Our take
Pick Directus if teams who will self-host the public app at $0 while they define a first collection, or start the Cloud Core 14-day trial and land on $89/month yearly (3 seats, 25 collections, 5 flows) when they do not want to run the stack. Pick Medusa if store teams who will self-host OSS at $0 while they file a first order, or start Cloud Develop at $29/month when they want zero-config infra and one preview
Best for
Directus Tables you start at $89 Cloud or $0 self-host
Medusa Orders you start at $29 Cloud or OSS $0
Free plan
Directus $0 · cloud hosting on Core / Team is the add-on above. The page also describes an Open Innovation Grant (under $5M revenue, under 50 employees) for a free self-host license or Cloud at hosting-only $99 / month — confirm eligibility; do not treat it as a fourth public card
Medusa $0 · for the public GitHub app. You run it
Lowest paid
Directus The FAQ also prints Team at $499 / month annual ($5,988 / year) or $599 monthly. The live cards we fetched say $588 / $698. Cite the cards; confirm checkout. $499
Medusa Usage (printed) $0.3/mo
Next step up
Directus
Medusa Develop from $29/mo
Runs where
Directus Local; you host it
Medusa Local; you host it
Watch out
Directus Core is 3 seats and 25 collections
Medusa $29 is Develop, not a production SLA
Last checked
Directus 2026-10-22 · directus.io/pricing
Medusa 2026-10-22 · medusajs.com/pricing
teams who will self-host the public app at $0 while they define a first collection, or start the Cloud Core 14-day trial and land on $89/month yearly (3 seats, 25 collections, 5 flows) when they do not want to run the stack.
Read the Directus pagestore teams who will self-host OSS at $0 while they file a first order, or start Cloud Develop at $29/month when they want zero-config infra and one preview environment without running Postgres themselves.
Read the Medusa page
