Are you overpaying for Magento? The free version could be smarter choice for your online store

When choosing an e-commerce platform, price is one of the most important decision criteria—so it’s essential to assess carefully whether the investment will actually pay off. That’s why online store owners should honestly ask themselves whether it makes sense to pay license fees for features that could also be achieved with an open-source platform.

Adobe Commerce (formerly Magento Enterprise) often seems like the logical choice for e-merchants. It offers many out-of-the-box features and promises faster development and scalability. “In reality, it’s not that black and white,” explains Margus Eha, CEO of Opus. “Most companies need specific customisations anyway, which means bringing in a development partner – so paying Commerce’s high license fees may not be justified.”

Alongside Adobe Commerce, there is Magento Open Source – the free version of the same platform – which, in the hands of an experienced developer, is technically very capable. “It makes it possible to build a solution that matches a company’s business needs exactly, without having to pay tens of thousands of euros simply for the right to use the platform,” Eha said.

An off-the-shelf solution isn’t always the best option

Opus has built many large-scale, business-critical solutions on Magento Open Source, including complex B2B environments. Although Adobe Commerce provides ready-made B2B functionality out of the box, practice shows that these solutions still can’t be transferred to an online store on a one-to-one basis.

According to Eha, every company has its own unique workflows, customer groups, product ranges, and data flows. There may also be a need for a custom user-permissions system, multi-step approval processes, integrations with accounting or ERP software, or personalised pricing.

“Needs like these require a developer anyway – regardless of whether the platform is paid or open source. That’s why it often makes more sense to direct resources toward building tailored functionality,” he said.

Eha added that while developing a customised solution requires a larger upfront investment, it often pays for itself within the first year. “When you compare development costs with Adobe Commerce license fees, an Open Source–based system quickly becomes more cost-effective. Our experience shows that even for more complex B2B solutions, the difference is clearly noticeable within the first year,” he confirmed.

Just as secure as the paid version

From a security perspective, the open-source version of Magento is not inferior to the paid version. Adobe Commerce, for example, includes built-in PCI DSS compliance, which makes it possible to process and store credit card data yourself if needed. However, most modern payment service providers already offer this functionality.

“In practice, storing credit card data yourself is no longer necessary or recommended, because it adds responsibility and complexity without real business benefit. That’s why you can also build a secure payment solution on Magento Open Source that meets all modern requirements,” Eha explained.

Eha emphasised that in both cases – whether you use Adobe Commerce or Magento Open Source – you still need to take care of security and product updates.

“Either way, you need a development partner to monitor new versions and security patches, test them against the existing system, and deploy them to production. So the paid version doesn’t really offer a more automatic or worry-free solution here, even though it’s more expensive,” he said.

There are situations where Adobe Commerce may be justified – for example, for international brands that need a multi-language, multi-currency, multi-market system with complex permission management and logistics workflows. Commerce may also be the better choice if you need to build the business very quickly and get the online store up and running as fast as possible.

“But most Estonian companies don’t need that kind of scale or complexity, and that’s exactly why Magento Open Source is a more cost-effective and strategically sensible path for them. We prefer Open Source because, for the same investment, we can deliver more business value,” Eha concluded.