerce engine"

Spree is attractive if you want ownership and a traditional ecommerce backend. It provides a headless REST API approach, OpenAPI specs, and developer tooling. It also supports digital products. Spree Commerce GitHub

A typical architecture:

Next.js frontend
        |
        v
Spree API
        |
        +--> Orders
        +--> Payments
        +--> Customers
        +--> Products
        |
        v
S3 / Cloudflare R2
        |
        v
Signed download URLs

3. Shopify Headless — easiest operationally

Shopify is very strong if you want:

• payments handled
• taxes handled
• admin experience
• customer accounts
• marketing ecosystem

Its headless APIs let you use your own frontend, and digital downloads can be handled through apps or custom integrations. Shopify Help Center Shopify

The tradeoff: Shopify’s core model is still a storefront platform, not a digital entitlement engine. For complex workflows (license keys, software activation, dynamic files), you’ll likely build an app/service alongside it.

4. commercetools — enterprise-grade option

If you’re building something closer to:

• a marketplace
• multi-brand platform
• global catalog
• complex pricing
• enterprise integrations

commercetools is excellent. But for a small team selling downloads, it may be more infrastructure than you need.

Platforms I would be cautious about

Pure digital storefront tools

Tools like Gumroad, Lemon Squeezy, Paddle, etc. are great for selling downloads quickly, but they are usually less suitable as the commerce backend of a custom headless application.

Traditional CMS + ecommerce plugins

A WordPress/WooCommerce stack can work, but if you specifically want API-first workflows, you may spend time working around plugin behavior.

A strong modern stack for digital downloads

If I were designing this today:

Frontend

• Next.js / React

Commerce

• Medusa or Spree

Payments

• Stripe

Storage

• Cloudflare R2 or AWS S3

Delivery

• Signed URLs
• Download entitlement service

Database additions

• products
• assets
• entitlements
• licenses
• download_events

Example entitlement model:

{
  "customer": "cus_123",
  "product": "template-pack-v4",
  "downloads_allowed": 5,
  "expires": "2027-01-01",
  "assets": [
    "file_a.zip",
    "file_b.pdf"
  ]
}

For a technically strong team, I’d rank them:

1. Medusa — best balance of API flexibility + developer experience
2. Spree — best open-source ownership
3. Shopify Headless — best business operations
4. commercetools — best enterprise scale

The key architectural decision is whether you want the platform to own digital fulfillment or simply handle commerce events while your system owns entitlements. For serious digital products, I’d usually choose the latter.

• Signed URLs
• Download entitlement service

Database additions

• products
• assets
• entitlements
• licenses
• download_events

Example entitlement model:

{
  "customer": "cus_123",
  "product": "template-pack-v4",
  "downloads_allowed": 5,
  "expires": "2027-01-01",
  "assets": [
    "file_a.zip",
    "file_b.pdf"
  ]
}

For a technically strong team, I’d rank them:

1. Medusa — best balance of API flexibility + developer experience
2. Spree — best open-source ownership
3. Shopify Headless — best business operations
4. commercetools — best enterprise scale

The key architectural decision is whether you want the platform to own digital fulfillment or simply handle commerce events while your system owns entitlements. For serious digital products, I’d usually choose the latter.

If digital downloads are the core workflow, I’d put Medusa at the top of your shortlist.

My ranking

1. medusajs.com — my pick

Medusa is particularly interesting for your use case because digital products are an explicit implementation pattern, rather than something you have to awkwardly bend physical-product primitives around.

Its current architecture lets you create a Digital Product Module, connect it to the normal product model, use a file-storage module for the actual files, and expose your own authenticated API routes for purchasing and downloading. MedusaJS Documentation MedusaJS Documentation

That gives you a pretty clean architecture:

Your frontend
     │
     ▼
Medusa Store API
     │
     ├── Products / pricing
     ├── Cart / checkout
     ├── Customers / orders
     └── Digital-product entitlement
              │
              ▼
        File storage
        (S3/R2/etc.)
              │
              ▼
       Signed download URL

The particularly nice part for a technical team is that Medusa lets you add custom REST API routes and workflows directly to the commerce backend. Its v2 Store API is REST-based and has an OpenAPI reference, while custom routes can expose your own digital-product functionality. MedusaJS Documentation MedusaJS Documentation

The official digital-product example actually demonstrates the pattern of authenticating a customer, determining what digital products they purchased, and generating a download URL for the associated media. MedusaJS Documentation

I'd choose Medusa if you want:

• S3/R2-backed files
• expiring/signed download URLs
• download entitlements
• license keys
• download limits
• webhooks/events
• custom fulfillment logic
• your own Next.js/Astro/etc. frontend
• the ability to write the commerce logic in TypeScript

2. vendure.io — arguably the strongest alternative

Vendure is excellent if you're comfortable building a more opinionated backend yourself.

It's explicitly headless, with separate Shop and Admin GraphQL APIs, and its architecture is designed to be extended with plugins and custom entities/logic. Vendure Vendure

It also has a specific digital-products recipe, while its asset system can handle arbitrary files including PDFs and videos and can use object storage such as S3. Vendure Vendure

For a digital-download business, I particularly like Vendure's extensibility model:

Product
  └── DigitalProduct custom entity
        ├── file
        ├── license
        ├── version
        ├── entitlement rules
        └── download policy

You can then implement the download authorization as your own domain logic rather than having the commerce platform dictate it.

Vendure also supports long-lived API keys specifically for machine-to-machine integrations, which is useful if you're building automated publishing, fulfillment, or catalog pipelines. Vendure

I'd choose Vendure over Medusa if: GraphQL is important to you and you expect the commerce backend to become a substantial custom application.

3. saleor.io — excellent GraphQL-first option

Saleor is worth serious consideration if you want GraphQL as the central API contract.

It is GraphQL-native, supports custom data models/metadata, webhooks, extensions and custom dashboard functionality, and explicitly has a digital-products recipe. Saleor Documentation Saleor Commerce

I'd favor it when your architecture looks something like:

Next.js
   │
   ▼
GraphQL
   │
Saleor
   │
   ├── Commerce
   ├── Payments
   ├── Orders
   └── Digital-product app
             │
             ▼
          S3/R2

The catch is that Saleor's extensibility often means building an app/extension around Saleor, whereas Medusa and Vendure feel more like frameworks for constructing your own commerce backend.

What I'd actually build

For a technically sophisticated digital-download business, my shortlist would be:

Medusa + Next.js + S3/R2 + Stripe

with the digital workflow roughly:

1. Product contains metadata describing the downloadable asset/version.
2. Customer purchases normally through Medusa.
3. Order completion triggers a digital-entitlement workflow.
4. Entitlement records customer → product/version → permitted downloads.
5. File remains private in S3/R2.
6. Customer requests download through an authenticated endpoint.
7. Backend verifies entitlement.
8. Backend returns a short-lived signed URL.
9. Download events are recorded independently of the object store.

That separation is important: don't make the S3/R2 URL itself the entitlement system. Your commerce backend should determine whether someone is entitled to download; object storage should merely deliver the bytes.

