You've outgrown
your marketplace builder
Sharetribe launches you in a day. When you outgrow a hosted builder, Mercur is the engine you own – full source, on your infrastructure, extend anything.
With Sharetribe, you keep the storefront and rent the engine
Sharetribe only open-sources the storefront template. The backend and APIs that run your marketplace stay proprietary and hosted. With Mercur, the whole engine is yours.
Sharetribe
Leaving means replacing the backend.Yours:Storefront template – Open SourceTheirs:Engine & Backend – Proprietary, hosted
Mercur
One engine – yours to self-host, read, and change.Yours:Storefront template – Open, any frontendEngine & Backend – MIT, self-hosted
This is what you control once the engine is yours
Sharetribe vs Mercur, by architecture
The differences that decide this are structural, not feature-by-feature.
| Sharetribe | Mercur | |
|---|---|---|
| Engine / backend | Proprietary, hosted | Open source (MIT), yours to run |
| Storefront | Open-source template | Open, and any frontend (headless) |
| Deployment | Sharetribe cloud only | Any cloud or on-premise |
| Customization | Template and their API | Extend or change the core, your own layer |
| Data & residency | On their infrastructure | Your database, your residency |
| Cost model | Subscription + per-transaction fee | License and services, no per-transaction cut |
| Exit | Replace their backend | You keep the whole engine |
| Built for | Founders launching fast | Admins who've outgrown a builder |
When Sharetribe is the right call
Sharetribe is a great place to start – and for validating an idea, it's often the right one.
Choose Sharetribe
You have a marketplace idea and want to validate it fast: launch in a day, no infrastructure to run, no code to start.
Choose Mercur
You've outgrown a hosted builderYou need to own the engine and the dataYou want to self-host or run on-premiseYou need to change the core and scale on your own terms
Three ways to go deeper
Read the comparison, then follow the thread that matters to you.
Graduate to an engine you own
Read the comparison, clone the repo, then talk to us about moving off a hosted builder – onto your own infrastructure, with the full source in hand.