Often our clients come to us and hesitate about which versions of Magento they should choose. In their research about Magento, some questions and ask themselves: “What are the different versions of Magento?” “Which version is the most adapted to my business needs?” “What are the main differences between the versions?”.
Magento offers two distinct versions to choose from Magento Open Source and Magento Commerce. In this article, we’ll explore these different Magento versions and what differentiates them.
Magento Open Source
Magento Open Source was previously known as Magento Community Edition. The first Magento Community Edition was released on June 24, 2008. Like its namesake, Magento Open Source is an open-source eCommerce platform that’s free to use.
This means that anyone can get the code of the software, edit it, and host it on their own server. With Magento Open Source you can extend its basic features by adding new plug-in modules and make configuration adjustments to meet the specific requirements of your business. However, to change the code you will need help from certified Magento developers.
Magento Open Source might be a good solution for small businesses or startups as this version has great features with minimum expenses. It can be downloaded and launched quickly by working on it immediately.
Magento Commerce
Magento Commerce version was first released on April 15, 2009, as Magento Enterprise Edition. Over the years, the platform has evolved and changed its name along the way. The next step once you decide to move to Magento Commerce is to decide whether you want to go with Magento Commerce or Magento Commerce Cloud. Both Magento versions
are an exclusive paid version of Magento with premium and more extensive features.
Magento Commerce (On-Premises)
Magento Commerce (previously Magento Enterprise Edition) is an on-premises version which means that you have to take care of the hosting yourself. You can choose to host it on your business’ own server, in the cloud, with a hosting service, or through a software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider. Operating its own hosting requires a dedicated team to perform technical support, configuration, maintenance, and troubleshooting. Therefore, Magento Commerce is more suitable for large businesses that have a big team of in-house developers that has experience in running enterprise-level on-premise systems.
As mentioned previously, when compared to Magento Open Source, to operate on Magento Commerce, you must pay a yearly license fee. However, you get advanced platform features and functionalities such as B2B functionality, advanced marketing tools, customer segmentation, additional payment options, and Elastic Search (best in class search functionality).
The latest actively supported version of Magento Commerce is 2.4.1.
Magento Commerce Cloud (Hosted)
Magento Commerce Cloud (previously Magento Enterprise Cloud Edition) is the newest Magento product that was released with Magento 2. It’s a SaaS solution that’s hosted on Magento’s custom AWS-based cloud hosting infrastructure. With Magento Commerce Cloud, you get the benefits of Magento Commerce minus the work associated with self-hosting. You don’t need to worry about servers, networks, or even cybersecurity. This edition offers a scalable solution, built-in functionality, and performance improvements via Fastly’s image optimization and CDN. You also get to pass over the burden of security, PCI compliance, and maintenance to the platform.
Conclusion – Magento Open Source vs Commerce vs Commerce Cloud
Magento offers three great versions for different business situations. If you’re tight on budget, Open Source might be your best choice. But if you’re looking for an eCommerce platform that can scale and support your business as it grows with additional and out-of-the-box features you should strongly consider going with Magento Commerce or Commerce Cloud.
Both versions are also a better fit if you’re a B2B business, have a significant amount of traffic online, and sell internationally. The codebase for the two Commerce options is essentially the same, but with Commerce Cloud, you’ll get an all-in-one cloud solution that is optimized for Magento eCommerce websites and won’t have the stress of worrying about self-hosting.
If you’re still uncertain about which version of Magento is the most adapted to your business needs, feel free to contact us. We’ll be happy to advise you!