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Migrating from Medusa to Swell - A Complete Guide

Learn how to migrate from Medusa to Swell with minimal risk. Compare costs, subscriptions, APIs, and data migration strategies in this complete headless commerce guide.

Swell Team | December 22, 2025

For developers and merchants running self-hosted Medusa instances, the flexibility of open-source headless commerce comes with hidden costs: infrastructure management, security patches, scaling complexity, and ongoing developer maintenance. Headless commerce platforms like Swell deliver the same API-first architecture without requiring DevOps expertise or infrastructure investment—all while providing native subscription billing that Medusa requires custom development to achieve. The migration offers a path from self-managed infrastructure to managed SaaS without sacrificing the headless flexibility that made Medusa attractive in the first place.

Key Takeaways

  • Migration timeline typically runs 2-12 weeks for Swell implementations compared to 3-12+ months for enterprise platforms like commercetools
  • Swell's native subscription engine eliminates the need for custom Medusa development and third-party subscription apps or custom code maintenance
  • 43% of companies experience disruptions or data loss during migration without proper planning—comprehensive data audits before starting prevent most failures
  • Swell can reduce three-year total cost of ownership compared with a self-hosted Medusa setup as Swell bundles core infrastructure/operations while Medusa typically requires separate hosting, ongoing maintenance, and developer time.
  • Swell's unlimited product variants and custom fields map directly from Medusa's flexible data models, making catalog migration straightforward for complex product configurations

Understanding Swell's API-First Headless Architecture for Ecommerce Migrations

Both Medusa and Swell share API-first DNA, but their operational models differ fundamentally. Medusa requires self-hosting with PostgreSQL databases, custom deployment pipelines, and infrastructure management. Swell provides the same headless architecture with managed infrastructure, eliminating DevOps requirements while maintaining complete API access.

Backend API vs Frontend API: Developer Access

Swell's Backend API provides full CRUD access to all data models with secret key authentication—the same API powering Swell's own dashboard. This means anything possible in the admin interface can be replicated, customized, or extended through code.

The Frontend API offers partial CRUD for browser-based usage with public key authentication, handling:

  • Product catalog queries and filtering
  • Cart management and modification
  • Customer authentication and account management
  • Checkout flow processing

Both APIs follow RESTful conventions with consistent behavior. The developer console built into the dashboard allows testing API calls and viewing request/response logs without leaving the browser.

Data Model Flexibility for Medusa Developers

Medusa's strength lies in its flexible data modeling—custom entities, extended product attributes, and tailored business logic. Swell matches this flexibility through:

  • Custom fields on all standard models (products, orders, customers, carts)
  • Custom model creation for business-specific data structures
  • Model editor accessible via dashboard or API
  • Webhooks for real-time event notifications and custom business logic

Developers familiar with Medusa's extensibility find equivalent capabilities in Swell's model editor, which allows creating entirely custom data structures without forking source code or managing database migrations.

Seamless Product and Data Migration Strategies for Swell

The technical migration process follows data dependencies: products (no dependencies) → customers → orders (requires product and customer IDs) → subscriptions (requires all previous data).

Planning Your Data Transfer from Medusa

Export your complete Medusa PostgreSQL database and inventory:

  • Product records with all custom attributes and variants
  • Customer accounts with addresses and purchase history
  • Order history with line items, pricing, and fulfillment status
  • Subscription data including billing schedules and payment tokens

Swell's CSV import/export handles bulk product migration for catalogs under 1,000 products. Larger catalogs benefit from API-based import scripts that transform Medusa's data structure to Swell's schema.

Leveraging Swell's Unlimited Product Options

Unlike platforms with variant restrictions, Swell places highly flexible variant support on variants, options, or custom attributes. Products migrating from Medusa maintain their full complexity:

  • Unlimited size/color/style/material combinations per product
  • Custom fields for product-specific specifications
  • Multiple images per variant
  • Hidden attributes for internal tracking

This flexibility means Medusa's complex product configurations transfer directly without restructuring. Custom product attributes created in Medusa map to Swell's custom fields, preserving business-specific data models.

Swell's MongoDB ObjectId format for identifiers allows importing compatible primary keys directly as id fields, maintaining reference integrity across related records during migration.

Optimizing Subscription and Billing Workflows on Swell

Medusa doesn't include native subscription billing—it requires custom development or third-party integrations. Swell's subscription engine works out of the box, eliminating development costs while providing comprehensive recurring billing features.

