Decoding Magento Pricing: What You Need to Know

If you're considering starting an eCommerce business, it's about working smarter, not harder. Adobe Commerce (Magento) is a powerful platform that supports businesses of all sizes, startups, and large-scale enterprises.

One of the great things about the platform that you generally don’t get with other providers is that it gives merchants the freedom to choose the level of involvement they want when it comes to the setup and day-to-day running of their online store. Whether you are setting up a Magento website or exploring the advanced features of Magento Enterprise Edition, the software version you go for comes down to the size of your budget.

Overview of Magento Pricing Plans

In 2018, Adobe acquired Magento Commerce, integrating it into the Adobe Experience Cloud. While many still refer to the eCommerce platform as Magento, its actual post-acquisition name is Adobe Commerce. For purposes of this guide, we will use both terms interchangeably.

Magento is scalable, flexible eCommerce software that allows merchants to create customized B2B and B2C experiences for their customers. Since its acquisition by Adobe, Magento has undergone some major upgrades and boasts powerful features you just don’t get with other eCommerce platforms. Its customization capabilities are virtually unlimited, as users have total access to the source code.

For those interested in understanding the costs, it's important to explore Magento Commerce Cloud pricing and Magento Commerce pricing to make informed decisions based on your business needs.

Here’s an overview of some notable out-of-the-box features that come with Magento.

Magento Native AI

With Magento Commerce, users can create AI-powered tailored solutions for their customers. The built-in AI delivers relevant promotions and content to customers in real-time and personalized browsing, site search, and product recommendations for a seamless shopping experience. The platform’s AI-merchandising tools also come in handy for streamlining business operations to increase your team’s overall productivity.

Magento Built for B2B and B2C

Whether you’re running a B2B or B2C eCommerce business, Adobe Commerce allows merchants to manage multiple brands over various online channels while catering to different audiences. You can expand your business operations into new territories and customer segments using the one interface to oversee your marketplaces.

The great thing about this approach is that regardless of how many storefronts you deploy, you can customize each brand and localize each site with regard to your business offerings, currency, and language.

Magento Powerful Platform Architecture

Magento is a powerful enterprise solution built for infinite growth. Merchants can leverage the powerful developer tools built into the platform to scale quickly and efficiently as needed. As an API-first solution, Magento allows you to develop custom apps, replace or integrate third-party plugins through its API interface, and create interlinked experiences for your customers across all business channels.

Magento Scalability

Whether your eCommerce business is in its startup phase or you're running a medium to large-scale operation, Magento offers unlimited capabilities when it comes to providing personalized customer experiences. No matter how big or small your enterprise is, the speed, reliability, and performance of your website will be optimized to provide consistent customer experiences across the board. In short, Magento scales as your business grows without impacting your store's performance.

Magento Integrations

An online store is only as good as its functionality. The more capabilities it has, the better the user experience for customers browsing your website. The Adobe Experience Cloud is chock-full of powerful apps designed to help you deliver the best experiences for your customers.

Some Magento-specific integrations that store owners find particularly useful include:

• Adobe Real-Time Customer Data Platform and Adobe Analytics to give you a high-level understanding of your business and customers;

• Adobe Journey Optimizer and Adobe Target to analyze data and use it to personalize various touch points in your business;

• Adobe Experience Manager to access information on your products to provide high-impact content to your customers.

See also: How to Migrate From Adobe Commerce to Shopify

Detailed Breakdown of Features Offered in Each Magento Pricing Plan

Under Adobe's new arrangement, the software provider offers two versions of Magento: Magento Open Source and Adobe Commerce.

Magento Open Source

As you probably guessed from the name, Magento Open Source is the open-source version of the eCommerce platform. It is free to download and install, making it a great option for merchants with a limited budget.

While it offers the essentials required to build an online store from scratch, you must have a web development background to get it up and running. If you don't possess these technical skills, you will have to hire a web development expert to build your online store using the software.

All things considered, it is a small price to pay for the features you get with it. These include:

• A beginner-friendly content management system (CMS) that comes pre-loaded with a drag-and-drop website builder that lets you move blocks easily;
• Catalog and site search functionality
• Mobile device optimization capability
• Integrated checkout processes, payment providers, and shipping options
• An app marketplace for plugins, add-ons, and extensions

As flexible as open-source platforms are, they have their fair share of limitations. Magento Open Source is no different. Site owners have to pay separate fees to different service providers for running various aspects of their store. For instance, you’ll need to pay for your domain name, hosting plan, site backups, any customizations you might have, and general site maintenance.

