In this post, we will dive into the detailed comparison of Magento 1 vs Magento 2.
Magento has released the new Magento which is an upgrade to Magento 1. The Magento 2 is better than Magento 1 in terms of security, performance, SEO, speed, and ease of use.
So, if you are looking for key differences between Magento 1 and Magento 2, keep reading.
Magento 1 vs Magento 2
The major difference between Magento 1 and Magento 2 is that Magento 2 is faster, SEO friendly, and more user friendly than Magento 1. Magento 2 supports the latest PHP and that improves the overall speed of the site. It can take more orders per hour and page loads faster than Magento 1. In addition to cleaner coding and user-friendly dashboard, Magento 2 also offers meta tags functions for better SEO. They were missing in the Magento 1.
What are your options after Magento 1 End of Life?
Differences between Magento 1 and Magento 2
Architectural Differences
The main issue with Magento 1 is the store performance which has been significantly improved in Magento 2.
The Magento team has changed the stack incredibly by adding various new technologies notably – Apache, Composer, Symfony, Nginx 1.7 or higher.
Notable Architecture differences are:
- Magento 2 supports the latest PHP versions. These versions include security improvements that affect the store’s speed.
- Reduction in unnecessary browser’s operations on the client’s side due to bundled and minimized JavaScript.
- Advance browser caching for static content.
| 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 |
Magento 1 vs Magento 2: Speed & Performance
Magento 2 offers faster page load speed when compared to Magento 1.
Thanks to full-page caching Magento has offered in both Community as well as Enterprise Edition.
Few stats of Magento 2 compare with Magento 1:
- Processing 39% more orders per hour
- Instant server response times for catalogue browsing
- Enable up to 66% faster add-to-cart server response times
- Provide up to 51% faster end-to-end checkout times
Magento 1 vs Magento 2 Extensions
Conflicting Extensions:
There are lots of 3rd party extensions available in the market for Magento 1.
The problem with Magento 1 was the extension conflicts. Two or more extensions try to rewrite the same functionality. This issue could only be solved manually before, which was an expensive and time-consuming process.
Although, with Magento 2, plugins allow code to overlap with core code rather than override it.
Affordable Extensions:
Installing and updating new extensions has become more comfortable and pocket-friendly.
The process of installing extensions and modification of functionality is more natural because of the new technology (HTML5, CSS3, Require.js) introduced in Magento 2.
Magento 1 vs Magento 2: Dashboard
The admin panel in Magento 2 is user-friendly and interactive.
It allows finding information quickly, navigates to all parts of the admin panel and manages your store more efficiently.
Magento 2 has a comprehensive dashboard that shows lifetime sales, last orders, average orders, top search terms, revenue tax, and other many functions.
On the other hand, Magento 1 has a messy design.
Magento 1 vs Magento 2: Search Engine Optimization
Magento 2 has not made a great leap from Magento 1 in terms of SEO. But it is better than Magento 1.
Few notable Magento features that Magento 1 is missing:
- Duplicate Content: Magento 2 provides a Canonical tag, so there is no avoid duplicate content issues.
- Meta Title, Meta Description, Meta Keyword: Magento 2 enables the meta tags for the individual pages.
- Mobile-Friendly: Magento 2 is excellently optimized for the Mobiles. It is also a ranking factor.
Magento 1 vs Magento 2: Security
From the Magento 2 documentation.
Magento has strengthened the hashing algorithms (SHA-256) used in password management. Magento now supports Argon2ID13 through the PHP sodium extension, which requires the libsodium library version 1.0.13 or higher.
Password should not be your primary concern if you are using Magento 1. The near threat for you is that Magento is dropping the support after June 2020.
There will no update, security patches or bugs resolving for Magento anymore.
Open Source Platform with no support makes the site vulnerable.
Magento 1 vs Magento 2: Pricing
Although the versions of the community editions of Magento are free to download.
However, there’s a difference in the pricing of Enterprise Edition of Magento 1 and Magento 2.
- Magento EE license cost: starts at $18,000 yearly
- Cost of Magento 2 EE: starts at $22,000 yearly
Magento 1 vs Magento 2: Should you Migrate?
Soon the Magento 1 support will end.
If you have no plan to migrate to Magento 2 yet, make one.
WHY?
For the support, better UI, sleek dashboard, fast-loading, and overall upgraded platform your site deserves.
Follow our guide to migrating the site from Magento 1 to Magento 2 comfortably.
Why are people not Migrating to Magento 2?
Magento 2 is offering so many better functions, but still, people are not moving. Most of the store owners are still on Magento 1 despite the End of Life.
Reasons are:
- Fear of Change: Moving to an unfamiliar platform always creates uneasiness. No one wants to leave the comfort zone. But sooner or later you have to do it.
- Customer Satisfaction: Magento 1 users are okay with M1. They don’t have any reason for taking their store anywhere else.
- Magento 2 Extensions: M2 is offering many functions, but it is still new. M1 has a lot of resources, extensions, and helping communities on the web.
- Expensive Migration: Migrating from Magento 1 to Magento 2 is not a one-click upgrade. It is a completely different platform with its pros and cons, and a learning curve. The migration requires timely resources and big budget.
Magento 1 vs Magento 2 Infographic
Quick Questions
Is Magento 1 still supported?
Yes. But until June 2020. Magento will officially stop providing support after June 2020.
Do I need to upgrade to Magento 2?
No. Magento is not forcing anyone to upgrade to Magento 2. Your store will not disappear if you do not upgrade tpo Magento 2.
However, Magento is dropping the support of Magento 1, and that will leave your Magento 1 store with various security concerns.
Also, Magento 2 has advanced features than Magento 1. M2 is more secure, fast, optimized, and clean than M1.
How do I migrate to Magento 2?
Migrating can be done in 4 easy steps:
- Theme Migration
- Extension Migration
- Customizations Migration using Code Migration Tool
- Data Migration using Data Migration Tool
How much does Magento 2 cost?
The community version of Magento 2 is free.
A Magento 2 Enterprise Solutions Edition license pricing starts at $22,000.00 annually for merchants that generate less than $1 million and pricing tiers up based on revenue.
Final Words
Magento 2 is better than Magento 1 on every scale.
However, there are more guides, resources, and communities around Magento 1. As Magento 1 is present for many years, there is an ample space this platform occupies.
But with time, Magento 2 will garner the same or more space on the web.
The most important part is the support of the Magento community for the regular patches. That Magento 1 will lose.
If you are on Magento 1 and want support, you can contact us.
4 thoughts on “Magento 1 vs Magento 2: Top 7 Differences between M1 and M2 (2023)”
It sounds like with the drop in support everyone should try to migrate to M2 in the next year or two. Is there any reason to use M1 if you’re creating a new ecommerce platform?
People still prefer the Magento 1 platform because the developers are comfortable with it… Also, when it comes to business, people don’t easily trust new technology.
M1 has lots of free resources available, such as extensions, tutorials, themes, extensions etc.
I think there’s any supporting reason to develop an ecommerce store using M1. Reason: the online world has escalated so fast in the recent time during COVID-19 Pandemic as we also witnessed a 5x growth in the ecommerce industry, already.
In my opinion, I would say no! There’s no point to opt for an older version where Magento 2.x fulfils the needs of latest ecommerce trends and technologies like PWA, Cloud and much more.
OMG!! Great information about Magento 1 & 2 version. i’m thankful to read this article because of today i read that after june 2020 Magento 1 will stopped the Support services. it’s official message.