Bottom line: I'd start with Medusa. Its current digital-product implementation is unusually close to what you're describing, while still letting you own the actual download/entitlement workflow. If you want maximum backend customization and GraphQL, I'd compare it directly against Vendure. Saleor would be my third serious candidate. MedusaJS Documentation MedusaJS Documentation Vendure

docs.medusajs.com
docs.vendure.io
docs.saleor.io

Vendure also supports long-lived API keys specifically for machine-to-machine integrations, which is useful if you're building automated publishing, fulfillment, or catalog pipelines. Vendure

I'd choose Vendure over Medusa if: GraphQL is important to you and you expect the commerce backend to become a substantial custom application.

3. saleor.io — excellent GraphQL-first option

Saleor is worth serious consideration if you want GraphQL as the central API contract.

It is GraphQL-native, supports custom data models/metadata, webhooks, extensions and custom dashboard functionality, and explicitly has a digital-products recipe. Saleor Documentation saleor.io

I'd favor it when your architecture looks something like:

Next.js
   │
   ▼
GraphQL
   │
Saleor
   │
   ├── Commerce
   ├── Payments
   ├── Orders
   └── Digital-product app
             │
             ▼
          S3/R2

The catch is that Saleor's extensibility often means building an app/extension around Saleor, whereas Medusa and Vendure feel more like frameworks for constructing your own commerce backend.

What I'd actually build

For a technically sophisticated digital-download business, my shortlist would be:

Medusa + Next.js + S3/R2 + Stripe

with the digital workflow roughly:

For digital downloads specifically, I’d put Medusa at the top of your shortlist.

My ranking

1. Medusa — best fit for your use case

• TypeScript/Node.js and very API-oriented.
• Its current docs have a dedicated digital-products implementation: digital-product modules, file storage, custom API routes, customer purchase history, and authenticated download URLs. Medusa Docs Medusa Docs
• Particularly attractive if you want to own the workflow rather than adapt a SaaS platform's notion of a "digital product."
• REST Store API plus a JS SDK make it straightforward to put a Next.js/custom frontend on top. Medusa Docs

Architecture I'd consider:
Next.js → Medusa API → Stripe → order/payment event → digital entitlement → S3/R2 → signed download URL

2. Vendure — excellent if you're strongly TypeScript/NestJS-oriented

• GraphQL-first Shop API with a very extensible plugin architecture. Vendure Vendure
• It actually has an official digital-products guide covering custom fields, fulfillment handlers, download links, and automatic fulfillment after payment. GitHub
• I'd choose it over Medusa if you particularly value GraphQL + strongly structured TypeScript/NestJS architecture.
• Saleor — best API sophistication, but potentially more platform than you need

• GraphQL-only/API-only architecture with webhooks, apps, metadata, and API extensions. Saleor Store GitHub
• Its app model is particularly good if you want the download/entitlement machinery to live in separate services. GitHub
• I'd favor it for multi-channel, international, complex commerce, rather than a relatively focused digital-download store.

The important distinction

For digital goods, I'd prioritize workflow extensibility over built-in "digital downloads" features.

You probably want the commerce platform to handle:

• products/variants
• pricing and discounts
• carts/checkout
• payment state
• orders
• customers
• webhooks/events

…and have your application own:

• entitlements
• download limits
• license keys
• versioning
• expiring URLs
• S3/R2 objects
• revocation
• customer download history
• post-purchase fulfillment

That makes Medusa particularly compelling because its current digital-product recipe explicitly follows this modular approach: file storage + digital-product module + fulfillment + custom Store/Admin APIs. Medusa Docs

If I were building this today as a technically sophisticated solo developer or small team, I'd pick Medusa + Next.js + Stripe + Cloudflare R2/S3. If GraphQL is a hard requirement, I'd pick Vendure or Saleor instead.

If you tell me roughly how many SKUs/downloads you expect and whether you need subscriptions, license keys, bundles, or customer-specific files, I can narrow this down further.

If digital downloads are the core product and you're technically comfortable building the delivery layer, I’d put Medusa at the top of the shortlist.

My ranking

Why I'd choose Medusa

Medusa is unusually well suited to the architecture you're describing because digital products aren't treated as an awkward modification of physical fulfillment. Its documentation has an explicit digital-products architecture: you can associate digital-product data with normal products, use a file-storage module, create custom API routes, and implement a fulfillment provider that delivers the download. Medusa Docs

That gives you room to build something like:

Next.js / Astro / custom frontend
              │
              ▼
        Medusa Store API
              │
       ┌──────┴──────┐
       ▼             ▼
   Commerce       Your modules
   products       ├─ license generation
   checkout       ├─ download entitlements
   orders         ├─ signed URLs
   payments       ├─ download limits
                  └─ DRM / access rules
                         │
                         ▼
                   S3 / R2 / GCS

Medusa's V2 Store API is REST-based and has an official JavaScript SDK, which is particularly attractive if you're already in the TypeScript/Node ecosystem. Medusa Docs

docs.medusajs.com

When I'd pick Saleor instead

Saleor is the more compelling choice if you specifically want a GraphQL-first architecture. Its API covers the platform broadly, and its documentation actually includes a dedicated digital-products recipe for non-physical goods. It also has extensive webhook/API-based extensibility. Saleor Commerce Saleor Documentation

So I'd choose:

• Medusa → TypeScript/Node, REST, maximum ability to write your own commerce workflows.
• Saleor → Python/GraphQL, strongly typed schema, complex multi-channel/enterprise commerce.
• Shopify → you want somebody else operating the commerce infrastructure and can tolerate its constraints.
• WooCommerce → digital products plus WordPress/content/plugin requirements.

For a developer-first store selling ebooks, software, templates, courses, assets, or other downloadable files, my default would be Medusa + object storage + your own entitlement/download service. The important architectural decision is to not expose the underlying S3/R2/GCS object directly; have the commerce/order state determine whether a customer can obtain a short-lived signed download URL.

If you tell me whether you're selling one-time downloads, licenses/software, subscriptions, or bundles, I can narrow this down further—those workflows change which platform is the best fit.

That gives you room to build something like:

Next.js / Astro / custom frontend
              │
              ▼
        Medusa Store API
              │
       ┌──────┴──────┐
       ▼             ▼
   Commerce       Your modules
   products       ├─ license generation
   checkout       ├─ download entitlements
   orders         ├─ signed URLs
   payments       ├─ download limits
                  └─ DRM / access rules
                         │
                         ▼
                   S3 / R2 / GCS

Medusa's V2 Store API is REST-based and has an official JavaScript SDK, which is particularly attractive if you're already in the TypeScript/Node ecosystem. Medusa Docs

docs.medusajs.com

When I'd pick Saleor instead

Saleor is the more compelling choice if you specifically want a GraphQL-first architecture. Its API covers the platform broadly, and its documentation actually includes a dedicated digital-products recipe for non-physical goods. It also has extensive webhook/API-based extensibility.

