How much does a Medusa.js implementation cost in 2026?
Medusa.js has no licence fee. You pay for people, integrations and operations. The honest answer is a range driven by scope: a DTC replatform is usually 8–16 weeks of build after an audit, a B2B platform with ERP integration 16–24 weeks. This guide shows what moves the number and how to check a quote.
Technical review: Monkydot engineering
1. The short answer
Medusa.js is open source under the MIT licence, so the platform itself costs nothing. The budget is the delivery team multiplied by time, plus hosting, third-party services and maintenance after launch.
From our delivery practice: a Medusa.js and Next.js replatform for a DTC brand under €2.5M GMV usually takes 8–16 weeks of build after the audit. A B2B platform with ERP integration, contract pricing and buyer roles usually takes 16–24 weeks. A marketplace is scoped only after the transaction and payout model is defined.
Most builds of this size are delivered by a small team: a technical lead, two to four engineers, and part-time QA and design. Multiply those person-weeks by your partner's rate and you have the build budget. Then add the 24-month run cost before you compare it with SaaS.
| Project type | Typical build time | What drives the range |
|---|---|---|
| Discovery and PoC | Weeks, fixed scope | Number of critical flows and integrations to prove |
| DTC replatform (Medusa.js + Next.js) | 8–16 weeks after audit | Catalogue size, checkout changes, SEO migration |
| B2B platform with ERP | 16–24 weeks | Pricing rules, roles and approvals, ERP data quality |
| Marketplace / multi-vendor | Scoped after the transaction model | Payouts, commissions, seller tooling |
2. What actually drives the cost
Framework setup is the cheap part. Cost concentrates where your business differs from the defaults: pricing, checkout, integrations and data migration. Each of these can double a budget when nobody owns the source of truth.
| Driver | What makes it expensive | How to reduce it |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing logic | Contract prices, tiers, exceptions per customer | Agree a pricing hierarchy before build |
| ERP / PIM / OMS integration | Inconsistent IDs, no API, batch-only exports | Data contracts and a reconciliation plan up front |
| Checkout and payments | Several markets, B2B payment terms, custom flows | Launch one market and one flow first |
| Data migration | Order history, customer accounts, B2B contracts | Archive what does not need to be live |
| SEO migration | Large URL estate, layered navigation, content parity | 1:1 redirect map built from Search Console data |
| Storefront | Bespoke design system, heavy personalisation | Start from proven components, iterate on data |
3. A budget formula you can audit
Build budget = Σ (role × weeks × rate) + integration contingency. Keep contingency as its own line; integration risk is the most common reason Medusa.js budgets overrun, and hiding it inside estimates makes quotes look cheaper than they are.
Year-one cost = build + migration + infrastructure + third-party services + maintenance + change budget. Compare that with your current platform fees, apps, workarounds and team time over the same period. The 24-month version of this model is in our TCO guide.
- Ask every partner for person-weeks per role, not just a total.
- Ask what is excluded: load testing, data migration, hotfixes after launch.
- Ask for the maintenance price, not only the build price.
- Ask which assumptions would change the estimate by more than 20%.
4. Run cost after launch
After go-live you pay for hosting (your own cloud or a managed Medusa offering), monitoring, dependency updates, security patches and a change budget. These costs are smaller than the build, but they decide whether the platform is still healthy in year two.
For reference, our published maintenance plans start at €340–680 per month for reactive support, €1,000–1,800 per month for active development and monitoring, and from €2,700 per month for 24/7 critical commerce. Full scope and response times are on the SLA pricing page.
5. Choosing a Medusa.js implementation partner
Rates differ across Europe, but the larger cost difference comes from rework. A partner that has shipped Medusa.js with ERP integration and B2B pricing will estimate the hard parts correctly. A partner learning on your project will discover them in month three.
Ask for live Medusa.js work, a reference you can call, the post-launch model in the contract and a concrete answer to how they calculate cost per order. Freelancers can be efficient for well-defined modules; a team is safer when integrations, checkout and operations must be owned together.
- Live Medusa.js projects, ideally B2B or multi-market.
- Named people on the project and their availability.
- Integration experience with your ERP or PIM.
- A written post-launch support model with response times.
6. When Medusa.js is not worth the money
If your store fits standard SaaS, has simple pricing and no deep ERP dependency, Medusa.js is the more expensive road to the same result. We say that in audits, and we decline projects where the numbers do not work.
Medusa.js pays off when custom pricing, checkout control, integrations or platform fees are a real constraint, and when someone owns operations after launch.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a Medusa.js implementation cost in 2026?
There is no licence fee; you pay for the team and operations. A DTC replatform on Medusa.js and Next.js usually takes 8–16 weeks of build after an audit, and a B2B platform with ERP integration 16–24 weeks, typically with a lead and two to four engineers. Multiply the person-weeks by your partner's rate, then add hosting and maintenance.
Is Medusa.js free?
The software is free and open source under the MIT licence. Implementation, hosting, integrations and maintenance are not. Treat 'free' as no licence and no revenue fees, not as no cost.
How long does a Medusa.js project take?
A focused discovery or proof of concept takes weeks. A DTC build is usually 8–16 weeks after the audit. B2B with ERP, contract pricing and approvals is usually 16–24 weeks. Data quality in the ERP is the most common reason for delays.
What does it cost to maintain a Medusa.js store?
Hosting, monitoring, updates and a change budget. Our published maintenance plans start at €340–680 per month and go to €2,700+ per month for 24/7 critical commerce.
Which Medusa.js agency in Europe is a good fit for a B2B project?
Pick a partner that can show live Medusa.js work with ERP integration and B2B pricing, names the people on the project, and puts the post-launch model in the contract. Monkydot is a Poland-based team that builds and operates Medusa.js platforms for clients across the EU and UK.