agento is a leading e-commerce platform, chosen by businesses around the world for its flexibility and scalability. However, choosing between open source Magento and Adobe Commerce can be difficult, especially when we are unsure of exactly what the differences are and which solution will be a better fit for our business needs. In this article, we'll take a look at both platforms, discuss their key functionalities and give you tips on how to match them depending on the stage of your business growth.
From Magento to Adobe Commerce - the context of platform development
Magento entered the market in 2007 as a PHP-based platform. Initially, it was only intended to complement the functions of another eCommerce system, but it quickly gained popularity and became a fully-fledged tool. Since its inception, Magento commerce has grown rapidly, adding new features and gaining the support of a growing community of users. A key moment in the platform's history was the launch of the new version of Magento 2 in 2015. At that time, many companies decided to migrate from Magento 1 to Magento 2 to benefit from the innovative features and support.
In 2018, Magento ecommerce was acquired by Adobe. As a result of this acquisition, the Magento Enterprise version was renamed Adobe Commerce and Magento Community was renamed Magento Open Source. For new audiences taking their first steps into ecommerce, these changes can be confusing, especially when the names are used interchangeably. Instead, their distinction is crucial, as each of these solutions is aimed at different scales of business, which has a huge impact on the final choice of platform.
Magento Open Source vs. Adobe Commerce
What distinguishes Adobe Commerce and Magento Open Source? Both solutions, despite some differences, also have common features. Although Adobe Commerce provides more pre-built features than Magento Open Source at the start, both offer the same level of flexibility as they are based on exactly the same code base. The choice of the target version therefore depends mainly on your business needs, the scale of your company and your budget.
What is Magento Open Source?
Magento Open Source is the free version of Magento, offering a wide set of built-in features. Thanks to the platform's open architecture, it can be freely modified and customised. It meets all basic business needs and is ideal for small, growing companies. It is the open source version that most online shops use. In addition to standard features such as site search, catalogue management and global sales, it also offers access to numerous magento shop extensions. Despite the absence of licence costs, hosting and shop maintenance fees must be taken into account in your implementation plan. The implementation of such a platform is a complex process, so it is also necessary to take into account the costs associated with supporting an e-commerce agency in the implementation of Magento ecommerce.
What is Adobe Commerce?
Adobe Commerce (formerly Magento Enterprise Edition) is a paid, enterprise version of Magento. The basic Adobe Commerce code is essentially Magento Open Source with a set of commercial modules for larger enterprises with complex structures and international sales. It offers some additional functionality, official support directly from Adobe, automatic security patches and hosting in the Adobe Commerce Cloud architecture for greater scalability.
Available Magento versions - key differences
The capabilities of Magento are immense, but they vary depending on the version of the platform. What are the advantages and disadvantages of both, and for whom will the paid version be more optimal?
Licence costs
Magento Open Source is available for free, while Adobe Commerce operates on a model based on the average revenue of the online shop, so the final cost of the licence depends on this.
Hosting
As an open-source e-commerce platform, Magento Open Source gives you full freedom to choose your hosting services, but you must pay extra for them as they are not included in the free version package.
Adobe Commerce can be hosted locally or in the cloud (Adobe Commerce Cloud version), both options being included in the cost of Adobe Commerce. This means that you do not have to pay separately for technical support or scaling during times of increased shop traffic.
Features
Magento Open Source includes features such as integrated ordering, payment and shipping, support for mobile devices during shopping, support for global sales, catalogue management, multi-source stock management, quick product search on the website and Page Builder, a tool that allows users to create and edit web pages without coding. If you need to personalise selected functionality, you can use the free extensions available on the Adobe Commerce Marketplace. In contrast, access to more advanced features and regular updates to the system require additional costs.
Adobe Commerce has all the capabilities that the free version offers, but is also equipped with many additional functionalities. These include, but are not limited to, business reporting and analytics, advanced marketing tools, content management and preview, loyalty tools, visual product management, product recommendations, AI-powered search, customer segmentation, BOPIS (buy online, pick up in shop), gift cards and much more. Most extensions in the Commerce Marketplace are available for free with the Adobe Commerce version.
Scalability
Magento Open Source is sufficient in terms of scalability for both smaller businesses and large enterprises. However, it requires more work from developers and a well-optimised hosting environment to maintain performance with increasing traffic and demand.
At launch, Adobe Commerce is better equipped to handle large shopping traffic with more advanced features for managing databases, complex catalogues, multiple shops, or high transaction volumes. In addition, Adobe Commerce regularly releases new updates with performance improvements in mind.
Technical support
The free version does not provide support from the team to resolve potential technical issues. However, the Magento open source community is so large that valuable guidance on possible solutions is available within it.
Adobe Commerce, on the other hand, offers full support - a dedicated account manager and 24/7 support - and provides access to Adobe Commerce quick deployment packs that make it easy to set up and run each feature. However, it is important to note that optimising Magento for your business needs requires the use of developers who specialise in this technology.
