Magento & Adobe Commerce versions, what do they mean?

An evolution of Adobe Commerce Cloud towards a more composable, microservice-based architecture. Emphasizes API-first approaches, SaaS-like services for specific functionalities (e.g., catalog, payments, AI merchandising), and a “versionless” experience to simplify upgrades. Adobe’s strategic move to modernize the platform further, making it more agile, scalable, and easier to maintain for enterprise customers.

decoding magento adobe commerce versions

Explore the Eras of Magento

This interactive timeline charts the significant milestones and major version releases in Magento’s history. Click on any point on the timeline to reveal more details. You can also use the buttons below to filter the timeline by specific eras. Milestones are shown with distinct shapes per era, 1.x version releases as triangles, 2.x releases as diamonds.

The Early Days — Magento 1 Era

  • Magento 1 (Initial Concept & Beta)
    • Timeframe: Development started early 2007 by Varien Inc. (founded by Roy Rubin and Yoav Kutner). First public beta released August 31, 2007.
    • Nature: Born out of a need for a more flexible and robust open-source eCommerce platform than existing options like osCommerce (which Varien initially considered forking but decided to rewrite).
    • Significance: Laid the groundwork for a highly extensible and feature-rich eCommerce system based on Zend Framework.
  • Magento Community Edition (CE) 1.x
    • Timeframe: First stable version 1.0 released March 31, 2008. Actively developed with numerous minor versions (1.1 through 1.9.x) until its official End of Life (EOL) on June 30, 2020.
    • Nature: Free, open-source eCommerce platform. Empowered a vast global community of developers and merchants.
    • Significance: Revolutionized the open-source eCommerce landscape, offering unprecedented flexibility and features for its time. Powered hundreds of thousands of online stores.
  • Magento Enterprise Edition (EE) 1.x
    • Timeframe: Launched April 2009. Supported alongside CE 1.x until the EOL date of June 30, 2020.
    • Nature: Paid, commercial version of Magento 1, offering enhanced features (e.g., full-page caching, customer segmentation, SOLR search, more robust scalability options), and dedicated support.
    • Significance: Positioned Magento as a viable solution for larger businesses with more complex requirements, competing with established proprietary platforms.
  • Magento Professional Edition (PE) 1.x (Discontinued)
    • Timeframe: Introduced around May 2010. Discontinued in April/May 2012.
    • Nature: A mid-tier paid version positioned between Community Edition and Enterprise Edition. It offered some features over CE but fewer than EE.
    • Significance/Failure: This edition ultimately did not gain enough traction or clear differentiation in the market, leading to its discontinuation as Magento focused on the CE and EE offerings.
  • Magento Go (Discontinued SaaS Product)
    • Timeframe: Announced February 2011, launched shortly thereafter. Officially shut down on February 1, 2015 (announced July 2014).
    • Nature: A cloud-based, hosted Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution targeted at small businesses and startups, aiming for an easier entry point into eCommerce without self-hosting.
    • Significance/Failure: While an attempt to capture the lower end of the market, Magento Go faced stiff competition from platforms like Shopify and BigCommerce. It offered limited customization compared to the core Magento platform, which was its hallmark. Magento ultimately decided to discontinue it to focus on its core open-source and enterprise products (CE and EE, and the upcoming Magento 2).

The Magento 2 Era & Adobe’s Early Influence

  • Magento 2 (M2) – The Architectural Re-Platforming
    • Timeframe: Development announced as early as 2010. Merchant beta released July 2015. General availability November 17, 2015.
    • Nature: A complete overhaul of the Magento platform with a modern technology stack, improved performance, modularity, a new admin interface, and enhanced scalability.
    • Significance: A critical and necessary evolution to address the technical debt and limitations of Magento 1, setting the stage for the future.
  • Magento Open Source 2.x (Formerly Magento Community Edition 2.x)
    • Timeframe: Released November 2015 alongside Magento 2 EE. Renamed from Community Edition to Open Source around June 2017. Ongoing releases (e.g., 2.0, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4.x). Still available.
    • Nature: The free, open-source version built on the Magento 2 architecture.
    • Significance: Continues the open-source legacy, providing a powerful and flexible platform for a wide range of businesses and developers.
  • Magento Enterprise Edition (EE) 2.x / Magento Commerce 2.x (On-Premise)
    • Timeframe: Released November 2015 (as EE 2.0). Rebranded to Magento Commerce around June 2017. Continued evolution under Adobe post-acquisition (May 2018).
    • Nature: The paid, self-hosted enterprise version for the Magento 2 platform, offering advanced features like B2B modules, Page Builder, Content Staging, Elastic Suite, and enhanced cloud tooling.
    • Significance: The flagship on-premise enterprise offering on the new M2 platform.
  • Magento Commerce Cloud (Later Adobe Commerce Cloud)
    • Timeframe: Introduced for Magento 2, gaining prominence from 2016 onwards. Rebranded to Adobe Commerce Cloud after the Adobe acquisition in 2018.
    • Nature: A Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) offering, bundling Magento Commerce software with cloud hosting (typically AWS, later Azure support added), deployment tools, and managed services.
    • Significance: Offered a more turn-key, scalable cloud solution for enterprise merchants, reducing infrastructure overhead.
  • Magento Business Intelligence (MBI) / Adobe Commerce Intelligence
    • Cost: License is required.
    • Timeframe: Magento acquired RJMetrics in 2016, which formed the basis of MBI. Evolved into Adobe Commerce Intelligence post-Adobe acquisition.
    • Nature: A data analytics and visualization platform integrated with Magento, providing dashboards, reporting, and insights into eCommerce performance.
    • Significance: Added a powerful native analytics capability to the Magento ecosystem, helping merchants make data-driven decisions.

