Magento Open Source Vs Magento Commerce: How To Decide?

Magento, by virtue of being the most popular, easy to install, open-source platform, powers one in every four e-commerce stores. But one of the biggest dilemma’s retailers face is when opting between Magento Open Source Edition (Magento Community Edition) and Magento Commerce Edition (Magento Enterprise Edition).

Here we are trying to make your job a lot easier by listing out why you should choose each edition. We are going to summarize the differences and similarities between the two and the pros and cons of each edition so that you can effortlessly arrive at a conclusion.

This edition of Magento platform is open-source and freely available to download. Since it is open-source, it has higher levels of customization and is apt for small-scale businesses not requiring huge investments. It is easy to customize as per whim, has a full-page cache solution and is suitable for a startup store. In addition, anyone can utilize the Magento Extension Marketplace to enhance the site’s functionality and expand their store.

This Magento edition is premium and is a paid platform. It has an array of inbuilt customization and advanced features which makes it the best choice for leading enterprises. The edition gives its customers the added advantage of the Magento team support and customer service through mail and phone. The package comes with exclusive product enhancements, security updates, and unique features.

These two major Magento editions are alike in quite a few features.
Some of the salient common features are:

• Both are open-sourced
• Both are part of the Magento ecosystem
• They have the same core features
• Have access to Magento Connect - the Magento Extension Marketplace
• Supports use of web server’s API to incorporate with various databases

The significant differences between the two editions pertaining to the key features are :

Magento Open Source is free of cost with a free download option. With Magento Commerce, you need to pay for the advanced features as well as for implementation. The price will be about $22,000 per year for around 1 Million revenue. 

Magento open-source is not PCI compliant and does not feature some of the major security features like credit card tokenization or highly secured payment bridges. But the more transactions you do overtime, you would be able to circumvent the PCI compliance issue.

On the contrary, Magento Commerce has extra security via PA-DSS (Payment Application Data Security Standard), which makes the edition more payment reliable.

Meanwhile, Magento Commerce performs better when it comes to high-end functionality businesses.

Both the editions have the same core.

Magento Open Source has all the base features required to start a brand new Magento store.

It has all the required essential features like:

• Integrated Checkout, Payment, and Shipping - Added payment sources for greater flexibility
• Mobile Optimized Shopping - Optimal viewing across an array of devices
• Global Selling - Transactions possible in multiple countries, currencies, using worldwide shipping providers
• Catalog Management - Creation of rich content across various products: simple, configurable, bundled, and customized
• Extended Functionality via App Marketplace - Possible to add capabilities and connectors using the Magento Extensions Marketplace for a nominal fee
• Instant Purchase - Presenting customers with a faster checkout
• Site Search - Aided by Elasticsearch, which delivers high-quality search results that help augment conversion rates

Magento Enterprise would suit those businesses needing additional functionalities, as it comes packaged with multiple useful features in addition to the above Open Source edition features, such as:

• Account Manager - Dedicated account manager to oversee overall relationships
• Technical Support - 24/7 technical support with an actual person
• Access to Quick Design-Build Express Packages - Express packages offered by Certified Magento Partners, offer quick-launch, low-cost implementation solutions for start-up enterprises.
• Customer Loyalty System - Built-in tools for enabling reward points, gift registries, wish lists, and exclusive private sales events.
• Content Staging, Merging and Preview - Create, schedule, and review site changes faster and more accurately with built-in staging and preview features.
• Business Intelligence Dashboards - Analyze customer buying trends with advanced reporting tools and over 100 ready-to-use reports.
• Integrated B2B Functionality - Advanced B2B capabilities like quoting, custom catalogs, and company accounts.
• Advanced Marketing Tools - Create custom promotions and merchandising tactics for customer groups.
• WYSIWYG Page Builder - Includes a built-in enhanced content management system (CMS) with a drag and drop interface.
• Visual Merchandising - Enables merchants to organize products on catalog pages dramatically faster and easier. Sort by most popular sales items and more with a single click of the mouse.
• Optimized Cloud Commerce for Magento - A cloud environment that is optimized for Magento, so there is one less thing to manage when rolling out a new online store.
• Global Availability- Easily deploy shopping sites across the globe.
• Cloud availability SLA up to 99.99% - SLA covers availability of servers and supporting services.
• Fast Page Loading with Content Delivery Network (CDN) - Content Delivery Network (CDN) is always-on and ready to handle any traffic during peak times (including Black Friday and Christmas). Faster page loading performance for users, enabling increased sales conversion rates, SEO, and a reduced website bounce rate.
• Performance Monitoring Tools - Get real-time data about your site’s performance with application performance monitoring (APM).
• Enhanced Security with Fast WAF and DDoS Services - Protects the store with advanced security.
• PCI Compliant – A security standard intended to ensure that the sellers can securely accept, store, process and transmit a customer’s card details, which in turn prevents frauds, guarantees trust, leading to sales and improved conversions.
• Easy Deployment - Get to market faster with pre-integrated Magento cloud services.
• Streamlined Updates and Testing - Immediately benefit from continuous infrastructure upgrades, performance enhancements, and patches.

There are some more additional out-of-the-box features, namely:

Magento Open Source edition is quite easy to install and operate and hence does not require a round-the-clock support team. In case you need to customize your platform, you can hire an external expert agency to perform the task for you.

Magento Commerce, by virtue of being a premium edition, has the added advantage of full support from the Magento team and customer service.

Our Recommendations on Both the Editions

Open Source edition is loaded with all the essential features required for a standard to mid-range start-up business. The highlight is that the edition is free and can be downloaded even by a layman. It would be more than enough to handle small to medium business transaction volumes. Hence, if you intend to find an economical, decent performing, feature-rich shopping cart solution, this edition would be your best practical choice. It is light on the wallet if you are not keen on making a substantial initial investment on platforms.

The Enterprise edition is a premium edition from Magento. It is an extremely powerful, fast performing tool, laden with a plethora of features which can competently support higher segment of businesses. If your business deals with a 6-figure revenue and you are looking for a platform which can take your e-commerce store to the next level, Magento Enterprise edition is the first choice you should go for owing to its increased scalability and functionality.

There are multiple differences between the two platforms. But if you ask us, when it comes to customer engagement, data security and performance, Magento Enterprise Edition seems to have the upper hand.

You need to take into consideration the plans for your business as well as prospective business growth projections and business goals while you make the final platform choice. You can weigh in the costing and benefits to your brand during the selection process.