What Medusa can do
What can Medusa do?
Medusa is an open-source commerce platform for brands and companies that sell to consumers (B2C) or to business customers (B2B). Below are six scenarios we often come across, with how other brands solved them and what it brought them. Their figures, with sources. Not our cases.
Scenarios
Six ways to use Medusa
- B2B · wholesaleScenario
B2B orders that process themselves
Business customers still order by email, with their own prices and an ERP behind it. Medusa becomes the order hub: orders come in, get prepared and flow on to the systems you already have.
80%lower operating costs, order processing 9× faster
How INSPIRED Pet Nutrition did it: an order system on Medusa that connects two ERPs and turns order emails into draft orders with AI.
- D2C · subscriptionsScenario
Subscriptions without revenue-based platform fees
A brand that bills the same customer every month pays a SaaS platform a percentage again on every renewal. On Medusa you build the subscription logic into your own shop.
€22,300per month (source: 25,000 US dollars, ECB rate of 5 November 2026) in platform and transaction fees on Shopify Plus; in the first month after the move, checkout conversion was around 30% higher
How Healthletic did it: from Shopify Plus to Medusa, including all existing subscribers.
- B2C · internationalScenario
One brand, dozens of countries, several warehouses
Growing abroad means more currencies, tax rules and fulfilment partners. Medusa routes orders to the right warehouse without loose scripts growing around it.
4 monthsuntil all fulfilment ran on Medusa
How Eight Sleep did it: fulfilment across 10+ 3PLs and 30+ markets, built with one full-time engineer.
- MarketplaceScenario
A marketplace with its own environment for sellers
Several sellers on one platform, each with their own products, orders and shipping. With Medusa, customers, sellers and admins each get their own environment on the same engine.
30%shorter time-to-market for new features, 34% more traffic
How Patyna did it: from WooCommerce to Medusa, for more than 2,000 sellers of vintage furniture.
- Omnichannel · retailScenario
Webshop and store on the same backend
Adding a physical store does not have to mean a second system. A point-of-sale app on the same Medusa backend knows the customer's online purchases and shares stock and orders.
1 monthto switch ERP, where according to Tekla this normally takes 4–8 months
How Tekla did it: its own POS app on the Medusa backend that already ran online sales in 50+ countries.
- Multi-country · B2BScenario
One backend for every country
Prices, shipping costs, currencies and VAT that adapt to the customer's country, from one backend. No separate shop per country to maintain.
< 5 monthsto launch, where according to Partbase a team of five normally needs 6–9 months
How Partbase did it: a B2B platform with 500,000+ products in 26 EU markets, built by its two founders.
These are not Alpha Digital clients and not results of our work. They are scenarios with figures from Medusa's published customer stories, in our own words. Every figure appears in the linked source. Our own case is Shingyo.
What Medusa can do · costs
What can you save with Medusa?
No revenue share to a platform, less manual work and a faster launch. Four figures from brands that shared them publicly. Not ours, but you can check every one.
- €22,300/mois what Healthletic paid on Shopify Plus in platform and transaction fees (source: 25,000 US dollars, converted at the ECB rate of 5 November 2026). On Medusa the platform bill no longer grows with revenue.Source: Healthletic via Medusa ↗
- −80%operating costs for order processing at INSPIRED Pet Nutrition, through less manual work.Source: INSPIRED Pet Nutrition via Medusa ↗
- 2 people, < 5 monthsfor a B2B platform in 26 markets. According to Partbase that normally takes five people 6–9 months.Source: Partbase via Medusa ↗
- −30%time-to-market for new features at Patyna, after moving from WooCommerce.Source: Patyna via Medusa ↗
What it saves you depends on your platform, volume and processes. We work that out together in the intro call, without promises up front.
Ownership
No vendor lock-in: you own everything
With Shopify or Lightspeed you rent the platform: stop paying and the shop stops. With us everything is in your name: the code, the hosting account and the data. Also if you later want to continue with someone else.
- 01Code
GitHub, in your name
The code lives in a GitHub repository in your own account or organisation, with documentation. Any developer or agency can take it over.
- 02Data
Database, in your name
Products, customers and orders sit in the database of your own Medusa Cloud project, in the EU. You can download a backup or move at any time.
- 03Hosting
Medusa Cloud, or self-hosted
New shops run on Medusa Cloud, in an organisation in your name. We get access for as long as you want. Prefer to host it yourself? That works too.
- 04Platform
Medusa, open source (MIT)
The Medusa core is open source under the MIT licence. No licence fees for the core and no transaction percentage to the platform.
| Shopify / Lightspeed | Medusa via Alpha Digital | |
|---|---|---|
| Platform | Rented, per month | Open source, yours |
| Code | Theme and apps within their rules | Your own repository in your name |
| Data | In their system, export via their tools | In your own database, in the EU |
| Revenue-based fees | Depends on plan and payment method | No platform percentage |
| Hosting | Only with the vendor itself | Medusa Cloud or self-hosted |
| Switching | Rebuild on another platform | Another developer takes over |
To be fair
Owning also means paying for what you use yourself: the Medusa Cloud bill (or your own hosting) runs directly through your account. And your own shop needs maintenance: updates, security, an eye on the integrations. You can get that from us, or from anyone you like.
The rights to custom work are set out in article 10 of our terms and conditions (intellectual property).
About maintenance and supportHosting
Medusa Cloud in Frankfurt: your data stays in the EU
By default we set up new shops on Medusa Cloud, in the Europe Central region. The infrastructure is managed; the bill and the account are in your name.
- 01EU
Your data stays in the EU
The project runs in the Europe Central region: Frankfurt, eu-central-1. Backend, database, backups, uploaded files, Redis and search indexes all live there.
- 02Backups
Daily managed backups
The database is backed up every day and stored encrypted. Restoring or downloading is done from the dashboard.
- 03Infra
Managed Redis and autoscaling
Database, Redis and scalable servers are managed by Medusa. No servers of your own to look after.
- 04Exit
Self-hosting is possible too
Medusa is open source. If you want to run the shop on your own infrastructure, the code moves with you. You are not locked into Medusa Cloud.
To be fair
Medusa Cloud is also a service from an external provider, just like Shopify. The difference: with Medusa you can leave and host it yourself, with the same code and your own data. Shingyo, our first project, still runs on Vercel and Supabase.
Next step
Does one of these scenarios look like your situation?
See how we did it ourselves at Shingyo, or look at the services for a B2C webshop and a B2B webshop.
Are these Alpha Digital clients?
No. They are brands that shared their story on the Medusa blog. We use them to show what Medusa can do, in our own words and with a link to the source. Our own case is Shingyo.
Will I get the same savings?
Nobody can promise that in advance. What it saves depends on your current platform, your volume and how much manual work is in your processes today. We work through it together in the intro call.
Why are platform costs lower than with Shopify Plus?
Medusa is open source. You pay no licence and no percentage of your revenue to the platform. You do pay for hosting, database and maintenance. Those costs grow with usage, not with revenue.
Can Medusa handle a small webshop?
Yes, but then it is not always the best choice. A small catalogue without integrations often goes live faster and cheaper on a standard platform. We will tell you if that is the case.
Free intro call
What is your challenge?
Twelve shops that need to become one, an ERP that sets the price, or a checkout that does not do what you want. Tell us in one call. You will hear honestly whether Medusa fits.
Based in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, working with companies across Europe. How we work with European teams.