It is also worth noting that Magento Open Source doesn’t include Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliance. This means that you’ll need to pay for it separately before you can start receiving credit card payments from customers.

As you can see, these costs can start to rack up after a while. The total expense to your business will vary depending on the services you pick.

Adobe Commerce

If you prefer a more hands-off approach to running an online store, Adobe Commerce Cloud is a great option. It is a fully-featured solution that offers many eCommerce features, including, but not limited to, PCI compliance, marketing tools, technical support, and more. You don't have to worry about managing all the different aspects required to make your online store fully functional. Adobe Commerce Cloud is fully managed, freeing you to focus on what matters – running your business.

Before the 2018 acquisition of Magento by Adobe, the software provider had different products, each with a different Adobe Magento pricing plan. If you recall, there was Magento Enterprise pricing, which differed from Magento Cloud Pricing. Today, however, Adobe has rolled everything into a single product – Adobe Commerce.

Unfortunately, the software provider has not provided any details on the specific pricing under the new structure. Based on the information provided on the website, you will need to fill in the form provided with your contact information and wait for a sales rep to give you a call. They will pose a series of questions about your business so that they can provide you with a custom Magento 2 pricing quote based on your specific needs.

That said, Adobe Commerce comes in two flavors: Commerce Pro and Managed Services. Adobe Commerce Pro is built for merchants with a business of any size or model and provides an all-inclusive eCommerce package with loads of features. Adobe Commerce Managed Services is designed to provide expert-level site management for online stores with larger demands.

For the most part, the two Adobe Commerce variants offer the same features. However, Managed Services has a few more you don’t get with Commerce Pro. Here’s a comparison of the two.

Keep in mind that the Magento max pricing quote you receive will be calculated based on your business’s Average Order Value (AOV) and Gross Merchandise Value (GMV).

Adobe Commerce Features at a Glance

Magento has many features designed to level up your eCommerce operations in every aspect of running your online store. Here’s a brief overview of them.

Sales Features

Magento Commerce's sales features are designed to allow customers to shop on your online store from wherever they may be in a way that delivers the best user experience based on their tastes and preferences. Some notable sales features include:

• Amazon sales channel
• Channel manager
• Headless commerce
• Integrated B2B functionality
• Mobile-friendliness
• Multi-brand capability
• Payment solutions
• Quick and convenient checkout

Management and Delivery Features

Magento’s management and delivery features allow you to create a custom-tailored shopping experience for customers by providing them with multi-channel order fulfillment options, self-service convenience, and custom offers and promotions. The more tailored your business is to the needs of your customers, the higher your conversion rates and revenues will be. Some notable management and delivery features in Magento include.

Magento marketplace offers a wide range of extensions and plugins that can enhance the functionality of your online store. With magento development, you can create unique solutions tailored to your specific business needs. Whether it's optimizing your website for better performance or adding new features, Magento development allows for a flexible and scalable approach.

• Catalog service
• Customer account management
• Inventory and order management
• Live search
• Page Builder
• Powerful user experience
• Product recommendations
• Progressive Web Apps (PWA) Studio
• Store fulfillment

Analytics and Optimization Features

Magento provides merchants with insight tools to personalize customers’ user experience in real time. You can easily create a customized analytics dashboard to visualize your business data, even with no coding knowledge. Some notable analytics and optimization features in Magento include:

• Reporting tools, data visualizations, and data export
• Business intelligence

Business Growth Features

Magento's business growth tools are designed to help you scale your eCommerce business without compromising security. Thanks to its expansive global network of certified integrators and rich support resources, you can drive high-value customer experiences without succumbing to pricey technical overheads. Some of Adobe Commerce’s notable business growth features include:

• Robust site security
• PCI-DSS compliance
• Optimized store performance
• Extensions, themes, and apps
• ERP system integration
• Data warehousing and management
• Cloud-based service delivery

See also: Magento In-Depth Review

Magento Cost for Website Development

The cost of developing a website using Magento can vary widely based on several factors, including the complexity of the project, the level of customization required, and whether you choose Magento Open Source or Magento Commerce. For a basic Magento Open Source website, development costs can start around $10,000 to $40,000, encompassing essential features and a standard theme. For more advanced requirements, such as custom design, additional integrations, and enhanced functionality, costs can escalate to $50,000 to $100,000 or more. Magento Commerce, with its premium features and cloud hosting, typically incurs higher costs, often starting at $22,000 annually for the license alone, not including development and maintenance. Additionally, ongoing expenses such as hosting, security, extensions, and updates can add to the total cost. Hiring experienced Magento developers is crucial, and their rates can range from $50 to $200 per hour depending on their expertise and geographical location.

