The alternatives
medusa
The world's most flexible commerce platform.
medusajs/medusa Updated 2026-05-05 saleor
Saleor Core: the high performance, composable, headless commerce API.
saleor/saleor Updated 2026-05-05 Comparison notes
No open-source project fully replaces Stripe's payment processing infrastructure since card network access requires financial licensing that software alone cannot provide. Medusa and Saleor act as payment orchestration layers that integrate with multiple processors including Stripe, allowing merchants to switch processors without rewriting storefront code. Kill Bill is a self-hosted subscription billing engine that handles billing logic and invoicing but still relies on Stripe, Braintree, or another processor for the underlying card transaction.
Migration tips
- If the goal is processor diversification rather than eliminating payment infrastructure entirely, integrate Medusa or Saleor's payment plugin layer to abstract processor-specific API calls from your storefront code.
- For subscription billing independence, evaluate Kill Bill for billing logic while retaining a licensed payment processor for card transactions.
- Map Stripe's webhook event schema to equivalent events in your replacement system carefully — silent billing failures from missed events are the most common migration failure mode.
FAQ
Can I fully replace Stripe with an OSS tool?
Feature parity varies. Most OSS alternatives cover 70-90% of core workflows, but may lack polish, integrations, or specialized features. Pilot the alternative with a subset of your team before fully committing.
What's the cost of self-hosting?
Plan for ~$5-50/month in VPS costs (DigitalOcean, Hetzner, etc.) plus 2-8 hours/month in maintenance. For a team of 20+, self-hosting usually breaks even against SaaS pricing within 6-12 months.
Which alternative should I pick?
Sort by GitHub stars (a proxy for community health), check the last-pushed date (avoid unmaintained projects), and read recent issues to gauge responsiveness.