Magento and Adobe Commerce in plain terms
Magento has been part of Adobe since 2018 and now exists in two forms. Magento Open Source is free to use; you arrange hosting, security and development yourself. Adobe Commerce is the licensed edition, with additional features such as a B2B module, more advanced merchandising and the option of Adobe-managed cloud hosting. Both share the same core, so people often still say Magento 2 for either.
Magento 1 has been out of support for years. If a store still runs on it, moving off is a security necessity rather than a project to schedule when convenient. Adobe publishes a lifecycle policy showing how long each Magento 2 release line receives security patches, which is worth checking for the version you run today.
When Magento earns its cost
Magento is a serious platform with a serious running cost. It tends to pay for itself when several of these are true:
- The catalogue is large or intricate: thousands of SKUs, configurable products, bundles and detailed attribute filtering.
- Trade customers matter: negotiated price lists, tiered pricing, company accounts with several buyers, quotes and ordering on account.
- You run more than one storefront: separate brands, a UK and an EU store, or retail and trade sites from one administration.
- Integrations go deep: ERP, PIM or warehouse systems that shape pricing, stock and fulfilment.
- There is a standing development budget: upgrades, patches and improvements are planned every year, not only at launch.
If the last point does not apply, be cautious. A neglected Magento store ages quickly and becomes expensive to bring back to health.
When Magento is too much
We would rather say this before a project than after it. A UK brand selling a few hundred products to consumers, without trade pricing or multiple stores, will usually pay for capacity it never uses on Magento: heavier hosting, more developer hours per update and a smaller pool of specialists. For that shop a hosted platform is often quicker to launch and simpler to run; see Shopify web design. If the business already lives on WordPress and leads with content, a WooCommerce developer may be the better fit.
The right platform follows from your catalogue, customers and growth plans, not from what an agency happens to prefer building. A wider comparison of approaches sits on our ecommerce website design page.
Open Source or Adobe Commerce: the practical differences
The choice between editions is mostly about which features you would otherwise build or buy as extensions, and who you want responsible for the infrastructure.
| Topic | Magento Open Source | Adobe Commerce |
|---|---|---|
| Licence | No licence fee | Licence fee set by Adobe for your situation |
| Hosting | Your own servers or a specialist host | Self-hosted or on Adobe's managed cloud |
| B2B features | Through extensions or custom development | Built-in B2B module |
| Merchandising and segmentation | Core tools plus extensions | More advanced tools included |
| Vendor support | Community and your agency | Support from Adobe under the licence |
| Suits | Capable teams that want control and lower licence cost | Larger operations wanting more out of the box and vendor backing |
Our position: independent, not an Adobe partner
Many Magento agencies advertise a partner status with Adobe. Kaptein Beacon is not an Adobe or Magento partner and is not affiliated with Adobe. We are a founder-led studio based in the Netherlands, working remotely with UK companies. That independence lets us recommend another platform when Magento does not fit.
For large, highly integrated Adobe Commerce programmes that need a big certified development team, a specialist agency with that capacity may suit you better, and we will say so. Where we add most is strategy, store structure, design, search visibility and steering the build, with an accountable lead throughout.
Taking over an existing Magento store
Many enquiries are about stores that already exist: a version behind on patches, extensions nobody remembers installing, or a previous agency that has moved on. We start with a structured review:
- Version, patch level and how far upgrades have fallen behind.
- Every third-party extension: still maintained, still needed, compatible with the next upgrade?
- Custom code: where core behaviour has been overridden and what that means for future updates.
- Hosting against Adobe's published system requirements, including the separate search engine and caching services Magento relies on.
- Performance and search health: speed on mobile, indexation, faceted navigation and duplicate URLs.
You then receive a plain recommendation: stabilise and upgrade, simplify, or plan a move to another platform.
Magento for B2B and wholesale
Trade selling is where Magento most often proves its value. Adobe Commerce's B2B features include company accounts with roles, shared catalogues with their own prices, quick order, requisition lists, quotes and purchase order approvals. On Open Source the same outcomes are reached with extensions or custom work, which affects scope and long-term upkeep.
The harder part is usually data: which system holds the truth for customers, prices and stock, and how often it syncs. Our page on B2B ecommerce covers features, ERP integration and platform choice in a platform-neutral way.
Search, Google Shopping and migrations
Big catalogues carry big search risks. Layered navigation can generate thousands of near-identical URLs, products can appear under several category paths, and pagination can confuse crawlers. Magento has the settings to control all of this, but they are rarely right by default. We plan URL structure, canonicals, category content, structured data and internal links as part of the build.
Many Magento retailers also depend on Google Shopping and Performance Max. That relies on a clean product feed: accurate titles, GTINs where they exist, prices and availability that match the site. We design the catalogue so the feed is reliable, and the ongoing organic work sits within ecommerce SEO.
When migrating to or from Magento, every URL that earns visits or links is mapped and redirected, and indexing is monitored closely after launch.
How a Magento project runs, and what drives cost
- Strategy session: a paid 50-minute conversation with the founder about your business, market and whether we fit. Afterwards we decide whether to take the work on.
- Proposal: fixed scope, fixed price and a realistic timeline.
- Discovery: processes, integrations, data flows and buyer journeys for trade and retail customers.
- Design and build: front end, extensions, custom modules and integrations, tested with real product data.
- Migration and launch: data, redirects, payments and monitoring.
- Ongoing development: patches, upgrades and improvements based on how customers use the store.
Cost is driven by licence choice, hosting, the depth of custom design, the number and complexity of integrations, data migration and the upkeep you commit to afterwards. We do not publish starting prices; our guide to ecommerce website costs explains what to ask when comparing quotes.