So I'd choose:

If you’re technically savvy and want a genuinely headless setup for digital downloads, I’d put Medusa at the top of the list.

My ranking

1. Medusa — my pick for your use case

Medusa is particularly interesting because digital products are treated as something you compose into the commerce system, rather than forcing you into a rigid "downloadable product" abstraction.

Its current documentation has an explicit digital-products implementation covering:

• custom digital-product data models
• product/variant relationships
• file storage, including S3-compatible providers
• custom workflows
• custom Admin and Store API routes
• order-event handling
• customer purchase history
• authenticated download endpoints
• generating download URLs after purchase docs.medusajs.comdocs.medusajs.com

That architecture is excellent if, for example, you want:

Your frontend
    ↓
Medusa Store API
    ↓
Checkout/payment
    ↓
Order event
    ↓
Digital-product workflow
    ↓
S3 / R2 / other private storage
    ↓
Short-lived signed download URL

You can also build the storefront entirely separately from Medusa; its Store API is REST-based and there's a JS SDK, while the Admin API gives you programmatic back-office control. docs.medusajs.com

The big advantage is that the download workflow is yours. You can add things like license keys, download limits, versioning, entitlements, expiring URLs, customer-specific files, webhooks, or DRM without fighting the platform.

Medusa documentation

2. Saleor — strongest alternative

Saleor would be my second choice, particularly if you strongly prefer GraphQL.

Saleor explicitly has a digital-products recipe and is built around a GraphQL API, apps/extensions, and webhooks. Its architecture is very composable—you can push specialized digital-product logic into an external service rather than putting everything inside the commerce backend. docs.saleor.io

I'd favor Saleor over Medusa if your architecture looks like:

Next.js / custom frontend
        ↓
      Saleor
        ↓
   GraphQL + webhooks
        ↓
Digital entitlement service
        ↓
S3/R2 + signed URLs

The important distinction

For digital downloads, I wouldn't primarily optimize for "which platform has a downloadable-product feature?"

I'd optimize for:

1. Webhooks/events — order paid → provision entitlement.
2. Custom data models — product → files → versions → entitlements.
3. Custom workflows — payment → fulfillment → entitlement.
4. Private object storage — don't expose your master files.
5. Signed/expiring URLs — downloads aren't permanent public URLs.
6. Customer API — "my purchases" and "download this version."
7. Good authentication APIs — important for protecting downloads.
8. Ability to bypass the platform UI entirely.

On those criteria, Medusa is unusually attractive for an engineer building a custom digital-product business. Its official recipe actually demonstrates the purchase → digital-product order → authenticated download flow rather than leaving digital fulfillment entirely to a third-party app. docs.medusajs.comdocs.medusajs.com

My recommendation: start with Medusa + Postgres + S3/R2 + your own Next.js frontend, and treat Medusa as the commerce/transaction/entitlement backbone rather than as your storefront.

If you tell me whether you're selling ebooks/files, software/licenses, courses, design assets, or something else, I can narrow this down further—the ideal architecture changes quite a bit depending on whether you need licensing, versioning, download limits, or subscriptions.

If you're technically savvy and specifically care about APIs + digital-download workflows, I'd shortlist Medusa and Saleor, with Lemon Squeezy as the "less infrastructure, more SaaS" option.

My pick: Medusa

medusajs.com is probably the best fit if you want to own the workflow rather than just integrate with a checkout provider.

Its digital-product implementation is unusually relevant to your use case:

• It has a documented Digital Product Module for ebooks, software, digital art, etc.
• A File Module handles upload/retrieval/download operations, with S3-compatible storage recommended for production.
• You can expose your own admin/store REST endpoints for creating digital products and serving downloads.
• It has explicit workflows for associating purchases with digital products and generating download URLs.
• Its Store and Admin APIs are REST-based, with a JS SDK and OpenAPI specs available. Medusa Docs Medusa Docs Medusa Docs Medusa Docs Medusa Docs

That makes a workflow like:

product → checkout → payment → order → entitlement → signed download URL → download tracking

fairly natural to implement.

Saleor: best if you want GraphQL/API sophistication

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

It's GraphQL-native, fully headless, and has extensive webhook/app extensibility. Its documentation explicitly has a Digital Products recipe, and the platform supports custom data models and API-driven extensions. Saleor Commerce Saleor Documentation Saleor Commerce

I'd favor Saleor over Medusa if your architecture is heavily GraphQL-oriented or you're building a fairly sophisticated multi-channel commerce system.

Lemon Squeezy: best if you don't want to build commerce infrastructure

lemonsqueezy.com is attractive for digital products because its API already understands products, files, orders, payments, subscriptions, and license keys. Lemon Squeezy Docs

The tradeoff is architectural: you're integrating with a hosted commerce platform rather than getting the same degree of control over the underlying commerce engine that you'd have with Medusa.

How I'd choose

For your description, I'd start with Medusa. Its digital-product support isn't merely "products without shipping"; the docs actually walk through authenticated purchased-product retrieval and download-URL generation. Medusa Docs

A particularly nice stack would be Medusa + S3-compatible object storage + your own Next.js/React frontend, with Medusa handling commerce/entitlements and your application controlling the download UX and authorization.

For a technically savvy team selling digital downloads, I’d prioritize platforms that let you model:

• digital assets/files
• entitlement rules (“who can download what?”)
• expiring or signed download URLs
• post-payment fulfillment workflows
• webhooks/events
• custom customer portals
• subscriptions, bundles, licenses, or memberships

The strongest fits are usually:

powergatesoftware.comnaturaily.com

My shortlist for a developer-first digital download business

1. Medusa — probably the best balance

Medusa is a strong choice if you want to own the architecture. It is built as a modular headless commerce backend, so you can create a digital product module, connect file storage, and customize fulfillment logic. Medusa’s docs specifically describe a digital products workflow using modules for files, custom API routes, and fulfillment handling. docs.medusajs.com

Good fit for:

• SaaS-like digital products
• ebooks, assets, courses, templates
• license keys
• custom download portals
• Next.js/React storefronts

Typical architecture:

Next.js storefront
        |
        |
   Medusa API
        |
  ----------------
  |              |
Payments      Orders
  |
Digital fulfillment service
  |
S3/R2 storage + signed URLs

2. Saleor — best API purity

Saleor is compelling if you like GraphQL and want the commerce layer to be a clean API platform. Saleor is API-only/headless by design, with GraphQL as the primary interface and extensive webhook/event capabilities. saleor.io

Good fit for:

• complex product models
• multiple storefronts
• international sales
• sophisticated permissions
• teams comfortable with GraphQL

A digital product might look like:

Product
 ├── metadata:
 │      asset_id
 │      license_type
 │      version
 │      download_policy
 |
Order completed event
 |
Webhook
 |
Entitlement service
 |
Signed download URL

3. commercetools — if you expect enterprise complexity

commercetools is excellent technically, but it can be overkill for a small digital-download business. It shines when you need composable architecture, many integrations, complex pricing, regional catalogs, or large teams. powergatesoftware.comnaturaily.com

Platforms I’d be cautious about for a highly technical digital-download product

Shopify headless

• Great APIs and payments.
• Huge ecosystem.
• But digital delivery usually becomes app-based or requires custom services around Shopify’s model.