Overall, while Magento offers robust capabilities for large-scale and highly customized eCommerce solutions, businesses should be prepared for a significant investment to leverage its full potential. When considering Magento Commerce Cloud, it's important to understand Magento pricing how much it will impact your budget, as this platform is designed for businesses aiming for extensive scalability and advanced features.

Additional Fees to Consider

Aside from the Magento eCommerce pricing costs to run your online store, there are various one-time and recurring costs you must factor into your overall business expenditure. You will also need to pay for:

Web Hosting

Your eCommerce online store will need to be hosted somewhere. The Magento license does not include hosting. Depending on the resources required to run your online store and how much you value your site security, you can choose between shared hosting, dedicated hosting, and managed cloud hosting.

Shared hosting is at the bottom of the totem pole as far as Magento security goes since your website will be hosted alongside several others on the same server. A security breach on one or more websites on the server could put your store in jeopardy. It explains why it is the cheapest hosting option of the bunch.

Dedicated hosting is marginally better than its shared counterpart since your website will be hosted on a single server. Unless hackers target the server, you don't have to worry about a security threat spreading from a different website to yours on the server. Dedicated hosting costs more than the shared option.

Managed cloud hosting is the most expensive option and offers the highest security level compared to the other two. It also costs significantly more.

Depending on the web hosting option you pick for your Magento store, costs can run anywhere between $10 and $200+ per month.

Domain

The cost of acquiring a domain isn’t included in the Magento enterprise pricing license fee. Depending on the type of domain you’re getting (premium vs. regular; new vs. expired), costs can run anywhere between $10 and $500+ per year.

A brand-new domain name costs $10 - $20 annually. An expired domain name costs $20 - $500 annually. An active premium domain name can set you back thousands of dollars when acquiring it.

SSL Certificate

Unless you want that horrendous red "Not Secure" warning displayed on your eCommerce website, you must purchase a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate. Not only will it make your online store look trustworthy, but it will also ensure sensitive customer data such as credit/debit card details and personally identifiable information is encrypted to prevent hackers and other bad actors from intercepting transactional data.

On average, an SSL certificate will set you back roughly $50 - $300 annually, although you could get a free one from Let Encrypt. It’s just as effective as the paid options, especially if you're just starting a business and want to keep costs low.

Web Design

Like any eCommerce website, you need a storefront – the visual design of your online store. With Magento, you can go the template route and install a professionally designed, ready-made theme from the Adobe Commerce Marketplace or popular third-party websites like ThemeForest. Alternatively, you could hire a web design professional to create a custom-made theme for your store and have them bring your vision to life.r

Whether to go the ready-made theme or custom-made design route is all a matter of preference and ultimately boils down to how much wiggle room you have in your budget. The cost of a ready-made theme ranges between $0 and $200+. It's always a good idea to get a premium theme instead of the freebies.

The cost of retaining a web designer varies significantly depending on the individual you work with and the complexity of the design. Most designers bill by the hour, and it can take 40-180 hours to create a custom design. At a minimum, a decent web designer will charge $40 - $50 an hour, so budget for at least $2,000 to be safe.

Web Development Expert

Design aside, you will need to bring a web developer on board. They're the ones who'll create the actual site pages, structure, and functionality of your Magento store. At the bare minimum, they will need to create a homepage, product page, category page, shopping cart page, and checkout page.

Even if you're using a ready-made theme, you'll still need a web developer to come in and adjust them to align with your brand design. They may move the blocks around, change the font family, text color, button design, icons, and anything else that doesn’t fit your store’s overall aesthetic.

With that in mind, web developers typically charge by the hour. Their rates range between $50 and $60 an hour. It might be slightly higher for some. Overall, you’ll want to set aside roughly $2,000 for at least 40 hours’ worth of work.

Apps and Extensions

The Adobe Commerce platform provides merchants with the basic functionality required to run an eCommerce business. However, you’ll still need to install critical apps and extensions to enhance its functionality for both you and your customers.

The Adobe Commerce Marketplace is host to 4,000+ extensions to support a wide range of business functions including, but not limited to:

• Analytics and Reporting
• Content and customizations
• Customer support
• Finance and Accounting
• Payments and security
• Sales and marketing
• Shipping and fulfillment
• Site optimization

While free extensions are available, high-quality, value-packed apps usually have a cost element to them. Some require a one-off lifetime fee, while others bill you periodically – usually monthly or annually. The total cost of extensions will vary depending on the provider’s reputation and the number you have installed on your site. On average, it may set your business back $50 - $500+ per month.

