Why I’m Looking Beyond Traditional Platforms#
When building a B2B e-commerce platform, the challenges are usually not about themes or plugins, but about architecture:
- Custom pricing logic2
- Flexible product structures
- Integration with internal systems
- Scalability without vendor lock-in
Popular platforms like Magento are mature and powerful, but also come with complexity and operational overhead. For newer projects where flexibility and long-term maintainability matter, I started exploring Medusa JS.
What Is Medusa JS?#
Medusa JS is an open-source, headless commerce backend. Conceptually, it sits in a similar space to Shopify—but instead of a hosted SaaS, Medusa is self-hosted and API-first.
In practice, this means:
- You own the backend
- You control the data
- You design the frontend freely
This makes it particularly interesting for custom B2B workflows.
Architecture Overview#
At a high level, the setup looks like this:
- Backend: Medusa JS (Node.js)
- Database: PostgreSQL
- Frontend: Next.js (or any framework consuming APIs)
- Optional: Redis for caching and background jobs
The backend exposes clean APIs, while business logic is organized into services, entities, subscribers, and plugins. From an architectural standpoint, this separation is a big plus for long-term maintenance.
Early Observations (Pros & Cons)#
What Looks Promising#
- JavaScript-first stack: Easier onboarding for modern web teams
- API-driven design: Clean separation between frontend and backend
- Modular extensibility: Plugins and custom services feel natural
- PostgreSQL as a core dependency: Solid choice for transactional systems
Things to Be Careful About#
- The ecosystem is still young compared to Magento
- Documentation is good, but real-world examples are limited
- Requires more architectural decisions upfront
- Not ideal for teams looking for a “click-and-deploy” solution
Current Status: Testing & Validation#
Right now, I’m still in the early-stage testing phase, running Medusa on a VPS and validating:
- Deployment stability
- Data modeling for B2B use cases
- Integration patterns with a custom frontend
- Operational complexity in real environments
This is not about replacing mature platforms blindly, but about understanding where Medusa fits best.
Final Thoughts#
Medusa JS is not a silver bullet, but for teams that:
- need full control,
- value open-source,
- and are comfortable designing their own architecture,
…it’s a very compelling option.
I’ll be sharing more findings once the testing phase progresses.
Resources#
- Docs & Quick Start: https://docs.medusajs.com ↗
- GitHub: https://github.com/medusajs/medusa ↗