Adobe has officially ended support for Magento 1 starting from June 30, 2020. However, if you look at BuiltWith, many stores still run on the outdated Magento 1 versions. As of November 2022, 34,076 stores use Magento 1.9, and some websites use even older versions.
If you are still using Magento 1 – now is the time to migrate. The longer you wait, the more issues you store will face down the line – and the more expensive the migration process will be.
In this article, we’ll cover the main reasons to migrate and look at the differences between the two.
So, what happens if you continue using Magento 1? You may not have any issues with it now, but it doesn’t mean you never will. Below, we’ll outline the main problems you can potentially encounter.
Adobe takes security seriously, so they constantly make new security updates for the new Magento version. They also frequently publish updates that add new features or improve performance. By using the outdated version of Magento, you miss out on these updates and make your store more vulnerable to potential attacks. Did you know that more than half (57%, to be exact) of cyber attack victims say their breaches could have been prevented by installing security patches? By getting an updated version of Magento, you can make sure you won’t be one of them.
Being PCI compliant means your store is secure, and your clients can trust it with their card information.
Magento 1 is PCI non-compliant, and the browser will notify the users of it. For many customers, security is one of the most crucial factors in deciding where to make a purchase. For this reason, by using Magento 1, you lower your reputation and may lose potential clients.
If you start having issues with your store, you won’t be able to file a support ticket with Adobe, as Magento 1 isn’t supported anymore. Your only option is to ask a question on a community forum (where you aren’t guaranteed to get a reply) or hire someone to solve the problem for you.
As the majority of Magento users switched to Magento 2, the developers switched from making new Magento 1 extensions and updating the old ones. When you decide to add a new feature to your store, finding an extension for it could be problematic, especially if it’s something like an integration with a new service. Your current extensions can also start lagging or have compatibility issues.
Magento 1 is an amazing platform full of great features. However, it is not the most user-friendly and can have performance issues. Magento 2 took Magento 1 strong suites and focused on eliminating the downsides. Let’s look at what Magento 2 has to offer.
Let’s start with the technical aspects.
Compared to Magento 1, Magento 2 added the support of new technologies that allow for more customization. Some of them:
Also, while Magento 1 is stuck with technology from 2020, Magento 2 constantly makes updates to include support for the latest versions of PHP, JQuery, and MySQL.
| Magento 1 | Magento 2 |
|---|---|
| Apache 2.x | Apache 2.2 / 2.4 |
| Nginx 1.7 or greater | |
| PHP 5.2.x – 5.5.x | PHP 5.6.x / 7.0.2 / 7.0.6 |
| MySQL | MySQL / MySQL Percona 5.6.x or greater |
| Varnish 3.x / 4.x | |
| Redis 2.x / 3.x or Memcached 1.4.x | |
| Solr (Only for EE) | Solr 4.x |
| HTML | HTML5 |
| JQuery (In latest themes) | JQuery |
| RequireJS / Knockout.js | |
| Zend Framework 1 | Zend Framework 1 / 2 |
| Symfony | |
| Composer | |
| PSR – 0 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 |
Even a few seconds of delay can cause a significant number of users to leave your store, so you have to make sure it loads as fast as possible.
Compared to Magento 1, the loading speed of Magento 2, on average, is 30-50% faster. Checkout is 38% quicker, and the platform can process up to 39% more orders per hour.
These results are achieved thanks to the implementation of new features and technologies, for example, the use of Varnish cache and full-page caching.
Magento 1 has many good strong selling points, but being user-intuitive is not one of them.
Magento 2 addresses this issue, and the admin panel of the newer version is more visually appealing and easier to navigate.
As a result, store owners with minimal technical expertise can understand the platform more quickly and do more day-to-day operations without asking for help from the developers.
As a bigger and bigger percentage of shopping is done online, providing your clients with a smooth shopping experience on all types of devices is vital.
Optimizing for mobile is a lot easier now. For example, all Magento 2 templates are responsive by default. And by using the PWA Studio, you can create a PWA based on your store.
We’ve briefly managed that Magento 2 is better for SEO purposes since it’s more mobile-friendly, but that’s not all. It added many features designed specifically to improve your SEO, like:
The easier the checkout process is, the lower the cart abandonment rate your store will have. Magento 2 has an instant purchase feature, where after hitting a button, a customer is redirected to the confirmation page, where they can place an order immediately without creating an account.
It also has PayPal and Braintree integrated by default, so the shoppers can checkout faster and not worry about the security of their financial information.
We also wrote about the latest Magento 2 update here, so check it out if you want to see what the platform has to offer right now.
So, let’s look at how the migration process typically goes. It is a more complicated process than a regular update since the platform is dramatically different.
Step 1: Discussion
Every migration case is different. That’s why we start our work together with a call to discuss what needs to be done and how to go about it. You give us your vision, and we present you with possible solutions. After we have our action plan, we can start with the migration process.
Step 2: Store analysis and migration plan
Then we’ll take a look at your store. We’ll see what functionality it has that needs to be replicated and what extensions you have. Together, we’ll decide what should be kept and moved to the new platform and what should be left behind.
Based on this information, we’ll create a migration plan and present it to you.
Step 3: Theme Migration
Magento 1 and 2 are very different architecturally, so you can’t transfer a theme from one to another. But don’t worry, we have several solutions to this problem:
Step 4: Migrate functionality
During this step, we’ll be going through the list of extensions you have installed and choosing their counterparts in Magento 2. If something can’t be replicated, we’ll offer some alternatives or our custom development services.
If you want to enhance the functionality of your website and get new features, we will choose the best extensions for the task or develop custom ones just for you.
Step 5: Data Migration
During this step, we transfer your data to the new platform. Depending on what you want, our Magento migration experts can do anything from just migrating products to moving order history, customer data, price rules, and images. Don’t worry, nothing will be lost here – we can transfer anything!
Step 6: Quality Assurance
We want your store to work flawlessly. For that reason, after each step, we do tests to be sure that everything works as expected and that the new code follows the best practices. At the end of the migration process, we double-check everything again so you get a ready-to-use site with great performance.
Step 7: Website Deployment
Some downtime is unavoidable when deploying a new site, but our experts will make sure the launch happens as quickly as possible.
Step 8: Maintenance
To keep your store in top shape, we’ll keep supporting it after the launch. After the initial launch, we’ll make improvements based on your feedback. After that, we’ll monitor website performance, install updates, fix bugs, and make other changes as needed.
We are Magento experts and handled hundreds of Magento migrations and updates over the years. If you need help, we would be happy to assist you in updating your store from Magento 1 to Magento 2.
Excellent Technical Expertise: We have 8+ years of experience in ecommerce and are always ready to share our knowledge.
No downtime or data loss: You won’t miss any sales or lose any valuable information as a result of the migration.
Transparent Communication: You’ll have access to every part of the project so you can track what stage we are at any given moment.
Seamless Integration With Your Team: Our clients say our developers feel like a part of the team.
We Work Well With Your Busy Schedule: Different time zones and tight deadlines are not a problem.
Efficient Delivery: We always test and double-check everything, so you can rest assured that the code you’ll get will be bug-free from the get-go.
If you have any more questions regarding Magento 1 to Magento 2 migration or about the update process, feel free to contact us!