WooCommerce headless

• Can work.
• Massive ecosystem.
• But you’re often fighting WordPress/plugin architecture rather than building a clean commerce backend. www.wpbundle.com

My ranking for your use case

If I were building a developer-centric digital download platform:

1. Medusa → best overall for custom digital workflows
2. Saleor → best if GraphQL/API design matters most
3. commercetools → best if you expect enterprise scale
4. Shopify headless → best if speed to market beats architectural purity

A key design choice: I would not store the actual files in the commerce platform. I’d store assets in something like S3/R2 and make the commerce backend manage entitlements:

payment succeeded → create entitlement → generate signed URL → track downloads

That pattern scales much better for digital goods than treating a download as a normal inventory item.

If you’re technically savvy and specifically optimizing for digital-download workflows, I’d put Medusa at the top of the shortlist.

My ranking

1. medusajs.com — my pick

Medusa is particularly interesting because its architecture lets you treat digital delivery as a first-class custom commerce workflow, rather than trying to bend a physical-product system around downloads.

Its official digital-products implementation demonstrates:

• A dedicated Digital Product module
• File storage through its File Module, including S3 providers
• Private files for purchased products
• Custom admin APIs for creating/managing digital products
• Store APIs for retrieving a customer's purchased products
• Authenticated download endpoints that verify the customer actually purchased the product
• Custom fulfillment providers
• Workflows for orchestrating multi-step digital-product operations Medusa Documentation Medusa Documentation

That last part is the big differentiator for someone technical. You can build something like:

product → entitlement → payment → fulfillment → signed download URL → download event

without fighting the platform.

Medusa exposes REST APIs and lets you add your own API routes, and its Admin API has OpenAPI specs you can import into tooling like Postman. Medusa Documentation Medusa Documentation Medusa Documentation

I'd choose it if you're comfortable owning some backend code.

2. saleor.io — best GraphQL option

Saleor is probably the strongest alternative if you want a GraphQL-native, API-first commerce core.

It has an explicit digital-products recipe, and its architecture is heavily oriented toward extending commerce through APIs, webhooks, and apps. Saleor describes its API as GraphQL-native and supports 100+ webhooks/extensions. Saleor Documentation Saleor Commerce

I'd lean Saleor over Medusa if your stack is already deeply GraphQL-oriented and you want commerce to behave more like a composable data/service layer.

3. lemonsqueezy.com — best if you don't want to build the commerce plumbing

Lemon Squeezy is different: it's much more SaaS-like than Medusa/Saleor.

Its API covers products, customers, files, orders, subscriptions, discounts and license keys, so you can build a custom frontend while letting it handle substantial amounts of the commerce infrastructure. Lemon Squeezy Docs

For a developer selling ebooks, templates, software, courses, assets, etc., this can dramatically reduce implementation effort.

The tradeoff is that you're accepting considerably more of the platform's opinionated workflow.

What I'd use

For your stated requirements, I'd probably build:

Next.js / whatever frontend you prefer
↓
Medusa
↓
Postgres
↓
S3-compatible private object storage
↓
signed, short-lived download URLs

Then model entitlements separately from the order. That gives you much more flexibility for things like:

• expiring downloads
• download limits
• versioned files
• replacing a file without changing the product
• bundles
• licenses
• customer libraries
• refunds/revocation
• presigned URLs
• download analytics
• granting products manually
• subscription-based access

Medusa's documented digital-product example actually uses private file access for the purchased media and verifies the customer's digital-product order before returning the download URL, which is very close to this architecture. Medusa Documentation

Bottom line: if you want a headless commerce engine that you can really program, choose Medusa. If you want GraphQL-first, choose Saleor. If you primarily want to sell digital goods without building much commerce infrastructure, choose Lemon Squeezy.

2. saleor.io — best GraphQL option

Saleor is probably the strongest alternative if you want a GraphQL-native, API-first commerce core.

It has an explicit digital-products recipe, and its architecture is heavily oriented toward extending commerce through APIs, webhooks, and apps. Saleor describes its API as GraphQL-native and supports 100+ webhooks/extensions. Saleor Documentation Saleor Commerce

I'd lean Saleor over Medusa if your stack is already deeply GraphQL-oriented and you want commerce to behave more like a composable data/service layer.

3. lemonsqueezy.com — best if you don't want to build the commerce plumbing

Lemon Squeezy is different: it's much more SaaS-like than Medusa/Saleor.

Its API covers products, customers, files, orders, subscriptions, discounts and license keys, so you can build a custom frontend while letting it handle substantial amounts of the commerce infrastructure. docs.lemonsqueezy.com

For a developer selling ebooks, templates, software, courses, assets, etc., this can dramatically reduce implementation effort.

The tradeoff is that you're accepting considerably more of the platform's opinionated workflow.

What I'd use

For your stated requirements, I'd probably build:

For a technically savvy team building headless ecommerce for digital downloads, I’d prioritize platforms that expose strong primitives for:

• product/catalog management
• checkout/payment workflows
• order webhooks
• entitlement/access control
• file delivery or integration with object storage (S3/R2/etc.)
• customer accounts and download history
• APIs that don’t fight a custom frontend

The strongest options today:

My shortlist for a developer-heavy digital download business

1. Medusa — best "build your own platform"

If you want something like:

Next.js frontend
        |
        v
Medusa API
        |
        +-- Stripe payments
        +-- S3/R2 digital assets
        +-- entitlement service
        +-- email delivery

Medusa is probably the most flexible choice. You can model:

• products
• variants
• licenses
• memberships
• bundles
• download permissions
• custom fulfillment logic

It avoids forcing your digital assets into a traditional ecommerce model.

2. Shopify headless — best if you want commerce solved

Shopify has excellent APIs and operational maturity. For digital products, the common architecture is:

Headless storefront
      |
Shopify checkout/order APIs
      |
Webhook → fulfillment service
      |
Generate signed download URL

Shopify’s own digital downloads tooling supports files, links, delivery emails, and download limits, but many serious headless implementations still put entitlement logic in their own service. help.shopify.com

Good choice if you need:

• taxes
• payments
• fraud tools
• customer accounts
• analytics
• merchant tooling

3. Spree Commerce — best open-source commerce engine

Spree is interesting if you want:

• full backend ownership
• REST APIs
• custom checkout flows
• marketplace-style architecture

It explicitly supports headless commerce and digital download use cases. spreecommerce.org

4. BigCommerce — strong APIs, less ideal for deep digital workflows

BigCommerce has solid catalog APIs and supports digital product types, but its API story around attaching/managing digital files is less complete; some digital asset operations still rely on admin tooling. docs.bigcommerce.com

Architecture I’d recommend for a serious digital-download store

I would avoid storing files directly in the ecommerce platform. Use:

Frontend:
  Next.js / Remix

Commerce:
  Medusa / Shopify / Saleor

Payments:
  Stripe

Assets:
  S3 / Cloudflare R2

Delivery:
  Custom entitlement service

Flow:
  Purchase complete
        ↓
  Order webhook
        ↓
  Create entitlement
        ↓
  Generate signed URL
        ↓
  Customer downloads

Benefits:

• easy DRM-like controls
• expiring URLs
• download limits
• versioned files
• license keys
• bundles
• subscriptions

My ranking for your stated profile ("technically savvy")

1. Medusa — if you want maximum control
2. Saleor — if you love GraphQL and clean APIs
3. Shopify headless — if you want to minimize commerce headaches
4. Spree — if open source ownership matters
5. Lemon Squeezy — if the catalog is mostly software/files and you don’t need a full store

A key question is whether your downloads are more like ebooks/assets/media files or software products with licenses, updates, and customer entitlements—the ideal platform changes quite a bit between those two.

