Adobe Commerce vs. Magento Open Source – How to Choose the Right eCommerce Platform for Your Business

Choosing the right eCommerce platform for your business can be tricky. Before selecting an eCommerce platform, it’s important to consider both how your business currently functions and how it will operate in the future. You need a platform that can scale with your business, including potentially adding new sales channels and marketplaces.

Adobe provides two versatile eCommerce solutions: Adobe Commerce and Magento Open Source. While both solutions are a great fit for many different types of businesses, there are important differences between them you need to consider when selecting an eCommerce platform for your business.

What is Adobe Commerce?

Adobe Commerce, formerly known as Magento 2 Enterprise, is an enterprise platform that combines robust out-of-the-box functionality with powerful business tools and endless scalability. It helps companies keep pace with growing customer demands and stay ahead in the ever-changing digital marketplace.

What is Magento Open Source?

Magento Open Source is the free, open-source version of Adobe Commerce. It’s a great solution for small to medium sized businesses that need a robust eCommerce platform free of transaction fees and volume limits. Magento is highly customizable, but the downside is that it’s less user friendly than other popular eCommerce platforms like the WooCommerce extension for WordPress or Shopify. Setting up a Magento webstore usually requires a knowledgeable web developer.

What is the Difference between Adobe Commerce and Magento Open Source?

The main difference between these platforms is that while Magento Open Source is distributed for free, Adobe Commerce has a licensing fee. The pricing model for Adobe Commerce is a percentage of your total annual revenue. This means Magneto Open Source is usually a better solution for businesses with lower turnover or revenue since you will still have to pay the minimum license fee for Adobe Commerce. However, larger businesses or growing businesses may wish to scale up from Magento Open Source to Adobe Commerce to take advantage of its more advanced functionality.

Adobe Commerce vs. Magento Open Source – Feature Comparison

Since Adobe Commerce and Magento eCommerce are essentially different editions of the same eCommerce solution, it’s not surprising they have many features in common. A feature-by-feature comparison is one of the best ways to evaluate the functionality of both platforms so you can pick the best eCommerce platform for your business.

Cost

Undeniably, Adobe Commerce costs more than Magento. Magento is free while companies must pay a licensing fee for Adobe Commerce. If cost is a huge barrier, this likely means Magento is a better option for your business.

Scalability

Both Adobe Commerce and Magento are scalable up to a point. Neither impose volume limits or transaction fees. Adobe Commerce’s larger suite of features and more advanced functionality make it a more scalable solution than Magneto.

Features

Adobe Commerce and Magento share similar core features and functionality, but Adobe Commerce offers more advanced functionality in the following areas:

• Advanced search functionality: Adobe Commerce includes advanced search functionality, including quick autocomplete features and smart corrections for typos and spelling errors.
• Advanced targeting and segmentation: Adobe Commerce includes dynamic, personalized product display, customer attributes, and real-time segmentation options.
• B2B suite: Adobe Commerce includes a complete suite of tools for B2B eCommerce, including company accounts, quick order features, shared catalogs, company credit and payment on account options, and more.
• Catalogue and system: Adobe Commerce includes features including action logs, order archives, and full catalog exports.
• Gifting options: With Adobe Commerce, companies can offer customizable gift cards, reward or loyalty programs, and gift registries.

It isn’t possible to go through all the specific differences in functionality between Adobe Commerce and Magento in a short guide like this one. Our goal is to provide you with a better framework to evaluate these two platforms. For more specific information, you should schedule a consultation directly with a web developer to learn more.

Security

Both Adobe Commerce and Magento Open Source provide robust security. As the name implies, Magneto is an open-source platform. That means its source code is available online for anyone to inspect or modify. While at this first glance this may seem like a security nightmare, open-source systems are actually more secure than closed ones. Because more people have access to the code, any bugs or other glitches are more likely to be identified and fixed quickly. Compare this to a closed environment, where a small team of developers must both find and fix any bugs or other glitches.

Since both Adobe Commerce and Magento share some of the same base code, they both benefit from the added security of open-source systems. Adobe Commerce incorporates credit card tokenization and advanced payment security features Magento doesn’t offer. It’s also PCI compliant, has a Magento Secure Payment Bridge for credit card processing, and includes regular security scans.

Ease-of-use

As is often the case with free vs. paid software options, Magento Open Source is slightly harder to manage than Adobe Commerce. Adobe Commerce offers more out-of-the-box functionality, built-in support and advanced features than Magento. This allows you to open your web store faster. That said, if your company doesn’t have specialized web developers, hiring an outside Magento eCommerce developer can provide many of these same benefits.

Takeaways

On balance, while Adobe Commerce has more functionality and scalability than Magento Open Source, both platforms provide robust functionality that is a perfect fit for the needs of many different businesses.

Choosing the Right eCommerce Platform for Your Business

The bottom line is that neither platform is better than the other. The deciding factor should always be the needs of your business. Adobe Commerce may provide more functionality than Magento, but if it’s not the functionality you need, you might end up paying more for a website that doesn’t work. It’s often not possible to determine what eCommerce platform would work best for your business without doing a personalized consultation with a web developer or ERP eCommerce integration company like CertiPro.

It’s also important to consider how your website will operate within the wider environment of your business and backend processes. One of the most effective ways to streamline online order processing and improve customer service is to connecting your eCommerce site and ERP or business management software.

At CertiPro, we’re experts in both Adobe Commerce and Magento Open Source. We also specialize in Sage ERP eCommerce integrations. We integrate Sage 100, 300, 500, X3, and Intacct with Magento Adobe Commerce. Contact us to learn more about what we can do for your business.