medusa vs compose
Two of the top projects in Backends, databases and hosting, side by side: who leads on each score part and who each one suits, then setup, license, activity and what each review found.
medusa
Node.js commerce platform with modular products, carts, orders and payments
compose
CLI plugin that runs multi-container apps from a compose.yaml file
Verdict
medusa ranks higher, 91 to 90. Of the 4 score parts we measure for both, medusa leads on 1, compose on 1 and 2 are even.
- Adoptioncompose leads by 4 points, 86 to 82: close to even.
- FreshnessEven at 100.
- MaintenanceEven at 91.
- Agent-readymedusa leads by 15 points, 85 to 70: a wide gap.
Pick medusa if you are
Developers building custom online stores, marketplaces or B2B commerce apps
- Commerce modules (product, cart, order, pricing, payment) are published separately on npm
- Ships Store and Admin API routes plus an admin dashboard in one monorepo
Pick compose if you are
Developers and self-hosters running multi-container stacks on Docker
- One command, `docker compose up`, builds and starts all services in a file
- Implements the open Compose specification, so files are portable between tools
| What we compare | medusa | compose |
|---|---|---|
| Score parts, out of 100 | ||
| Adoption | 82, widely used | 86, widely used |
| Freshness | 100, active | 100, active |
| Maintenance | 91, healthy | 91, healthy |
| Agent-ready | 85, ready | 70, partly |
| Facts from GitHub and the README | ||
| Stars | 37k | 38.6k |
| License | custom license (read the license) | Apache-2.0 (permissive) |
| Last commit | Oct 2026 | Oct 2026 |
| Last release | Oct 2026 | Oct 2026 |
| Language | TypeScript | Go |
| Docker | No | Yes |
| GPU | Not needed | Not needed |
| arm64 or Apple Silicon | Not stated | Mentioned |
medusa
Medusa is a TypeScript commerce framework providing Store and Admin APIs, an admin dashboard and commerce modules for products, carts, orders, pricing and payments. It is used to build DTC or B2B stores, marketplaces and PoS systems. Provider modules cover Stripe, S3, SendGrid, Redis and several auth methods. It is not an AI project; the AI link is only that it is a base to build on.
Who it is for: Developers building custom online stores, marketplaces or B2B commerce apps
Strengths
- Commerce modules (product, cart, order, pricing, payment) are published separately on npm
- Ships Store and Admin API routes plus an admin dashboard in one monorepo
- Provider modules for Stripe, S3, SendGrid, Redis and OIDC, GitHub and Google auth
- Core is MIT licensed; scaffolds with one npx create-medusa-app command
Weaknesses
- RBAC Enterprise Edition materials require a commercial agreement with MedusaJS, Inc.
- Needs Node.js v22.22.0 or later and a running PostgreSQL database
- No built-in AI features described in the README
- Open-core licensing; detected license is reported as NOASSERTION
- no GPU
- Needs Node.js 22.22.0+, PostgreSQL
compose
Docker Compose is a Go-based Docker CLI plugin that reads a compose.yaml, following the Compose specification, and starts the defined services with `docker compose up`. It is not AI-specific; it is the general tool many self-hosted AI projects use to run their stacks. It ships bundled with Docker Desktop on Windows and macOS, and as release binaries for Linux.
Who it is for: Developers and self-hosters running multi-container stacks on Docker
Strengths
- One command, `docker compose up`, builds and starts all services in a file
- Implements the open Compose specification, so files are portable between tools
- Included in Docker Desktop; Linux install is a single binary in cli-plugins
- Written in Go, with CI, Codecov and OpenSSF Scorecard badges in the README
Weaknesses
- Not an AI project; no model, GPU or LLM features described in the README
- Requires a Docker engine to run containers
- Some Compose features are unavailable to Docker Swarm users, per the README
- README gives little detail beyond install and a short example; features are in external docs
- no GPU
- Docker
- Needs Docker Engine or Docker Desktop
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