If your priority is digital-download workflows + strong APIs + maximum control, I’d shortlist Medusa, Vendure, and Saleor, with Medusa as my first pick.

🥇 Medusa — probably your best match

Medusa is unusually well suited to what you're describing because digital products are an explicit documented workflow, rather than something you have to bolt onto a conventional physical-commerce model. Its docs show custom API routes for creating digital products, customer-authenticated endpoints for purchased products, and generating download URLs for purchased media. docs.medusajs.com

Its V2 Store API is REST-based and has a JS SDK, which is convenient if you're building a Next.js/TypeScript frontend or other custom clients. docs.medusajs.com

A particularly nice architecture would be:

Next.js storefront → Medusa → Stripe/payment provider → digital-product workflow → private object storage/CDN → signed download URL

That lets you keep the actual files outside the commerce database and make your download service enforce things like:

• authenticated purchaser checks
• expiring download URLs
• download limits
• product/version entitlements
• license-key generation
• bundle entitlements
• revocation
• webhook-driven fulfillment
• email delivery

🥈 Vendure — excellent if you want to own the domain model

I'd choose Vendure over Medusa if you really enjoy TypeScript/NestJS and expect the commerce backend itself to become a significant piece of your application.

Vendure exposes both a Shop GraphQL API and Admin GraphQL API, and its plugin architecture lets you extend the underlying commerce model and API. docs.medusajs.comdocs.vendure.io

It also has an explicit digital-products guide, although the important distinction is that the digital-product functionality is implemented as an extension/plugin rather than being as turnkey as Medusa's digital-product recipe. docs.vendure.io

Its asset system can handle PDFs, video, and other binary files, with pluggable storage strategies—useful if you want to connect S3/R2 or another object store. docs.vendure.io

🥉 Saleor — strongest if GraphQL is your religion

Saleor is compelling if you'd rather have a GraphQL-first commerce API and a sophisticated catalog/channel model. Its official docs explicitly include digital products as a supported recipe, alongside checkout, payments, channels, and extensibility through apps. docs.saleor.io

I'd lean Saleor for a larger commerce system with multiple markets/channels rather than a relatively straightforward digital-download business.

My recommendation

For a technically sophisticated team building a headless digital-download business from scratch:

Medusa > Vendure > Saleor

I'd pick Medusa if you're comfortable writing the digital fulfillment layer yourself. The important advantage isn't merely "it sells digital products"; it's that you can treat the commerce engine as the entitlement/order system while keeping file delivery, licensing, DRM-ish controls, and customer download logic in services you control.

If you tell me whether you're selling ebooks/assets, software/licenses, courses, or API-access products, I can narrow this down further—those four use cases lead to somewhat different architectures.

If you're technically savvy and digital downloads are the core workflow, I'd shortlist Medusa, Saleor, and Vendure. My default pick would be Medusa.

1. Medusa — my pick

Medusa is particularly attractive for digital goods because its architecture lets you build a Digital Product Module, connect it to file storage, expose custom API routes, and implement digital fulfillment independently of physical shipping. Their official example actually implements authenticated endpoints for customers to retrieve purchased products and generate download URLs. docs.medusajs.comdocs.medusajs.com

Its Store API is REST-based and Medusa provides a JS SDK, which is convenient if you're building a Next.js/TypeScript storefront or integrating other services. docs.medusajs.com

A good architecture would be:

Next.js → Medusa → Stripe/payment provider
** ↘ S3/R2 → signed download URLs**
** ↘ email/webhook/fulfillment service**

The important bit is that you don't have to make the actual downloadable file public. Your fulfillment logic can verify that the customer owns the product and then issue a short-lived signed URL.

2. Saleor

I'd choose Saleor if GraphQL is a major architectural preference. It's GraphQL-native, strongly typed, has extensive webhooks/extensions, and its documentation explicitly includes a digital-products recipe. docs.saleor.io

It's especially compelling if you expect:

• multiple storefronts/channels
• internationalization
• complex catalog structures
• lots of external services consuming the commerce API
• a GraphQL-heavy stack

For a relatively straightforward "sell file → authenticate purchaser → deliver file" business, though, I think Medusa's modular approach is a little more natural.

3. Vendure

Vendure is arguably the most interesting alternative if you're an experienced TypeScript/NestJS developer.

Everything is exposed through GraphQL APIs, with separate Shop and Admin APIs, and the plugin architecture lets you add your own digital-product behavior. docs.vendure.io

Its documentation has a specific digital-products implementation, including custom fields and plugin-based fulfillment. Assets can represent PDFs, videos, and other binary files and can be backed by storage such as S3. docs.vendure.io

What I'd choose

For a new digital-download business: Medusa.

The deciding factor isn't merely "does it support digital products?"—all three can. I'd optimize for how easily you can implement:

1. Product/version metadata
2. File/object-storage management
3. Purchase entitlement
4. Authenticated download endpoint
5. Expiring signed URLs
6. Download limits
7. Refund/revocation handling
8. Webhooks to your email/analytics/CRM systems
9. License keys, if applicable
10. Bundles/variants of digital assets

Medusa already demonstrates the pattern of authenticated customer → purchased digital product → download URL, so you're starting closer to the workflow you actually need rather than adapting a physical-commerce fulfillment model. docs.medusajs.comdocs.medusajs.com

If you're comfortable owning infrastructure, I'd pair it with S3 or Cloudflare R2 for the files, keep the commerce system responsible for entitlements, and never expose the origin objects directly.

Medusa digital products documentation
Saleor digital products documentation
Vendure digital products documentation

If you tell me your stack (Next.js/Node/Python/etc.) and whether you need license keys, subscriptions, or just one-time file downloads, I can narrow this down to a concrete architecture.

If you're engineering-led, technically savvy, and primarily selling downloadable files, I'd put Medusa at the top of the list.

My ranking

🥇 Medusa — my pick for your use case

Medusa is particularly interesting because digital products aren't just an afterthought. Its documentation has an explicit digital-products implementation covering:

• digital product/media models
• private file storage
• upload workflows
• custom admin API routes
• order/fulfillment workflows
• authenticated customer download endpoints
• generating download URLs after purchase
• custom storefronts through its APIs docs.medusajs.com

That maps unusually well to a digital-download architecture.