Adobe’s Commerce (current)

  • Adobe Commerce (On-Premise)
    • Cost: License is required.
    • Timeframe: Rebranding occurred progressively after the Adobe acquisition in May 2018.
    • Nature: Magento Commerce (on-premise) integrated into the Adobe Experience Cloud suite.
    • Significance: Signifies Adobe’s strategic direction, leveraging Magento’s commerce capabilities within its broader digital experience platform.
  • Adobe Commerce on Cloud (PaaS)
    • Cost: License is required.
    • Timeframe: Rebranding occurred progressively after the Adobe acquisition in May 2018.
    • Nature: The PaaS version, now fully under the Adobe branding and integrated with Adobe’s cloud services and Experience Cloud.
    • Significance: Adobe’s primary managed enterprise commerce offering in the cloud.
  • Adobe Commerce as a Cloud Service (SaaS)
    • Cost: License is required.
    • Timeframe: A more recent architectural direction and positioning, with discussions and features rolling out from roughly 2025 and on.
    • Nature: An evolution of Adobe Commerce Cloud towards a more composable, microservice-based architecture. Emphasizes API-first approaches, SaaS-like services for specific functionalities (e.g., catalog, payments, AI merchandising), and a “versionless” experience to simplify upgrades.
    • Significance: Adobe’s strategic move to modernize the platform further, making it more agile, scalable, and easier to maintain for enterprise customers.

Major Community & Third-Party Initiatives

  • OpenMage (Magento 1 Fork)
    • Cost: Free, open source.
    • Timeframe: Initiative started around the announcement of Magento 1’s EOL, gaining traction from 2019-2020 onwards. Actively maintained.
    • Nature: A community-led fork of the Magento 1.x Open Source codebase. It aims to provide ongoing maintenance, security patches, bug fixes, and PHP version compatibility for merchants still running Magento 1 after its official EOL.
    • Significance: Offers a lifeline for Magento 1 stores that are unable or unwilling to migrate to Magento 2 or other platforms, ensuring continued operation and security updates driven by the community.
  • Hyvä Themes (Frontend Theme)
    • Cost: License is required.
    • Timeframe: Launched around early 2021 by Willem Wigman. Continuously developed.
    • Nature: A commercial alternative frontend for Magento 2, built from scratch with a focus on performance (Core Web Vitals) and improved developer experience using Tailwind CSS and Alpine.js. It bypasses the complexities of the default Luma theme.
    • Significance: Revolutionized frontend development for Magento 2 by offering a much faster and leaner storefront, addressing one of the major criticisms of the M2 platform.
  • Mage-OS (Magento 2 Open Source Fork/Distribution)
    • Cost: Free, open source.
    • Timeframe: Announced May 2022, first stable releases and distributions in 2023. Actively developed.
    • Nature: A community-driven initiative to create a downstream fork and upstream-compatible distribution of Magento Open Source. It aims to ensure the platform’s longevity, provide a stable and lightweight alternative, and be governed by the community.
    • Significance: Represents a significant community effort to safeguard the future of open-source Magento, offering an alternative to the Adobe-stewarded Open Source version, with a focus on stability, performance, and community governance.
  • Hyvä Commerce (Expansion of Hyvä for Magento Open Source)
    • Cost: License is required.
    • Timeframe: Features and concepts discussed and rolling out from 2025 and on.
    • Nature: Building on Hyvä Themes, Hyvä Commerce aims to enhance other aspects of Magento Open Source, particularly the admin experience. This includes a new admin dashboard, Hyvä CMS, media optimization tools, and potentially more backend improvements.
    • Significance: Extends the Hyvä philosophy of modernization and improved user/developer experience beyond the storefront to the Magento admin panel and other core functionalities for Open Source users.

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