Configuring Advanced Subscription Plans

Subscription plan creation handles:

  • Flexible billing intervals (monthly, yearly, custom periods)
  • Separate invoicing from fulfillment schedules (bill monthly, ship quarterly)
  • Mixed cart support combining subscription and one-time products
  • Trial periods and promotional pricing

The subscription engine works with major connected gateways through Swell's encrypted card vault. Customer payment methods tokenized during checkout enable automatic recurring charges without additional integration work.

Ensuring Smooth Payment Transitions

For businesses migrating existing subscriptions from custom Medusa implementations, Swell can import payment tokens from Stripe and Braintree using compatible token formats. This enables seamless transition where customers' subscriptions continue without re-authorization.

Automatic payment retry with configurable dunning rules reduces involuntary churn. Configure retry schedules and card expiration notifications through the dashboard to prompt customers before charges fail.

Enhancing Checkout and Payment Experiences Post-Migration

Swell provides two checkout paths: hosted Swell Checkout (PCI-compliant) or custom checkout via Checkout API. Unlike some platforms that restrict checkout customization to enterprise tiers, Swell provides full API access across all pricing tiers.

Leveraging Swell's Customizable Checkout API

The Checkout API enables building custom payment flows in any framework—React, Vue, Next.js, or any JavaScript environment. This matches the flexibility Medusa developers expect while eliminating PCI compliance burden.

Standard checkout features include:

  • Guest checkout without account creation
  • Abandoned cart recovery with automated email sequences
  • Saved payment methods in encrypted vault
  • Split payments per order item for marketplace models
  • Multi-part payment plans for installments

Integrating Preferred Payment Processors

Swell's payment gateway setup connects existing processor accounts. Supported gateways include:

Buy Now Pay Later options available via supported integrations or custom setup through Affirm, Klarna, and Resolve for B2B net terms.

Internationalization and Localization for Global Reach with Swell

Global expansion requires proper multi-currency pricing and tax compliance—areas where self-hosted solutions often require significant custom development.

Setting Up Multi-Currency Pricing and Localization

Swell supports 230 currencies with two pricing approaches:

  • Explicit pricing sets specific prices per currency for psychological pricing strategies
  • Automatic conversion uses real-time exchange rates for dynamic pricing

Multi-language support across 170 languages handles field-level translation for product content, checkout instructions, and email notifications through the dashboard or API.

Streamlining International Shipping and Tax Calculations

Tax calculation integrates with Avalara AvaTax and TaxJar for region-specific compliance. Both calculate taxes at checkout based on customer location, product type, and applicable rules—automation that would require extensive custom development on Medusa.

Shipping zones group geographic regions with multiple shipping services and flexible pricing rules including flat rates, weight-based calculations, and free shipping thresholds.

Streamlining Fulfillment and Shipping Management on Swell

Swell's fulfillment features provide capabilities that typically require custom Medusa plugins.

Configuring Advanced Shipping Logic

Multi-warehouse management routes orders to optimal fulfillment locations based on inventory availability or customer proximity. Split fulfillment ships order items separately when products come from different locations.

Product-specific shipping rules override zone settings for items requiring special handling. Configure custom dimensions and weight tracking per product for accurate rate calculation.

Integrating with Third-Party Fulfillment Providers

Native integration with ShipStation handles multi-carrier shipping without custom API development. Order data flows automatically to fulfillment systems, with tracking information syncing back to customer-facing order status.

Order print templates generate packing slips and gift receipts, while line-item shipment tracking provides customers visibility into partial fulfillment status.

Leveraging Swell's Integration Ecosystem and Developer Tools

Medusa's plugin ecosystem requires evaluation, installation, and often custom modification. Swell provides pre-built connectors that save 10-20 hours per integration compared to custom API work.

Connecting Essential Marketing and Content Tools

Native integrations include:

Utilizing Swell's Robust Developer Resources

The developer console provides API testing, request logging, and webhook monitoring. Webhooks fire real-time notifications for orders, payments, inventory changes, and custom events—enabling the same event-driven architecture Medusa developers build manually.

Custom Swell Apps framework enables building full-stack extensions when native features don't cover specific requirements. The key difference: extensions build on managed infrastructure rather than requiring deployment pipeline management.

Cost-Benefit Analysis: Migrating to Swell vs Medusa's Self-Hosted Model

Understanding true platform costs requires looking beyond software licensing to infrastructure, maintenance, and developer time.