For example, you could build:

Next.js / Astro / your frontend
↓
Medusa Store API
↓
Cart → checkout → payment → order
↓
Digital-product fulfillment workflow
↓
Private object storage (S3/R2/etc.)
↓
Short-lived authenticated download URL

The important part is that Medusa lets you implement the digital workflow as your own module/workflows rather than trying to shoehorn a physical-product fulfillment model into the platform. Its Store API is REST-based and it also provides a JS SDK. docs.medusajs.com

🥈 Saleor — if GraphQL is your preference

Saleor would be my second choice, and potentially #1 if you're strongly GraphQL-first.

Saleor is API-only/headless, with native GraphQL, webhooks, granular API permissions, metadata, apps, and API extensions. saleor.io

I'd choose it if your digital products are part of a more sophisticated commerce system—for example:

digital downloads + subscriptions + multiple markets + licensing + B2B + complicated catalog

For a relatively straightforward "buy → authenticate → download" product, though, I think Medusa's modular Node/TypeScript architecture is a more natural fit.

🥉 Vendure

Vendure is worth serious consideration if you're a TypeScript/NestJS shop. Its plugin architecture gives you a lot of control over custom commerce behavior.

I'd choose Vendure over Medusa if your team already loves NestJS and wants the commerce backend to feel like a conventional TypeScript application rather than adopting Medusa's particular framework abstractions.

What I'd actually build

For a technically sophisticated digital-download business, I'd lean toward:

Next.js
→ Medusa
→ Stripe
→ S3/R2 private bucket
→ custom digital-product module/workflows
→ Postgres

And I'd keep the actual files out of the ecommerce platform's database. Store file metadata, product relationships, entitlements, download counts, etc. in your commerce layer, while the binary lives in object storage.

I'd also model the key concept as an entitlement, rather than simply "order contains product":

Customer
   │
   └── Entitlement
          ├── product_id
          ├── order_id
          ├── granted_at
          ├── expires_at
          ├── download_limit
          └── files[]
                 ├── storage_key
                 ├── version
                 └── checksum

That makes later features—versioned files, re-downloads, expiring licenses, bundles, upgrades, download limits, customer libraries, and license keys—much easier.

Bottom line: for a developer-built digital-download store, I'd start with Medusa, use Saleor if GraphQL/composable commerce is your overriding priority, and use Vendure if you're deeply invested in NestJS/TypeScript.

For a technically savvy, API-first setup selling digital downloads, I’d put Medusa at the top of the shortlist.

My ranking

Why I especially like Medusa for your use case: it doesn't force digital products into a rigid built-in model. Its current documentation has an explicit digital-products implementation showing how to create a custom Digital Product module, attach files, keep purchased files private, expose custom Store/Admin APIs, and return download URLs only after verifying the customer purchased the product. docs.medusajs.com

That gives you a nice architecture like:

Your frontend
   ↓
Medusa Store API
   ↓
Products / Cart / Checkout / Customers
   ↓
Digital Product module
   ↓
Private object storage (S3, etc.)
   ↓
Short-lived download URL

Medusa's Store API and Admin API are REST-based, and it also provides an OpenAPI specification, which is particularly nice if you're going to automate the platform rather than treat the admin UI as your primary interface. docs.medusajs.com

The important distinction

If you want "ecommerce platform that happens to sell files," I'd consider Shopify or another SaaS.

If you want "programmable commerce backend where digital fulfillment is one of my own workflows," I'd choose Medusa.

For example, you could model:

• product → multiple downloadable assets
• product variant → license/tier
• order → entitlement
• customer → purchased entitlements
• download → authorization check → signed S3 URL
• download event → analytics/audit record
• refund → revoke entitlement
• version update → automatically expose the latest file to existing buyers

Medusa's documented approach explicitly supports custom modules, workflows, API routes, file providers, and fulfillment providers, so you aren't fighting the platform when you start adding those behaviors. docs.medusajs.com

Saleor would be my second choice if you're particularly enthusiastic about GraphQL. It's API-only/headless and designed around extensibility through GraphQL, webhooks, apps, metadata, and API extensions. github.com

Vendure is also worth serious consideration if your preferred stack is TypeScript/NestJS and you want a very developer-oriented commerce framework.

If you tell me roughly what you're selling (ebooks, software licenses, design assets, courses, audio/video, etc.) and whether you want Stripe + S3 + your own frontend, I can narrow this down to a concrete architecture and compare Medusa vs Saleor vs Vendure specifically for the download/entitlement workflow.

If you're technically savvy and want a genuinely headless setup, I'd shortlist Medusa, Saleor, and Lemon Squeezy—but they fit different philosophies.

1. Medusa — my pick

Medusa is particularly interesting for your use case because digital products are treated as something you can build into the commerce model, rather than forcing your downloads into a physical-product abstraction.

Its current documentation has an explicit digital-products implementation covering:

• digital-product data models
• file storage
• authenticated download URLs
• order fulfillment
• custom API routes
• customer download history
• custom admin UI
• custom fulfillment providers

The official example actually implements a customer endpoint for purchased digital products and a separate endpoint that generates a download URL. docs.medusajs.com

Its Store API is REST-based and it provides a JS SDK, while the framework lets you create custom modules, workflows, API routes, and fulfillment logic. docs.medusajs.com

That makes it a very good fit if your architecture looks like:

Next.js / Astro / custom frontend → Medusa API → Stripe → S3/R2 → signed download URL

You can implement things like expiring URLs, download limits, license provisioning, post-purchase webhooks, customer libraries, bundle logic, versioned files, etc., without fighting the platform.

2. Saleor — strongest API architecture

If you're a GraphQL-first developer, I'd seriously consider Saleor.

Saleor is API-only and GraphQL-native, with apps, webhooks, metadata, and extensions as core parts of its architecture. Its documentation also has a dedicated Digital Products recipe. docs.saleor.io

The big advantage is that you can model your frontend and integrations around one strongly typed GraphQL API rather than stitching together REST endpoints.

I'd choose Saleor over Medusa if you particularly value:

• GraphQL
• strongly typed schemas
• multi-channel commerce
• sophisticated catalog modeling
• external services/apps handling specialized business logic

3. Lemon Squeezy — easiest digital-goods operation

This is the interesting alternative if "headless" means I don't want to build commerce infrastructure myself.

Its API exposes products, customers, discounts, files, orders, subscriptions, and license keys, and supports creating checkout links programmatically. docs.lemonsqueezy.com

So you could have:

Your frontend → Lemon Squeezy API/checkout → payment → digital delivery

That's dramatically less infrastructure than Medusa/Saleor.

The tradeoff is that you're buying into someone else's commerce/payment model rather than owning the whole commerce backend.

