While looking for the right eCommerce platform for your digital initiatives, you might have compared several market-leading platforms. Even after you zero in on one, the search doesn’t stop there. Owing to the various versions each platform offers to suit businesses with different size and budget limitations, you’ll have to extend the comparison between the versions.
Magento Open Source and Magento Commerce are two such closely matched versions of Magento. It’s hard to pick the right one. We wrote this guide to help you make that decision. But before we get to the head-on comparison, let’s start with the overview of the platform’s versions and nomenclature that have evolved over the years. Let’s dive in.
Magento Open Source vs Magento Commerce – Overview
Magento Open Source is an open-source eCommerce platform that offers a suite of features brands need to build and grow a unique online store from the ground up. It gets a lot of attention from new businesses for a compelling reason: it’s free.
While it’s difficult to beat that price, it may not be the best solution for businesses that will need an all-in-one cloud solution that is optimized for Magento, easy to deploy, provides enhanced security, and is packed with additional integrated capabilities to accelerate sales. If you need all that, you’ll have to look further than Magento Open Source.
Magento Commerce is a fully-loaded eCommerce platform available as on-premise or hosted version. In our experience, Magento Commerce is essential for businesses that want to create unique and engaging shopping experiences. It’s packed with rich, out-of-the-box features, an unrivaled ability to customize, and seamless third-party integrations
Magento’s naming convention over the years
| Product Name (now) | Formerly Known As | Version Number | Instance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Magento Open Source | Magento Community Edition | 1.x and 2.x | On Premise |
| Adobe Commerce |
Magento Enterprise Edition or Magento Commerce (before Adobe acquired Magento) Magento Commerce Cloud (before Adobe acquired Magento) |
1.x and 2.x |
Adobe Commerce – On Premise Adobe Commerce Cloud – the cloud-hosted version on AWS |
Now, let’s get on with the head on comparison.
Magento Open Source Vs Commerce Comparison – Cost
It’s a tough battle when it comes to the cost factor as it is a match up between $0 (Magento Opensource) vs a few thousands of dollars (Magento Commerce). It’s hard to argue when the price tag says $0, but there are still more reasons why you should go ahead and explore Magento Commerce (which costs you thousands of dollars) to see what it has got to make you decide otherwise.
Both Magento Open Source and Commerce have all the essential features out of the box. However, the features that you might need as your business grows is where these versions start differing.
For instance, according to Magento, Magento Open Source is missing certain native capabilities. Such capabilities include B2B functionality, advanced marketing tools, drag-and-drop visual merchandising, the ability to stage and preview content, customer loyalty tools, customer segmentation, or business intelligence. These are some of the essential integrated functionalities you’ll need to engage, innovate, and expand into new markets quickly. To get such capabilities into a Magento Open Source powered store, you may need to hire developers or a development team.
The Winner
For all B2C and B2B brands with growth ambitions, Magento Commerce will prove more cost-effective.
Magento Open Source Vs Commerce Comparison – Scalability
Growing alongside your business objectives is what you expect of your eCommerce platform. In an eCommerce environment, growth means many things. You may expand your product lines, enter into overseas markets, add new sales channels, introduce a whole new brand, or even begin selling directly to consumers.
Your platform needs the ability to keep up with your growth and ambitions. While both platforms allow you to scale up to handle more traffic and content, only Magento Commerce provides the additional tools you’ll need to support your company as you scale up and perform faster.
Magento Commerce offers advantages in scalability as it can use three separate master databases for various functional requirements of the Magento web application.
According to Magento Devdocs, “Adobe Commerce uses three master databases and a configurable number of slave databases for replication. Adobe Commerce has a single interface for database connections, resulting in faster performance and better scalability”.
Magento Commerce – Scalability advantages
- Unlimited database scalability
- More than 50,000 unique visitors per month
- More than 500 orders/month
- Built in features such as CDN (Content Delivery Network) and DAM (Digital Asset Management)
The Winner
Magento Commerce is the best option for eCommerce sites that require rapid scalability.
Magento Open Source Vs Commerce Comparison – Security
Both Magento Open Source and Commerce come packed with security features, but there are differences when looked up in detail.