Understanding Swell's Tiered Pricing Structure

Swell's pricing plans scale with business size, with tiers offering increasing API request limits, admin users, and features like multi-currency support and role-based permissions. Annual billing provides discounts compared to monthly subscriptions.

Revenue-based fees apply when sales exceed plan thresholds, with higher tiers offering more favorable structures. The key difference from self-hosted: costs are predictable and inclusive of infrastructure, security, and scaling.

Calculating Your Return on Investment

Swell can reduce three-year total cost of ownership compared with a self-hosted Medusa. The comparison accounts for:

Self-hosted Medusa costs:

  • Hosting infrastructure (AWS/GCP)
  • Developer maintenance (security patches, updates, scaling)
  • Custom subscription development or third-party apps
  • Security/compliance management
  • Database optimization and backup systems

Swell eliminates:

  • Infrastructure management and hosting fees
  • Security patch deployment and monitoring
  • Custom subscription billing development
  • Scaling and performance optimization work

User reviews confirm setup time of 2-12 weeks for Swell implementations, compared to 6-12 weeks for initial Medusa deployments plus ongoing maintenance investment.

Post-Migration Optimization and Scaling with Swell

After migration, Swell's managed infrastructure handles scaling automatically while providing tools for performance monitoring and business optimization.

Leveraging Advanced Reporting and Analytics

Advanced reports on higher-tier plans provide sales, customer, and financial analytics without requiring custom dashboard development. Integration with Google Analytics and tracking pixels works through the dashboard.

Preparing for Future Growth and Expansion

Swell's architecture supports growth without re-platforming. Businesses can start on entry-level plans and scale through higher tiers as revenue grows. Higher tiers provide unlimited API requests and data storage for high-volume merchants processing significant transaction volume.

Media delivery through global CDN with image transformation provides faster page loads compared to typical self-hosted setups. Headless storefronts deploying to Vercel or Netlify combine Swell's backend with edge rendering for optimal performance.

Frequently Asked Questions

What technical skills are required for Medusa to Swell migration?

Migration requires familiarity with data export/import processes and basic API understanding, but doesn't require the infrastructure expertise needed to maintain Medusa. For straightforward product catalogs under 500 products, business users can handle migration through CSV import. Complex migrations with extensive custom data models, active subscriptions, or custom Medusa plugins benefit from developer involvement or agency partnership. Swell's help center and developer documentation provide step-by-step guidance, and agency partners offer migration services for businesses wanting hands-off transitions.

How do I handle custom Medusa plugins during migration?

Audit all custom Medusa plugins and categorize by function. Many common plugins become unnecessary—Swell includes native subscription billing, advanced product bundling, customer group pricing, and multi-level navigation without additional development. For remaining custom functionality, evaluate whether Swell's custom fields, webhooks, or Apps framework can replicate the behavior. Custom business logic running in Medusa services often translates to webhook handlers in Swell.

What happens to my existing infrastructure after migration?

Keep your Medusa instance running in read-only mode for 30-60 days post-launch. This provides fallback access to historical data and reference for customer service inquiries about older orders. After confirming stable operation on Swell, decommission Medusa infrastructure to eliminate ongoing hosting costs. Export final database backups before shutdown. Some businesses maintain archived Medusa data indefinitely for compliance or historical analysis, though this data can also be imported to Swell's order history for unified access.

Can I migrate incrementally rather than all at once?

Yes, phased migration reduces risk for complex stores. Start by importing products and testing catalog accuracy. Add customers next, then recent order history. Launch with a subset of traffic using DNS-based routing, directing a percentage of visitors to the new Swell storefront while maintaining Medusa for remaining traffic. Monitor conversion rates, error logs, and customer feedback before increasing Swell traffic allocation. This approach extends the timeline but provides safer rollout for mission-critical stores. The tradeoff is managing two systems temporarily and potential inventory sync complexity during the transition period.

How does Swell handle high-traffic events compared to self-hosted Medusa?

Swell's infrastructure uses a combination of bare metal servers and cloud providers designed for automatic scaling during traffic spikes. The platform reports 99.963% overall uptime with Backend API, Frontend API, Dashboard, and Hosted Checkout maintaining high availability. Self-hosted Medusa requires pre-provisioning capacity for peak traffic or implementing auto-scaling—both adding cost and complexity. For flash sales or promotional events, Swell's managed infrastructure handles demand increases without manual intervention, while Medusa deployments need careful capacity planning and monitoring.