Magento is an open-source eCommerce platform (acquired by Adobe in 2018, now called Adobe Commerce). The full Magento store stack: LEMP + Elasticsearch (search) + Redis (cache, sessions) + Varnish (full-page cache) + a CDN. Adobe Commerce is the paid enterprise version; Magento Open Source is the free community version. The right pick: Open Source for most small-to-medium stores, Adobe Commerce for large catalogs, B2B, or compliance needs.
Table of contents
- The two editions
- The server requirements
- The full stack
- The install
- Hosting for Magento
- When to pick a different eCommerce platform
- How this fits the rest of the stack
- FAQ
The two editions
Magento Open Source - free, community-maintained. The team that has the dev capacity to run it picks this.
Adobe Commerce - paid, with enterprise features (B2B, advanced reporting, customer segmentation, Adobe product integration). The team that needs those features pays the license fee ($20k+/year).
For most small-to-medium eCommerce stores, Open Source is enough. The team that has 1000+ SKUs, complex B2B pricing, or compliance requirements (PCI-DSS Level 1) moves to Adobe Commerce.
The server requirements
Magento is resource-hungry. Minimum for a small store:
-
2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM, 40 GB SSD (the base)
-
4 vCPU, 8 GB RAM, 80 GB SSD (the comfortable)
-
8+ vCPU, 16+ GB RAM, 200+ GB SSD (the production)
The team that under-provisions gets a slow store and angry customers. Magento is a different beast from WordPress in terms of resource needs.
The full stack
Beyond the LEMP base, Magento wants:
-
Elasticsearch or OpenSearch - the search engine. Magento’s catalog search uses it for fast, faceted search.
-
Redis - cache and session storage. Without Redis, Magento stores sessions in the database, which is slow.
-
Varnish - full-page cache. Varnish in front of Nginx serves the cached HTML for anonymous users in microseconds, bypassing PHP and the database entirely.
-
CDN - Cloudflare, Fastly, or AWS CloudFront. The team that has a global audience uses a CDN; Magento is heavy enough that the CDN makes a real difference.
The team that deploys all four (Elasticsearch, Redis, Varnish, CDN) has a Magento store that handles real traffic. The team that deploys just the LEMP base has a Magento store that struggles at 100 concurrent users.
The install
The official install:
composer create-project --repository=https://repo.magento.com/ magento/project-community-edition
cd magento
bin/magento setup:install \
--base-url=https://example.com \
--db-host=localhost \
--db-name=magento \
--db-user=magento_user \
--db-password=secret \
--admin-firstname=Admin \
--admin-lastname=User \
[email protected] \
--admin-user=admin \
--admin-password=strong_password_here \
--search-engine=elasticsearch7
The team that has done this once has a recipe. The team that does it for the first time follows the official Adobe Commerce docs line by line.
Hosting for Magento
Magento needs a host that knows it. The options:
-
Managed Magento hosts (Magento Commerce Cloud, Nexcess, Fastly, Webscale) - the team that wants zero ops uses one of these. Premium pricing, but the team that runs Magento without Magento-specific ops experience has outages.
-
Cloud VMs (AWS, GCP, DigitalOcean, Vultr) with a Magento-tuned image (Cloudways has a Magento stack). The team that has ops capacity and wants control uses this.
-
Self-hosted on a dedicated server or co-location. The team that has a colo and ops team uses this for a large store.
The team that picks the cheapest generic host and tries to run Magento on it has a slow store.
When to pick a different eCommerce platform
Magento is overkill for:
-
Small stores (under 100 SKUs) - WooCommerce (WordPress), Shopify, or even a static site with Snipcart is enough.
-
No customization needed - Shopify or BigCommerce are easier and have less ops.
-
Headless commerce - the team that wants a custom frontend on a commerce backend (e.g., Next.js + Shopify Storefront API) picks Shopify Plus or a headless-friendly platform, not Magento.
The team that has outgrown WooCommerce (or Shopify) and needs the Magento feature set picks Magento. The team that has not outgrown the simpler platforms stays there.
FAQ
Is Magento still a good choice in 2026?
Yes for stores that need its feature set (large catalogs, complex pricing, B2B). The team that needs a simple store picks Shopify or WooCommerce instead. Magento is the right answer when it is the right answer; it is not the default.
What is the difference between Magento and Adobe Commerce?
Magento is the open-source edition. Adobe Commerce is the paid enterprise edition (formerly Magento Enterprise). Adobe Commerce adds B2B, advanced reporting, customer segmentation, and Adobe product integration. The license is $20k+/year.
How much does it cost to host Magento?
For a small store, $30-100/month on a cloud VM with the right stack. For a medium store, $200-1000/month on a managed host or a larger cloud setup. For a large store, $1000+/month. The team that picks the cheapest generic host gets a slow store.
Can I migrate from Magento to Shopify?
Yes - Shopify has a Magento import tool, and several third-party services (Cart2Cart, LitExtension) handle migrations. The team that outgrows Magento for simplicity (or the team that wants less ops) moves to Shopify.
Should I use Magento 2 or wait for the next version?
Magento 2.4.x is the current stable. The team that starts a new project uses the latest 2.4.x. The team that is on 1.x is the team that has not upgraded in 5+ years and should plan the 2.x migration.
How this fits the rest of the stack
For a sense of what the full project costs before it commits, the RunxBuild hosting calculator shows the line items together. The API, the database, the storage, the worker, the bandwidth - each one is a separate number, and the team’s mental model for the platform is the sum of those numbers.
Useful related references: