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Online commerce has evolved very quickly in a short period of time. In just a few years, it has allowed users to buy almost anything they wanted. But not only clients benefited from the online commerce, but so did the merchants, because they were able to expand their business and reach more potential customers who were just a few clicks away. Although online commerce seems quite simple, in reality, things are not so easy. An online store is not easy to create or manage, especially if managers do not have higher-level skills in using technology. Therefore, there was a need for intuitive platforms, easy to use by both traders and customers. One of the most popular platforms is Magento. This is a platform with built-in PHP, on the basis of which you can build eCommerce websites very easily. It was launched in 2008, and since then it has been constantly improved and with its help, tens of thousands of businesses have entered the online sphere, among them being even big names on the market, such as Nike or Samsung. Currently, the most popular versions of Magento are Magento 1 and Magento 2, and below we will present 5 differences between them and how you can decide which is the best version for you.
Pricing
It is probably one of the criteria that will matter the most to you, especially if you are new on the market and do not want to invest a lot in your business. You should know that the versions of the Community editions of Magento are free to download, but if you want the professional versions, more precisely the Enterprise editions, the prices are:
- Magento EE: starts at $18,000/subscription/year
- Magento 2 EE: start at $22,000/subscription/year.
SEO
In terms of SEO, there are no big differences between the two versions, but overall we can say that Magento 2 is better than Magento 1, because it provides extra elements:
- Duplicate Content: Magento 2 offers Canonical tags
- Meta Title, Meta Description, Meta Keyword for each page
- Mobile-Friendly interface.
It is also interesting that you can benefit from certain Magento 2 Extension, which can also optimize the SEO process.
Dashboard
If you are not familiar with technology or you want a platform that is very easy to use, Magento 2 is the ideal option for you. The Admin Panel is interactive and user-friendly, so it allows you to navigate the menu without problems, in an intuitive way. Magento 2 also includes information about last orders, average orders top search terms, revenue tax, lifetime sales, and much more, unlike Magento 1.
Security
The main difference between Magento 1 and Magento 2 is that starting from 2020, Magento 1 will no longer receive official support, so it is possible to risk a lot, given that there will be no updates and no bug resolving for this version, which can make your site vulnerable.
Speed and performance
As you already expected, Magento 2 is faster and more powerful than the first version (Community or Enterprise Edition). Magento 2 stands out with the following features:
- can process 39% more orders per hour
- end-to-end checkout times are up to 51% faster
- instant response of the server for catalog browsing
- add-to-cart server response up to 66% faster.
If you are already using Magento 1 and want to give up and opt for Magento 2, you need to consider certain aspects. First of all, it will not be an "upgrade", because the platforms are very different. Practically, your whole business will move to a new platform, it's not like updating an application and receiving some extra-benefits. So you have to weigh in the decision very well and be aware of what it entails. Shortly, if you want to migrate to Magento 2, you need to consider the following changes:
- your whole database will be exported and rearranged to fit the new structure of Magento 2
- all the images and other media files must be imported manually
- if you had a custom extension installed (more than likely you did, because they are the basis of custom online stores) you will need to rewrite it to match the new files, the architectural structure, and all the operations of Magento 2, as it happens and with certain themes and templates.
If you find all these steps too complicated, you can opt for a migration tool offered by Magento 2, which will help you transfer all the information and adapt the installed extensions.
In conclusion, as you can see, Magento 2 is a superior version, but in the end, the choice is yours! You can either choose Magento 2 to upgrade your business or if you are willing to learn new things, you can choose an individual online store. However, we recommend you to choose Magento because it is so easy to use and it offers you many advantages.