Magento Open Source has the basic security features like
- CAPTCHA protection
- Two-factor authentication
- Strong password requirements
Security features like PCI Compliance is an absolute requirement for all merchants. If you choose Magento Open Source, you will have to depend on a third-party payment gateway like PayPal or Braintree for PCI compliance. Your users will be redirected to such payment gateways to complete their transactions. Or, you can also choose SaaS-based payment methods that are PCI compliant.
Magento Commerce is PCI compliant, which means every card payment processed, stored, or transmitted credit, debit, or prepaid card information is in a secured environment. Magento Commerce’s Magento Secure Payment Bridge and support for Payment Application Data Security Stand (PA-DSS) ensure top-notch security for both users and your store.
Other security features of Magento Commerce include encryption of user data through AES-256 and SHA-256 hashing. Moreover, the 24/7 technical support offered by Magento Commerce will have a dedicated account manager monitoring your store for frauds and possible attacks.
| Magento Open Source | Magento Commerce |
|---|---|
| Not PCI DSS Compliant | Fully PCI DSS Compliant |
| X | Payment Application Data Security Stand (PA-DSS) support |
| X | 24/7 support for monitoring your store for possible security attacks |
| X | User data encryption via AES-256 and SHA-256 hashing |
The Winner
Magento Commerce
Magento Open Source vs Magento Commerce – B2B Functionalities
One of the major differentiating factor between Magento Open Source and Magento is the B2B support. Only Magento Commerce offers B2B functionalities.
Magento Commerce has an integrated B2B functionality to facilitate all complicated B2B workflows, transactions, quotes, ordering processes, and so on.
Some of the notable B2B functionalities of Magento Commerce include
- Customer-specific catalogs and pricing
- Personalized experiences
- Place orders on behalf of customers
- Self-service customer portals
- Quote management
- Targeted content and promotions
- Quick order forms
- Seller assisted shopping
- Customers can self-manage their company accounts
- Ability to upload lists of SKUs
If you are a B2C brand having plans to venture into the B2B market, Magento Commerce is the apt choice. If not, Magento Open Source would suffice.
The Winner
Magento Commerce
Magento Open Source vs Magento Commerce – Marketing
Marketing spearheads your brand’s ability to attract and convert visitors into customers. Your eCommerce platform should help you understand – who your best customers are, how they discover your site, their behavior in your websites, which segments are your most valuable. Also, your analytics tool should provide insights on the best ways to reach and engage them.
While Magento Open Source has basic marketing features, here are some important marketing advantages that only Magento Commerce offers.
Business Intelligence Dashboards – Advanced analytics tool to derive insights from users’ digital interactions with your store.
Customer Segmentation – Segment customers to customize pricing and marketing strategies.
Targeted Promotions & Merchandising – Provides the ability to target customers with the most relevant marketing messages and bundle products for upselling and cross-selling opportunities.
Product recommendations – AI-powered product recommendation engine (Adobe Sensei) that provides personalized suggestions to increase conversion rate.
The Winner
Magento Commerce
Magento Open Source vs Magento Commerce – Hosting
Both Magento Open Source and Magento Commerce offer on-premise hosting only. For brands that require the scalability of Cloud, Magento Commerce offers a fully-hosted version powered by AWS, Magento Commerce Cloud.
With Magento Commerce Cloud, you get
- Cloud availability SLA up to 99.99%
- Global Availability
- Fast page loading with Content Delivery Network (CDN)
- Performance monitoring tools
- Web application firewall
Magento Commerce Cloud also offers onboarding support to help you deploy and manage your eCommerce application’s infrastructure hassle-free.
Magento Open Source Vs Magento Commerce – THE FINAL SCORE
Magento Commerce is the smarter choice for most eCommerce brands seeking to grow their business.
| Magento Open Source | Magento Commerce | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | ✔ | |
| Scalability | ✔ | ✔ |
| Security | ✔ | |
| B2B Functionalities | ✔ | |
| Marketing | ✔ | |
| Hosting | ✔ |
Final Words
Based on the comparison we have done and the business considerations, it is just to conclude that Magento Commerce is the go-to option for brands that need faster innovation and growth. At the same time, Magento Open Source can be the best fit for brands that need all the basic eCommerce functionalities to go to market with good scalability and customizability. Make your decision wisely. Happy selling!
Are you looking to build your eCommerce store on Magento? Ziffity’s Magento-certified experts can provide a free consultation to plan your roadmap.
