Your Shopify Fees Just Hit $24,000 This Year. Here's Your Exit.
Why leave Shopify?
- Paying 0.5–2% transaction fees on every order unless locked into Shopify Payments
- Burning $29–$299+ monthly on platform licenses that scale with revenue
- Hitting checkout customisation walls unless you upgrade to Shopify Plus at $2,000/month
- Renting your store infrastructure with zero source code access or self-hosting rights
- Fighting Liquid template constraints that block your design team's vision
- Stacking paid apps that slow page speed and compound monthly costs
What you gain
- Eliminate transaction fees entirely and keep 100% of your gross revenue
- Own your entire commerce codebase under MIT license with full modification rights
- Build custom checkout flows with any payment provider or invoicing logic you need
- Self-host on your infrastructure or deploy to Vercel with zero vendor dependency
- Ship a Next.js storefront with complete design freedom and no templating restrictions
- Launch multi-currency pricing and region-specific catalogs without third-party apps
Why DTC brands leave Shopify for MedusaJS
Shopify charges transaction fees on every sale unless you use Shopify Payments. For high-volume DTC brands, this adds up to thousands per month. MedusaJS is an open-source Node.js commerce engine with zero transaction fees, full source code access, and complete customisation freedom. You own every line of code.
What MedusaJS gives you
MedusaJS handles products, orders, inventory, customers, discounts, gift cards, and payments (Stripe, PayPal, or any provider). It exposes a REST and JS SDK for building custom storefronts. The admin dashboard is built-in. Multi-currency, multi-region, and tax calculation come out of the box.
The migration path
I export your Shopify products, customers, orders, and collections via the Shopify Admin API, transform the data to MedusaJS format, and import it into your new MedusaJS instance. The storefront is rebuilt in Next.js with your existing design language. Checkout is custom-built with Stripe integration. DNS switches with zero downtime.
The migration process
Discovery & Audit
We map every page, post, media file, redirect, and plugin. Nothing gets missed.
Architecture Plan
New stack designed for your content structure, SEO requirements, and performance targets.
Staged Migration
Content migrated in batches. Each batch verified before the next begins.
SEO Preservation
301 redirects, canonical tags, sitemap, robots.txt — every ranking signal carried over.
Launch & Monitor
DNS cutover with zero downtime. 30-day monitoring period included.
Shopify vs MedusaJS
| Metric | Shopify | MedusaJS |
|---|---|---|
| Transaction fees | 0.5–2% (or Shopify Payments) | 0% |
| Monthly platform fee | $29–$299+ | $0 (hosting only) |
| Source code access | No | Full (MIT license) |
| Checkout customisation | Limited (Plus for full) | Fully custom |
| Self-hosting | Not possible | Any Node.js host |
| Storefront framework | Liquid templates | Next.js (React) |
Common questions
What is MedusaJS?
MedusaJS is an open-source Node.js commerce engine. It handles products, orders, inventory, customers, payments, and shipping — everything Shopify does — but you own the code and pay zero platform or transaction fees.
How much will I save by leaving Shopify?
Shopify charges $29-299/month plus 0.5-2% transaction fees (unless using Shopify Payments). MedusaJS has zero platform fees and zero transaction fees. Hosting on Railway or Render costs $10-50/month. High-volume stores save thousands per month.
Is MedusaJS production-ready?
Yes. MedusaJS v2 is stable and used by production stores globally. It handles multi-currency, multi-region, tax calculation, and complex discount rules. The admin dashboard is built-in and covers day-to-day store management.
What about Shopify apps I depend on?
Shopify apps do not carry over. MedusaJS has a plugin system and its own ecosystem. Core functionality (reviews, email notifications, loyalty) is covered by MedusaJS plugins or direct integrations. I audit your Shopify apps and map each to a MedusaJS solution before migration.
Can I still use Stripe for payments?
Yes. MedusaJS has first-class Stripe integration. It also supports PayPal, Klarna, and custom payment providers. You choose your payment stack without platform restrictions.
How long does a Shopify to MedusaJS migration take?
A store with under 500 products takes 4-6 weeks. A store with 500-5,000 products takes 6-10 weeks. Complex stores with custom checkout flows or extensive Shopify app dependencies take 8-12 weeks.
Ready to migrate?
Free assessment. We'll audit your current site and give you a clear migration plan — no commitment.
Let's build
something together.
Whether it's a migration, a new build, or an SEO challenge — the Social Animal team would love to hear from you.