Transaction Processing Fees

PayPal, Stripe, and Authorize.net have a combined market share of 75.6%. You’ll need to provide two or more suitable modes of payment customers can use to conveniently pay for purchases. The setup process for these providers is free. However, they will take a cut of every transaction processed. Transaction fees for payment processors and credit card processing range between 2% to 3% per transaction. Pick a payment solution that aligns with your business needs.

Digital Marketing and SEO

Having a functional online store is only one piece of the puzzle. eCommerce businesses in every industry are a dime a dozen. For this reason, you will need to invest significantly in digital marketing and search engine optimization (SEO) to promote your store and boost its visibility, even if your products and services are highly niche.

On average, the cost of SEO and digital marketing is $20,000-$50,000+ per year if you’re looking to get your website on the first page of search engine results pages (SERPs). These figures can be higher if you’re running ads as well.

Factors to Consider When Choosing the Right Magento Plan

Which Adobe Commerce plan should you choose for your business? Should you choose Magento Open Source or Adobe Commerce?

The truth is – there’s no right or wrong answer. The choice of one over the other comes down to the size of your business, the size of your budget, and the size of your demands. Here’s a breakdown of these and other factors you must consider when choosing a Magento plan.

Site Management

While Magento Open Source is free to download, the associated running costs are an inescapable part of running your eCommerce store. It is also a little tech-heavy as far as the setup process goes and, therefore, requires your full involvement when it comes to maintenance.

You must also factor in the costs associated with security, compliance, customizations, integrations, development, and hosting. For a small business on a budget, these costs can rack up, leaving you with a hefty price tag even though it is free to download.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, you have Adobe Commerce. It is a great option if you would rather free yourself up to run other aspects of your store and pay a subscription fee to have everything managed for you. For a standard fee, Magento takes care of security, hosting, PCI compliance, updates, and everything else involved in running an online store. This arrangement is especially handy if you're not particularly tech-savvy or simply don't want to be bothered with the nitty-gritty of backend processes.

Security

One critical aspect of running an eCommerce business is managing customer details, including their credit card information, transaction history, addresses, and other personally identifiable information. Store security is, therefore, a top priority to check that sensitive information is kept safe and secure against hackers and other bad actors.

Magento Open Source, like other open-source software, makes it your sole responsibility to keep this information safe and secure against imminent cyber threats. You must meet PCI compliance standards and maintain your eCommerce website's security. The web application firewall you install must be reliable and regularly updated to protect your website from hackers.

With Adobe Commerce, the service provider manages your website's security and PCI compliance, including installing the necessary security patches as and when needed. If doing this yourself sounds like a hassle you would rather not take on, you're better off choosing Adobe Commerce over Magento Open Source.

Installation

Magento Open Source and Adobe Commerce are easy to install, even if you're not tech-savvy. While Magento Open Source is free to install, you have to factor in the setup process, subsequent management of the website, and associated expenses that come with running your eCommerce store.

Adobe Commerce does not offer a free trial. However, the website has a form through which you can provide your contact details so that a sales representative can contact you to gather some basic information about your business and determine what an appropriate plan for your business would be. Once your site is set up, the Magento team will handle all the backend processes for you.

Customization

Customization is a critical part of building an online store. This one thing alone is arguably the biggest difference between Magento Open Source and Adobe Commerce. Magento Open Source provides merchants with full access to the source code, allowing them to customize every aspect of their eCommerce website to their liking. You can completely customize your online store without restriction to meet your business needs. Unfortunately, this is a very technical and complex process that is best left to a web development expert.

With Adobe Commerce, however, you don't get as much freedom to customize your website as you do with its open-source counterpart. While Magento maintains full control over the source code, it provides an array of ready-made themes, modules, plugins, and extensions you can use to enhance the core functionality of your store. It is also a great option if you don't have coding experience or adequate resources to build your online store from scratch.

Support and Maintenance

As a Magento Open Source user, you are solely responsible for your eCommerce website’s support and ongoing maintenance. Since you have full control over and access to the source code, you are responsible for your website's administration, underlying infrastructure, software updates and upgrades, and security patches. If you encounter any issues while using the eCommerce software, you're on your own as far as finding a resolution goes.

If you don’t have the time, resources, patience, or technical know-how to devote to platform maintenance, Adobe Commerce would be a better option. The Magento team would take on the responsibility of ongoing maintenance and support.

