Hello Magento Folks,
Magento is one of the best platforms to build an Ecommerce store as we all know that. And why do we say that with confidence is because we already have experienced every bit of the ins and outs of the platform.
Magento, after acquired by the Adobe team, made some changes. And one the change was that they officially announced that the Magento will offer three major Editions. One will be Magento Open source, which formerly known as Magento community edition. Second will be Magento Commerce, which formerly known as Magento Enterprise Edition. And third will be Magento Commerce Cloud Edition, which is a fairly new entry to the Magento platform.
After the official announcement, there were lots of merchants and developers who were confused about what each edition meant. The question in the mind of every person was that what benefits they will have over each other and which edition fits better to their needs?
Well, it depends upon the requirement of every person. And we all have different requirements. That’s why we are here to explain to you which platform suits better to you.
So, let’s dive into it and get to know which edition of the platform is better suited for you.
Magento Open Source (Magento Community Edition)
Magento Open Source Edition is quite popular one and mostly used by small to medium businesses and startups. To use this edition, you don’t need to pay any license fee. Means you can download it for free from the official Magento website or from Github. Also, you can go over to this blog where we have shared all the latest version of the Magento Open Source Edition from where you can easily download the latest Magento 2 version.
While Magento Open Source is free, but you still have to pay for your hosting environment, which depends on your requirements. Even though it is free, it still competes with its big rivals. Magento Open Source packs perfect features that one needs just to start their business. This is why it is most popular in the SMB segment.
Despite being fewer features and no built-in modules of Commerce or Cloud Editions, Magento Open Source still can compete with other editions and similar platforms. But it does require to have the right infrastructure and a team of expert developers who can modify and develop your store to outperform others.
With each new version upgrade, Magento is always trying to make the Open Source better and secure for all merchants and Ecommerce Entrepreneurs.
Magento Commerce Editions (Enterprise Edition)
Magento Commerce is a bit of an advanced version with more features than Open Source from right out of the box. While the core codes of the Commerce and Open Source are same, still Commerce Edition has some of the features that include Page Builder, Improved Elastic Search, B2B features, Automated product relations, Content staging, and scheduling, Enhanced Performance, Customer Segmentation, Rewards program, Additional Payments options, Store Credit, Admin Panel restriction on different websites, Magento Priority Support, which are not included in the Magento Open Source Edition.
This edition primarily is made for larger organizations that need priority support and additional features, as mentioned above. These larger Organizations already have a huge customer base of their own and are generating revenue more than $250,000 a year. To use this edition, you have to pay a licensing fee that starts from around $14,000 or more, which varies on your yearly revenue. Magento is strengthening the Commerce Edition for the last two to three years. Which makes it the first choice of all the large organizations.
Magento Commerce Cloud Edition
This is a new entry to the list of Magento edition. Magento Commerce is like an on-premise solution offered by the Magento. At the same time, the Commerce Cloud is their flagship solution that offers the cloud hosting environment with integration to similar AWS cloud services.
This edition has all the features mentioned earlier and a few more such fast CDN and other optimization tools. Also, it now has integration to Adobe services like Adobe Target, Adobe Analytics, Adobe Experience Manager, Adobe Campaign, which are offered to their premium clients.
When it comes to choosing an edition or re-platforming a whole store, most of the huge Brands are going with Commerce cloud because it is getting better and better day by day.
Conclusion
So, in a nutshell, if I have to explain to you that which is better out of the three options, well, it depends upon your requirements and how much you are willing to pay from the start.
If you are just starting your business online and want to build an Ecommerce store, with a budget, not more than $10,000 a year, than you should go with Open Source Edition.
If you are a single entity or big organization that has more budget and a large customer base or you are confident that you can acquire that customer base within a year of starting your business, then you should go with Commerce or Commerce cloud Edition.
