TL;DR – Who Wins What?

Category        | NextMart | Shopify | WooCommerce | Medusa

-----------------------|----------|---------|-------------|-------

Initial setup time   | 1–2 hrs | 1 day  | 1–2 weeks  | 3–5 days

Core Web Vitals (LCP) | 1.2 s  | 1.9 s  | 3.7 s    | 1.8 s

Hosting cost / mo   | $0–20  | $39+  | $25–150   | $10–100

Transaction fees    | 0 %+   | 0–2 %  | 0 %     | 0 %

Learning curve (1–5)  | 1    | 2    | 4      | 3

Customisation freedom | Unlimited| Limited | Medium   | Unlimited

Performance (Core Web Vitals 2024)

Bullet list keeps things scannable:

• NextMart – LCP 1.2 s, TTI 0.9 s, CLS 0.03

• Shopify – LCP 1.9 s on Dawn theme

• WooCommerce – LCP 3.7 s (plugin bloat)

• Medusa – LCP 1.8 s (needs manual image tuning)

Total Cost of Ownership (5-Year, $500k GMV)

Platform   | 5-Year TCO

--------------|------------

Shopify    | ~ $27 k

WooCommerce  | ~ $44 k

Medusa    | ~ $12–22 k

NextMart   | ~ $1–1.5 k

Developer-Friendliness Checklist

Local setup

1. • NextMart – git clone && npm i (2 min)
2. • Shopify – Shopify CLI (10 min)
3. • WooCommerce – Docker or MAMP (30 min)
4. • Medusa – Docker compose (15 min)

Theming

1. • NextMart – Tailwind + JSX
2. • Shopify – Liquid templates
3. • WooCommerce – PHP + CSS
4. • Medusa – React + Styled-Components

Custom back-end logic

1. • NextMart – Firebase Functions (TypeScript)
2. • Shopify – Shopify Functions (limited)
3. • WooCommerce – WP hooks/plugins
4. • Medusa – Node micro-services

Headless ready?

1. • NextMart ✅
2. • Shopify ✅
3. • WooCommerce ❌
4. • Medusa ✅

When to Pick Which Platform

• Start-ups / indie-hackers → NextMart

• DTC brands needing POS → Shopify

• Content-heavy blogs → WooCommerce

• Enterprise multi-region → Medusa

Migration Tips (WooCommerce → NextMart)

Numbered steps:

1. Export products via WP All Export CSV
2. Import into Firebase using NextMart CLI
3. Use Cloudinary auto-upload to remap image URLs
4. Add 301 redirects in next.config.js

Average migration: 1 developer-day vs 2–3 weeks for Shopify Liquid rebuild.

Final Verdict

If your priority is speed + cost + modern DX, NextMart is the 2024 winner. Shopify still dominates plug-and-play SaaS, WooCommerce rules WordPress shops, and Medusa is the enterprise dark horse.

Ready to test NextMart? Grab the starter on CodeCanyon, deploy to Vercel in one click and share your Core Web Vitals screenshot with us on Twitter!