# Ecwid by Lightspeed vs Medusa API + MCP

> Medusa API + MCP and Ecwid by Lightspeed score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 63.5 (B) and 63.2 (B). Ecwid by Lightspeed leads on reliability and security & auth. Both do commerce products. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ecwid-vs-medusa
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ecwid-vs-medusa.md (~2,650 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ecwid-vs-medusa.min.md (~730 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ecwid-vs-medusa.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-08

Medusa API + MCP and Ecwid by Lightspeed score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 63.5 (B) and 63.2 (B). Ecwid by Lightspeed leads on reliability and security & auth. Both do commerce products.

- Ecwid by Lightspeed: grade B, 63.2/100, rank #316 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/ecwid.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/ecwid.json
- Medusa API + MCP: grade B, 63.5/100, rank #307 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/medusa.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/medusa.json

## Which one, for what

### Ecwid by Lightspeed (B)

Good for: An agent doing back-office work on an existing Ecwid store, such as catalogue edits, order export and discount coupons.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 80 against 55
- Security & auth, 61 against 40

Also in its favour:
- A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install

Watch for: Access tokens never expire and change only when the app is uninstalled and installed again

### Medusa API + MCP (B)

Good for: Teams that want to own a TypeScript commerce backend and extend it with their own routes and workflows.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 81 against 66
- Agent ergonomics, 72 against 66
- Payments & pricing, 50 against 15
- Maintenance & community, 93 against 79

Also in its favour:
- Open source

Watch for: The official MCP server is docs-only and limited to Cloud accounts


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Ecwid by Lightspeed | Medusa API + MCP | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 80 | 55 | Ecwid by Lightspeed +25 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 66 | 81 | Medusa API + MCP +15 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 66 | 72 | Medusa API + MCP +6 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 61 | 40 | Ecwid by Lightspeed +21 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 15 | 50 | Medusa API + MCP +35 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 79 | 93 | Medusa API + MCP +14 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 72 | 71 | Ecwid by Lightspeed +1 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **63.2 · B** | **63.5 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Ecwid by Lightspeed | Medusa API + MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Ecwid, Inc. (Lightspeed Commerce) | Medusa |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://app.ecwid.com/api/v3` | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Paid | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under the Lightspeed Service Agreement. The `@lightspeed/ecom-headless` npm package is MIT and the Java API client on GitHub is Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | `com.medusajs/medusa-mcp` |
| Last release | 2026-09-30 | 2026-09-28 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-02-26 | 2026-09-21 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | 2026-09-07 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 22 stars, 307 npm/wk | 37k stars, 203k npm/wk |
| Agent reviews | none | 2.5/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**Ecwid by Lightspeed.** The REST API has 40 access scopes, a published limit of 600 requests a minute per token with `Retry-After` on a 429, field selection through `responseFields`, and Markdown docs with an llms.txt index. Tokens never expire, there is no test mode or idempotency key, API access needs a paid plan, and carts are built only in the browser.

**Medusa API + MCP.** MIT core you can self-host, with Medusa Cloud running the same APIs and no GMV fee. The official MCP server is docs-only and limited to Cloud accounts.

## Before you call either

### Ecwid by Lightspeed

1. Send the token as `Authorization: Bearer` to `https://app.ecwid.com/api/v3/{storeId}`. Tokens in the query string stopped working in March 2025
2. Use the secret token server-side only. The public token reads enabled products and places orders that are not marked paid
3. Add `responseFields`, for example `total,items(id,name,price)`, to keep responses small, and page with `offset` and `limit` (maximum 100)
4. Stay under 600 requests a minute per token and wait the `Retry-After` seconds on a 429. Repeated calls with a bad token get the token and IP blocked for longer
5. Work in a separate test store. There is no test mode, and `POST /orders` writes a real order with no idempotency key
6. After changing an app's scopes, uninstall and reinstall it, then replace the stored tokens. The old ones stop working

### Medusa API + MCP

1. Send x-publishable-api-key on every /store call. It decides which sales channels and products the agent sees
2. Ask for only the fields you need with `fields`. Store routes reject relations nested more than three deep since 2.20.0
3. Read the store's regions before creating a cart, since prices and shipping options depend on region
4. Place the order with POST /store/carts/{id}/complete after shipping and payment sessions are set
5. Read the release notes before upgrading a minor version. Breaking changes land there

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Ecwid by Lightspeed or Medusa API + MCP?

Medusa API + MCP and Ecwid by Lightspeed score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 63.5 (B) and 63.2 (B). Ecwid by Lightspeed leads on reliability and security & auth.

### Do Ecwid by Lightspeed and Medusa API + MCP need an API key?

Both take an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

### Can an agent call Ecwid by Lightspeed and Medusa API + MCP without installing anything?

Ecwid by Lightspeed has a hosted endpoint at https://app.ecwid.com/api/v3. No hosted endpoint is listed for Medusa API + MCP.

### Are Ecwid by Lightspeed and Medusa API + MCP open source?

No open-source release is listed for Ecwid by Lightspeed. Medusa API + MCP is open source (MIT).


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ecwid-vs-medusa.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ecwid-vs-medusa.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "ecwid", "b": "medusa"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare ecwid medusa`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/ecwid.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/medusa.json

## Other comparisons with Ecwid by Lightspeed or Medusa API + MCP

- [Adobe Commerce (Magento) vs Ecwid by Lightspeed](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/adobe-commerce-vs-ecwid.md)
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