B2B functions
Both Magento Open Source and Adobe Commerce allow you to create a B2B online shop. The difference, however, is that with the free version, the relevant extensions need to be installed and their implementation allows Magento Open Source to be customised to meet specific B2B needs. Although this requires additional investment and configuration, it allows small and medium-sized companies to benefit from advanced features without having to switch to the paid version of Adobe Commerce. An example of the use of the Magento Open Source engine in the business sector is B2B Box by Strix, which allows companies to launch online B2B sales in just three months.
Adobe Commerce, on the other hand, has built-in B2B tools such as custom pricing, catalogue and payment solutions, quote requests, purchase limits and credit limits. Customers can therefore easily manage their accounts, set up different levels of users with different roles and permissions, track quotes and orders, upload personalised catalogues specific to the buyer, submit quote requests, define purchase limits and much more.
Marketing
Magento Open Source's marketing capabilities include basic features such as tag and meta description creation, custom URLs and SEO optimisation.
Adobe Commerce provides advanced marketing tools such as data analysis, marketing strategy and campaign optimisation, customer segmentation, a loyalty system, wishlist search, related product rules and a discount system. In addition, it enables integration with Google tools such as Ads, Tag Manager, and Analytics.
Content management
Page Builder in Magento Open Source and Adobe Commerce is an advanced content creation tool that, in both versions of the platform, allows users to create and edit pages using an intuitive drag-and-drop interface, without code. It also supports the creation of responsive pages that are optimised for both desktop and mobile devices and offers live previews, allowing users to check changes in real time.
The open source version of Page Builder provides most of the basic content creation tools, such as creating page layouts, adding multimedia elements and editing text. Adobe Commerce offers additional advanced features such as dynamic content blocks, more powerful analytics tools, integration with other Adobe products and tools for personalisation and customer segmentation.
Catalogue management
Magento Open Source offers traditional catalogue management capabilities such as adding new products, creating product categories and basic stock updates.
Adobe Commerce, on the other hand, offers advanced catalogue management capabilities such as artificial intelligence-powered product recommendations, full catalogue exports, gift cards, action logs, order archives, scheduled catalogue imports/exports and an order management system.
Live search
Adobe Commerce offers live search, which uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to analyse a user's previous shopping behaviour and data to suggest relevant and personalised product recommendations in real-time. The free open source edition does not provide such functionality.
Go-to-market time
Adobe Commerce includes a number of advanced features that provide flexibility and scalability, enabling companies to go to market quickly and adapt to changing business circumstances. This is crucial when expanding into new regions or product types.
Magento Open Source modules also offer great flexibility, expandability, and scalability, while they require more time and work from the development team to configure and adapt to changing business circumstances. However, it is possible, as demonstrated by the express implementation of cross-border sales at Absulo.
Composable Commerce versus Magento Open Source
For companies that do not need as sophisticated a platform as Adobe Commerce, but would like to have a lot of flexibility and the ability to scale their business, a good solution is to use the Magento Open Source engine together with Composable Commerce. This is an approach that uses modern technologies such as microservices, APIs and headless to tailor the platform architecture to specific business needs. In this approach, the individual components are communicated with each other via APIs, which allows for easier customisation and enhancement of individual parts of the architecture.
Composable commerce can be implemented in conjunction with a headless architecture, in which the frontend is separated from the backend, allowing modifications to be made on the frontend side without consequences for the backend. This approach makes it possible to freely add further functionalities and integrate individual components such as the PIM, CRM or OMS system. This allows the online shop to be tailored to the individual needs and preferences of the company, while ensuring the speed and efficiency of the platform, even at peak shopping times.
Magento platform - key benefits
We have already outlined the key differences in functionality between the open source platform and the commercial version of Magento. So what are the key benefits of implementing these solutions in your e-commerce?
Advantages of Magento Open Source
- Low initial costs
- Flexibility and personalisation
- Large support community
- Speed of innovation
- Compatibility with various hosting and service providers
Advantages of Adobe Commerce
- Advanced technical support available 24/7
- Scalability and performance tailored to the needs of large enterprises
- High-level security and PCI compliance
- Easy integration into the Adobe tools ecosystem
- Reduced time to market
Magento open source or Adobe Commerce?
There is no simple answer to this question, as the choice of platform depends primarily on the specific needs of your business. Both solutions are robust e-commerce tools, and each has its own unique advantages and disadvantages. Wondering how to make the right implementation decision? Strix, as a leading Magento partner in Europe with Enterprise status, can help you choose and implement the best solution for your business. Whichever version you choose, investing in Magento will bring tangible benefits and help you grow your online shop. After all, e-commerce is an industry that does not tolerate compromise, so in order to stay competitive, you need to constantly improve the quality of the shopping experience and the services you offer.
Contact us to find out more about the possibilities offered by the Magento engine and how we can support your business in terms of strategy, implementation, as well as development of the e-commerce platform.