Total Cost of Ownership

When choosing between Magento Open Source and Adobe Commerce, the total cost of ownership must play a major part in your decision. Magento's upfront costs can be deceiving since it is free to download and install.

However, you'll soon discover that between security costs, maintenance fees, integration costs, hosting expenses, licensing fees, etc., the amount you spend on monthly subscriptions versus the time, energy, and resources dedicated to running your online store, you would have been better off paying a flat fee with Adobe Commerce and letting the provider take care of everything else involved in running your website.

Adobe Commerce’s upfront costs might seem daunting at first, but it is cheaper and less tasking in the long run compared to Magento Open Source.

See also: Magento 2 Data Migration for Non-Technical Users

Magento vs. Other Platforms: Pricing Comparison

When it comes to Magento, the version you pick largely depends on the size of your business. Magento Open Source is suited to growing mid-range businesses with plans to scale. Adobe Commerce is better for large-scale businesses with high-volume operations. It is the only way the cost will make sense.

If you're just starting and have plans to set up an online store, you're better off going with something more beginner-friendly, more cost-effective, and less labor-intensive. Shoplift, Squarespace, and BigCommerce are some excellent options to consider and offer all the critical functionalities your business requires at that level.

Once your business scales and requires higher-level performance, you can switch to something more powerful like Magento.

Final Thoughts

There you have it – everything you need to know about Magento eCommerce pricing. The cost implication of using Magento Open Source versus Adobe Commerce for your eCommerce business boils down to the level of customization you require and how hands-on you’re willing to be with regard to the security and maintenance of your website.

At first glance, Magento Open Source might seem like the cheaper option, given that it is free to download and install. However, when you factor in the associated costs of adding functionality to your store, alongside the time and resources required to maintain and ensure your store is secure against hackers and other bad actors, Adobe Commerce presents a better option. The downside is that you don't get nearly as much functionality as with Magento Open Source.

In conclusion, Magento pricing depends on various factors such as the level of customization, security needs, and whether you choose managed Magento hosting or handle the maintenance yourself.

If you're looking to switch from Magento Open Source to Adobe Commerce or any other eCommerce provider, Cart2Cart can help you do just that. Our fully automated shopping cart replatforming tool can migrate your online store in a few simple clicks with no risk of data loss or downtime for your store.

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FAQs

Is Magento free or paid?

Magento has two product variants: Magento Open Source and Adobe Commerce. The open-source version of the software is free to download and install. Adobe Commerce has a standard subscription fee merchants must pay to use the software and leverage its fully managed services.

How much does Adobe Magento cost?

Unfortunately, Adobe has not provided any details on the specific pricing of Magento. Based on the information provided on the website, you will need to fill in the form provided with your contact information and wait for a sales rep to give you a call. They will pose a series of questions about your business, at which point they will provide you with a custom Magento cloud pricing quote based on your specific needs.

Why is Magento so expensive?

It’s no secret that Adobe Commerce doesn’t come cheap. The reason for this has a lot to do with the fact that Magento is an enormously powerful platform with virtually infinite potential as far as customization and functionality go. It might explain the premium price tag.

Is Magento no longer free?

Magento has two versions of its software: Magento Open Source and Adobe Commerce. Magento Open Source is free to download and set up. On the other hand, Adobe Commerce requires a monthly subscription fee attached to it, depending on the size and needs of your business.

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We'd love to hear your thoughts on Magento pricing and how it has impacted your eCommerce plans. Have you found the costs associated with Magento to be justified by its features and capabilities? Whether you've chosen Magento Open Source for its flexibility or Magento Commerce for its advanced tools and support, your experiences can provide valuable insights for others considering this platform. Share your stories about development expenses, ongoing costs, and the overall value you’ve gained from using Magento. Join the discussion by leaving a comment below!

What can we do for you?

At Cart2Cart, we understand that navigating Magento pricing and migrating to this robust platform can be complex and daunting. We're here to simplify this process for you. Our team offers seamless, automated migration services that can transfer your existing online store to Magento without the hassle of manual data entry or the risk of data loss. We can help you understand the different pricing tiers of Magento, including both Open Source and Commerce versions, and advise on which option best suits your business needs. Additionally, we provide guidance on managing development and maintenance costs, ensuring that you get the most value out of your investment. Let us handle the technical details so you can focus on growing your business. Reach out to Cart2Cart today to learn how we can facilitate a smooth transition to Magento and help you decode its pricing structure effectively.