What I'd choose

For a developer building a serious digital-download product, I'd rank them:

Medusa > Saleor > Lemon Squeezy > Shopify

Specifically, Medusa is probably the sweet spot if you want to own the application architecture. Its digital-product example is unusually close to the workflow you're describing, while still letting you replace/extend the storage and fulfillment pieces. docs.medusajs.com

If your downloads are something like software, templates, ebooks, assets, courses, or paid datasets, I'd also pay particular attention to the distinction between "file delivery" and "entitlement management." For a sophisticated system, I'd keep the actual files in S3/R2 and make the commerce platform responsible for the entitlement, with your own service issuing short-lived signed URLs.

If you tell me what kind of digital downloads you're selling and whether you want Stripe + S3/R2, I can sketch the architecture I'd use with Medusa vs. Saleor.

If digital downloads are the core use case, I’d put Medusa at the top of your shortlist.

My ranking

1. Medusa — my pick for your use case

Medusa is unusually well suited to digital products because it has an explicit Digital Products implementation rather than requiring you to shoehorn downloads into physical-product fulfillment. Its current docs show workflows for creating digital products, customer-specific purchased-product endpoints, and generating download URLs for purchased media. docs.medusajs.com

The architecture is also very developer-friendly: REST Store/Admin APIs, custom API routes, data models, workflows, modules, and event subscribers. That makes it straightforward to implement things like:

purchase → payment confirmation → entitlement → signed download URL → download tracking → email/webhook

You can also use its file service for presigned URLs, or build your own tokenized download service. docs.test.tglsupplies.com

Medusa documentation

2. Saleor — strongest alternative if you prefer GraphQL

Saleor is arguably the cleaner choice if your ideal architecture is GraphQL everywhere + external services/apps for specialized functionality. It's API-only/headless, GraphQL-native, and has webhooks, metadata, apps, and API extensions. github.com

The tradeoff is that digital fulfillment isn't as turnkey as Medusa's digital-product recipe. I'd expect to model download entitlements and file delivery through a Saleor app/service rather than having the whole workflow built into the commerce core.

Saleor documentation

3. commercetools — excellent APIs, probably overkill

commercetools has extremely mature APIs and is excellent if you're building a large composable commerce architecture. Its product APIs are highly flexible, but for a digital-download business you're likely paying in architectural complexity for capabilities you don't need. docs.commercetools.com

What I'd build

For a technically sophisticated digital-download store, I'd lean toward:

Next.js storefront → Medusa → Stripe → S3/R2 → signed URLs

with Medusa owning:

• products/variants
• pricing and promotions
• customers
• carts/checkout
• orders
• purchase entitlements
• workflow orchestration
• webhooks/events

and object storage owning the actual files.

That separation is particularly nice because the commerce API never needs to serve the files themselves. After a successful purchase, your backend can issue a short-lived signed URL, optionally with download limits or entitlement checks.

If you're selling things like software, ebooks, design assets, courses, templates, or downloadable media, I'd choose Medusa over Saleor unless you have a strong preference for GraphQL. docs.medusajs.com

If you tell me roughly what you're selling and whether you need subscriptions, license keys, download limits, or customer libraries, I can narrow this down to an architecture rather than just a platform comparison.

For a technically savvy team building a headless store specifically around digital downloads, I’d put Medusa at the top of the list.

My ranking

Why Medusa stands out: its documentation has an explicit digital-products implementation covering the whole workflow: digital product modeling, file/media storage, order fulfillment, customer purchase history, and authenticated download URLs. It also lets you create your own workflows and API routes rather than forcing the digital-download logic into a rigid SaaS abstraction. docs.medusajs.com

For example, their digital-product recipe implements an authenticated endpoint that verifies the customer actually purchased the product before returning the file URL. That's very close to the core workflow you'd want for paid downloads. docs.medusajs.comdocs.medusajs.comdocs.commercetools.com

The architecture is also genuinely headless: your frontend is a separate application, communicating with Medusa through REST APIs or its JS SDK. docs.medusajs.com

When I'd choose Saleor instead

Saleor would be my #2, and potentially #1 if you're strongly GraphQL-oriented. Its platform has first-class concepts for building apps/extensions and even documents a specific "Digital Products" recipe. docs.saleor.io

I'd lean Saleor if you want:

• GraphQL as the primary commerce interface
• A more strongly typed API-centric architecture
• Lots of commerce functionality exposed through GraphQL
• Custom digital-product logic implemented as an extension/app

When I'd choose commercetools

commercetools is extremely capable from an API/composable-commerce standpoint, with HTTP and GraphQL APIs and granular resource management. docs.commercetools.com

But for a digital-download business, it's probably more platform than you need unless you're building a fairly sophisticated enterprise commerce stack. Its APIs give you excellent primitives for products, customers, carts and orders, but you'll be assembling more of the digital-asset/download workflow yourself. docs.commercetools.com

What I'd build

For your use case, I'd seriously consider:

Next.js / Astro / custom frontend → Medusa → Stripe → S3/R2 → CDN

with the download flow roughly:

product → checkout → payment confirmation → order → entitlement → signed download URL

The important architectural distinction is to treat the purchase entitlement separately from the actual file. That makes it much easier to support things like download limits, expiring URLs, replacing files without invalidating purchases, multiple files per product, bundles, and license keys.

Bottom line: if you're comfortable owning backend code, Medusa is probably the strongest fit because you get a real commerce engine and a framework for implementing the digital-specific workflows yourself, rather than fighting a SaaS platform's assumptions. docs.medusajs.com

If you tell me roughly what you're selling (ebooks, software, video, templates, music, courses, etc.) and whether you want self-hosted or managed, I can narrow this to a concrete stack and architecture.

For a technically savvy team building headless ecommerce specifically around digital downloads, I’d put Medusa at the top of the shortlist, with Saleor as the strongest alternative.

My ranking

Why I'd choose Medusa: its current documentation has an actual digital-products implementation recipe, rather than leaving you to bolt downloads onto a generic product model. You can create a digital-product module, attach files through its File Module, implement fulfillment workflows, expose custom Admin/Store API routes, and generate download URLs only after verifying that the customer purchased the product. docs.medusajs.comdocs.medusajs.com

That maps unusually well to a digital-download architecture:

Your frontend
     │
     ▼
Medusa Store API
     │
     ├── Catalog / pricing
     ├── Cart / checkout
     ├── Customer accounts
     └── Digital-product endpoints
              │
              ▼
       Digital Product Module
              │
              ├── Product metadata
              ├── Entitlements
              └── Purchase records
                       │
                       ▼
                 File Module
                       │
                       ▼
                  S3 / storage

The particularly nice part is that you aren't forced to treat the downloadable file itself as the ecommerce product. Medusa's example separates the commerce product from digital-product/media data and then creates a protected endpoint that checks the customer's digital-product orders before returning a download URL. docs.medusajs.comdocs.medusajs.com

Its Store API is REST/JSON, has JWT/customer authentication, and has an OpenAPI specification, so it's straightforward to consume from Next.js, React Native, another frontend, or your own BFF. docs.medusajs.comsaleor.io

When I'd pick Saleor instead

I'd seriously consider Saleor if your preference is GraphQL-first + highly composable + minimal custom backend code. Saleor is natively GraphQL and exposes extensive APIs/webhooks, and its documentation now explicitly has a Digital Products recipe for non-physical goods. saleor.io

The tradeoff is that Medusa's architecture feels particularly natural if your digital-download workflow is going to become custom business logic—things like:

• expiring download links
• download limits
• license/key generation
• bundles containing multiple files
• versioned files
• customer entitlements
• presigned S3 URLs
• post-purchase provisioning
• webhook-driven fulfillment
• subscriptions + downloads
• DRM/licensing integration

Medusa gives you modules, workflows, custom API routes, and fulfillment providers specifically intended for this sort of extension. docs.medusajs.com

Bottom line: if you're comfortable owning infrastructure and writing TypeScript, I'd start with Medusa + S3-compatible object storage + your own frontend, rather than trying to force a traditional ecommerce SaaS into a digital-download workflow.

