Shopify vs WooCommerce vs BigCommerce vs Medusa
Four ecommerce platforms with very different free tiers — the hosted all-in-one default with a trial only, the open-source WordPress plugin you self-host for free with unlimited products, an enterprise-grade hosted SaaS with a trial, and a modern open-source headless commerce engine you self-host — compared on free trial, self-hosting, products, transaction fees, and headless architecture.
| Shopify | WooCommerce | BigCommerce | Medusa | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free tier note | The hosted all-in-one ecommerce platform and the de-facto default for merchants who want everything managed. No forever-free tier — a 3-day free trial (often extended to a $1/month for the first month promotion), then paid Basic from ~$39/mo for unlimited products, 2 staff accounts, standard reports, and a custom domain. Huge app store and themes; Shopify Payments avoids extra transaction fees. | The open-source (GPLv3) WordPress ecommerce plugin powering more online stores than any other platform. Free to install and self-host with unlimited products, orders, and customers — you bring your own WordPress hosting (any host from ~$5/mo). A huge ecosystem of free + paid themes and extensions; no managed free tier, but the core plugin is fully free and open-source. | A hosted SaaS ecommerce platform aimed at growing and enterprise merchants. No forever-free tier — a 15-day free trial, then paid Standard from ~$39/mo for unlimited products, bandwidth, and storage with no transaction fees on its native payment gateway. Strong built-in SEO, B2B selling, and multi-channel sales (Amazon, eBay, Google, social). | An open-source (MIT) headless commerce platform built on Node.js — the modern developer-first alternative to Shopify. Free to self-host with unlimited products, orders, and regions, a customizable data model, and a composable backend (modules for cart, order, payment, fulfillment); you bring your own frontend (Next.js, Remix) and a Postgres database. Medusa Cloud offers a hosted tier (trial, then paid), but the self-hosted core is fully free and open-source. |
| Bandwidth | unlimited (on paid plans) | unlimited (self-hosted) | unlimited (on paid plans) | unlimited (self-hosted) |
| Builds | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Requests | 3-day free trial (no forever-free tier) | free open-source WordPress plugin — self-host unlimited | 15-day free trial (no forever-free tier) | free open-source headless commerce — self-host unlimited |
| Custom domains | included on paid | unlimited (on your own hosting) | included on paid | unlimited (on your own hosting) |
| Paid from | $39/mo | $0/mo | $39/mo | $0/mo |
| Generosity ★ | 12 | 42 | 12 | 42 |
| Last verified | 2025-09-01 | 2025-09-01 | 2025-09-01 | 2025-09-01 |
| Visit site | Shopify ↗ | WooCommerce ↗ | BigCommerce ↗ | Medusa ↗ |
Data verified 2025-09-01.