What makes Magento Open Source and Adobe Commerce different?

Magento Open Source is the free, more popular version of the product. Formerly known as Magento Community Edition, it does indeed have a large community both supporting and relying on it. Adobe Commerce is the paid version of the software. Before the Magento brand was acquired by Adobe, it was known as Magento Enterprise Edition, and then Magento Commerce. While its core features are the same, it includes a wide variety of bolt-ons that don’t come native with Magento Open Source.

Since the Adobe team’s content is focused on upselling the paid version, their website and other materials can make it difficult to get a good understanding of the differences between these two distinct offerings. So, we’ll break down the pros and cons for you…

What Extras Does Adobe Commerce Include?

Adobe Commerce includes a variety of extra modules, such as:

These are just some examples. The list is always changing and evolving. There are also Software as a Service (SaaS) products that Adobe Commerce users get access to, including Adobe Sensei and Live Search.

Adobe Commerce users also get early access to some releases, as well as some ticket support. It’s important to note that Adobe’s support team does not replace or supplement your web developers – the people that know the intricacies of your unique website. 

It’s also worth considering that since (a) fewer developers are experienced with Adobe Commerce, (b) this version includes a lot of extra modules (whether you use them or not), and (c) extension developers don’t sell nearly as many of their products to Adobe Commerce users…  you can expect to both pay more to launch and maintain an Adobe Commerce site AND pay more for add-ons. 

What About Web Hosting?

Adobe Commerce users get access to choose a full-service Magento hosting provider. They can also opt to use the more self-service Adobe Commerce Cloud. It is important to note that Adobe Commerce Cloud is still catching up to independent hosts in areas like autoscaling, flexibility, and most importantly, customer support. 

Adobe’s web hosting support, for anything but a situation in which a site is down, is limited to tickets only, and response time targets are well below that of private mission-critical Magento hosting providers. 

Additionally, since these hosting environments are very prefabricated, you lose flexibility. For instance, many of the Magento extensions that work in private hosting aren’t compatible with Adobe’s cloud:

In this screenshot, you can see that there are 2195 Magento Extensions available for Adobe Commerce, but only 1695 of those are listed as compatible with Adobe Commerce’s Cloud hosting.

What Are Key Benefits of Magento Open Source?

There are many reasons why this version of Magento is more popular. With Magento Open Source, you’re using free software. There are no salespeople trying to lock you into long-term contracts or upsell you on hosting or other products or services. You’re simply getting what many consider to be the most robust eCommerce platform available.

With this version, you’re also avoiding a lot of extra coding that you’re unlikely to use. Instead, you get to pick from the best Magento Extensions and integrations. 

For example, instead of using Adobe Live Search, you might choose a system like Searchspring, InstantSearch+, Klevu, or Algolia. 

Instead of using Abandoned Cart and other marketing emails offered with Adobe Commerce, you’re likely to send these through an email marketing platform like Dotdigital, Klaviyo, Omnisend, Emarsys, Listrak, or Rejoiner. You could also use a text messaging platform like VoyageSMS, or a conversion optimization platform like Justuno. In fact, there are a number of reasons why you should be sending such messages through a 3rd party in the first place.

Even when it comes to more specific features, like B2B, you can get a wide variety of extensions that are more cost-effective from an extension developer, such as the B2B extensions from Aheadworks.

With Magento Open Source, you can pick the best of the best, and not worry about taking on technical debt for things you don’t want or need. You will also find that, in most cases, the basic modules that come with Adobe Commerce aren’t as comprehensive as many Magento Extensions and integrations anyway, leaving you with a better solution in the long run.

How Can You Choose The Right Version Between Magento Open Source and Commerce?

When choosing between Magento Open Source and Adobe Commerce, you’re deciding between two fantastic eCommerce solutions. Keep in mind that many huge businesses use Magento Open Source, and some SMBs use Adobe Commerce. Your size and revenue should not be the deciding factor. It should come down to what’s going to make the most sense for your business’s bottom line. 

As we’ve noted, the biggest attraction to Adobe Commerce is related to its extra features and functionality. However, since those add-ons can be replicated/surpassed with Magento Open Source with extensions, integrations, and if necessary, some customization, you may be better off sticking with Magento Open Source. 

That’s why it’s best to go through a brief exercise, determining:

1. Which Adobe Commerce features you’d really expect to be valuable to you.
2. How much your Adobe license would cost you over the lifetime of your site, (ex. 5 years), including any anticipated license fee increases over time.
3. What it would cost to purchase extensions and pay for integrations and/or customizations to meet your requirements on Magento Open Source.

If the difference is negligible and it would be a lot of work to get the features you need, you may decide to go with Adobe Commerce instead of Magento Open Source, in order to streamline your experience. On the other hand, you may choose to stick with Magento Open Source because you want a leaner website with more specific extensions and customizations.

Since Adobe Commerce licenses typically start in the mid-tens of thousands of dollars per year, someone from your finance team would very likely be thrilled to help with this quick cost-benefit analysis. A quick spreadsheet breaking down the difference in long-term licensing, development, and maintenance could save your company hundreds of thousands of dollars over time – money that you could be spending on optimization, marketing, and growth.
If you need help, consider calling in an independent consultancy or other Magento experts. You’ll want a team that isn’t vested in selling you one of these two products over the other, but that’s experienced with both. Remember that Adobe Commerce agency partners are heavily incentivized to recommend Adobe licensing and hosting, so be aware that there can be conflicts of interest.

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