If you tell me what you're selling (ebooks, software/licenses, assets, courses, music, etc.) and whether you want SaaS or self-hosted, I can narrow this to a concrete architecture and compare Medusa vs Saleor vs Lemon Squeezy/Paddle for your use case.

If your priority is headless + strong APIs + custom digital-download workflows, I’d put Medusa at the top of the list.

My ranking

1. Medusa — my pick

Medusa is particularly interesting for your use case because digital products are something you can model as your own domain rather than squeezing them into a preexisting downloadable-product abstraction.

Its current docs actually have a digital-products implementation showing:

• custom Digital Product Module
• digital-product data models linked to product variants
• workflows for creating/fulfilling digital products
• file storage through a File Module, including S3 providers
• custom Admin and Store API routes
• authenticated endpoints for a customer's purchased downloads
• download URL generation after purchase
• event/subscriber-driven fulfillment
• completely custom storefronts through its APIs docs.medusajs.com

That's a very good architectural fit if you're comfortable writing TypeScript.

Its V2 APIs are REST-based, with separate /admin and /store surfaces, and there's an official JS SDK plus OpenAPI specs. docs.medusajs.com

Medusa documentation

I'd choose Medusa if you want:
Next.js/React → Medusa API → Stripe/payment provider → S3/R2 → signed download URLs

You can also build things like download limits, expiring URLs, license generation, bundles, versioned files, customer libraries, entitlement checks, and post-purchase automation without fighting the platform.

2. Lemon Squeezy — best if you don't want to build commerce infrastructure

Lemon Squeezy is arguably the easiest choice for digital downloads. Its API exposes products, customers, orders and files, and also handles checkout, payments, subscriptions and license keys. docs.lemonsqueezy.com

Lemon Squeezy developer documentation

The tradeoff is architectural control. You're integrating with an existing commerce service rather than owning the commerce domain.

For something like:

"Sell a ZIP/PDF/software package, take payment, email the customer, give them a download"

I'd seriously consider Lemon Squeezy.

For:

"Build a sophisticated digital entitlement system with my own product/order/download abstractions"

I'd take Medusa.

3. Saleor

Saleor is extremely API-oriented: it's GraphQL-only and API-first, with webhooks, metadata, apps and API extensions. github.com

Saleor documentation

It's excellent if you expect this to evolve into a more sophisticated commerce platform, particularly with multiple channels, currencies, markets, etc.

But for digital downloads specifically, I'd favor Medusa because its current documentation gives you a much more direct path for modeling digital products, files, fulfillment and customer download endpoints. docs.medusajs.com

Bottom line

For a technically savvy developer, I'd pick Medusa.

The distinction I'd use is:

• "I want to own/customize the commerce backend." → Medusa
• "I want to sell digital files and outsource most commerce plumbing." → Lemon Squeezy
• "I want an extremely API-centric commerce platform that can grow into complex/multichannel commerce." → Saleor
• "I specifically want Shopify's ecosystem." → Shopify

For your stated requirements, Medusa + object storage (S3/R2) + signed URLs + Stripe is probably the architecture I'd investigate first.

For digital downloads specifically, I’d put Medusa at the top of the shortlist, with Vendure as the strongest alternative.

1. Medusa — my first choice

Medusa's architecture is particularly well suited to building a digital-download workflow rather than trying to bend a traditional commerce platform around one.

Its current Store API is REST-based and has an OpenAPI reference plus a JavaScript SDK. docs.medusajs.com More importantly, Medusa has an explicit digital products recipe showing how to model digital products, associate media with purchases, expose customer download endpoints, and generate download URLs only for authenticated purchasers. docs.medusajs.com

That maps nicely to something like:

Product
  └── Digital asset(s)
        ↓
Checkout
  ↓
Payment confirmed
  ↓
Digital-product order
  ↓
Entitlement
  ↓
Authenticated download endpoint
  ↓
Signed/object-storage URL

You can then put S3/R2 behind the download layer and implement things like expiration, download limits, versioning, revocation, and license keys yourself.

Why I'd pick it: you're technically savvy, so the fact that Medusa expects you to build the digital-product layer isn't really a disadvantage—it gives you control over the workflow.

2. Vendure — excellent if you're TypeScript/GraphQL-first

Vendure is arguably the more elegant choice if you want GraphQL everywhere and a strongly typed plugin architecture. Its Shop API handles products, carts, checkout, customers, etc., while plugins can extend the GraphQL schema and backend itself. docs.vendure.io

It actually has an official digital products guide, including a digital-download shipping method and custom fulfillment logic. docs.vendure.io It also supports API keys for machine-to-machine integrations, which is useful if your download/fulfillment pipeline has separate workers or services. docs.vendure.io

I'd choose Vendure over Medusa if your architecture is heavily NestJS/TypeScript + GraphQL, particularly if you expect sophisticated commerce rules later.

3. Saleor

Saleor has arguably the cleanest pure API philosophy: GraphQL-only, API-first, headless, with webhooks, metadata, apps and API extensions for customization. github.com

It's a very good choice if you're building a larger composable commerce system, but for a store whose primary complexity is "customer buys file → gets entitlement → securely downloads file", I think Medusa/Vendure give you a more natural starting point.

My recommendation

If I were building your stack today:

Next.js → Medusa → Stripe → Postgres → S3/R2 → CDN

and I'd treat entitlements as a first-class domain object rather than simply exposing a file URL after checkout.

For example:

orders
   ↓
payment webhook
   ↓
create entitlement
   ↓
entitlement(product_id, customer_id, expires_at, ...)
   ↓
GET /downloads/:asset
   ↓
verify entitlement
   ↓
generate short-lived signed URL
   ↓
S3/R2

That gives you a clean path later to bundles, multiple files per product, free samples, expiring licenses, download limits, customer libraries, product updates, refunds/revocation, and license-key activation.

Bottom line: Medusa for maximum flexibility around digital workflows; Vendure if GraphQL + TypeScript/plugin architecture is your priority; Saleor if you're optimizing for a broader composable/headless commerce platform.