Over the last decade, a couple of aspects have changed within the tech world and Magento is no exception. Although Magento has gained a loyal customer base with its first product it was not without its problems. Magento 2 was released to resolve some of these issues however, it received mixed reviews.
Magento has launched the latest Magento version which is an upgrade from Magento 1. In this article, we will go over the specific comparison of Magento 1 against Magento 2.
Magento 1 vs Magento 2
The primary distinction that exists between Magento 1 and Magento 2 is that Magento 2 is faster, SEO-friendly, and more user-friendly in comparison to Magento 1.
Magento 2 supports the latest PHP and improves performance overall on the website. It will process more orders in an hour and pages load quicker that Magento 1.
Along with cleaner code and an easy-to-use dashboard, Magento 2 includes meta tags for improved SEO. They were absent in Magento 1.
Before we dig into details, let’s do a quick comparison:
| Magento 1 | Magento 2 |
| Apache 2.x | Apache 2.2 / 2.4 |
| Nginx 1.7 or more | |
| PHP 5.2.x — 5.5.x | PHP 5.6.x 7.0.2 / 7.0.2 / 7.0.6 |
| MySQL | MySQL Percona / MySQL MySQL Percona 5.6.x or greater |
| Varnish 3.x or 4.x | |
| Redis 2.x / 3.x or Memcached 1.4.x | |
| Solr (Only for EE) | Solr 4.x |
| HTML | HTML5 |
| JQuery (In the most current themes) | JQuery |
| RequireJS/ Knockout.js | |
| Zend Framework 1 | Zend Framework 1 / 2 |
| Symfony | |
| Composer | |
| PSR – 0/1 2 / 3 4 |
Now let’s discuss the difference in various factors.
Architecture
The major problem that Magento 1 has is Magento 1 is the store performance, which has been substantially enhanced with Magento 2.
Magento team has transformed the stack dramatically by adding diverse new technologies, including Apache, Composer, Symfony, and Nginx 1.7 or higher. The main differences in Architecture are:
- Advanced browser caching for static content.
- The reduction in the number of unnecessary browser operations on the client’s part because of bundled and reduced JavaScript.
- Magento 2 supports the most current PHP versions. These versions have security enhancements that impact the speed of the store.
Magento 2 supports the Zend Framework 1 and 2 (instead of just Zend Framework 1 for Magento 1). Magento 2 is also now compatible with MySQL Percona 5.6 and greater.
Magento 2 has also added new technologies that aren’t accessible in Magento 1. This includes the following:
NGINX: Open-source Web server which functions as a reverse proxy and HTTP cache and load-balancer.
Varnish: It is a cost-effective alternative for web acceleration that could improve the speed of your Magento 2 website.
Composer: The tool used for managing dependency in PHP that allows users to use third-party libraries, without having to bundle them with source code. It can also help reduce conflicts with extensions.
Symfony: Symfony is a PHP Web application framework that helps you to manage the contents, functionality, as well as design of your web store.
Redis: A free source storage of data structures in memory that serves as a cache for databases or broker of messages.
Speed: Magento 2 offers a faster page loading speed when compared with Magento 1.
Due to the full-page caching feature, Magento offers both Community and Enterprise Edition.
A few stats from Magento 2 compared to Magento 1.:
- Processing 39 percent more orders in an hour
- Up to 51% speedier end-to-end checkout times
- Rapid server response time for catalog browsing
- You can enjoy the possibility of up to 66% speedier time for add-to-cart server responses
Magento 1 has an average speed of loading pages that exceeds two seconds. This is a concern due to studies have revealed that sales conversions decrease dramatically for each second of load time. According to this Google Webmaster video, 2 seconds is the minimum requirement for eCommerce websites’ acceptance.
Magento 2 is faster all across frontend performance. It has page loading speeds that are about 50 percent faster for the homepage and pages for products.
Payment gateway
The ability to let your customers pay using the payment method that is the most familiar to them will help in creating trust and increasing the conversion rate of your online business.
In Magento 1, the eCommerce software merchants can connect most of the most popular payment gateways to be used on their Magento website. This usually involves integration with a third party or developing work on a custom basis.
Contrary to Magento 1, Magento 2 now supports the most widely used payment gateways in a seamless manner, without the need for additional integrations. Accepted gateways are PayPal, Braintree, and Authorize.net.
Extensions
There are a lot of third extension extensions that are available on the marketplace for Magento 1.
The issue in Magento 1 was the extension conflicts. More than one extension attempts to modify the functionality. This problem could only be addressed manually in the past it became a costly and time-consuming procedure.
But Magento 2 allows code to overlay with the core code, but not override it.
Making changes and installing new extensions is now more convenient and easy on the pocket.
The procedure of installing extensions and modifying functions is much more natural as a result of the latest technologies (HTML5, CSS3, Require.js) implemented within Magento 2.
Customer support
Sometimes, you need assistance to make your store work exactly how you want it to. What version of there is one that will give you that assistance?
In Magento 1, as the product is now sunset it is no longer receiving updates or patches from Magento to run your store. It’s your own, on your own, in a lifeboat drifting in the sea.
When using Magento 2, the level of support for customers varies based on the version you’re working with. In our introduction, Magento 2 covers both Magento Open Source, Magento Enterprise Edition as well as Enterprise Cloud Edition. Only the last two choices offer support, but they are expensive cost. Magento Open Source is free to download but doesn’t come with customer service.
Dashboard
The admin panel of Magento 2 is user-friendly and interactive.
It makes it easy to find information quickly, allows access to all areas in the administration panel, and helps you manage your store more effectively.
Magento 2 offers a full dashboard that displays the lifetime sales, the average orders, last orders, the top keywords including revenue tax, as well as numerous other features.
However, Magento 1 has a messy design.
Organic online presence and SEO
Magento 2 has not made an impressive leap over Magento 1 in terms of SEO. However, it’s far superior to Magento 1.
Some important Magento characteristics that Magento 1 isn’t able to provide:
- Mobile-Friendly: Magento 2 is extremely optimized for Mobiles. It’s also an important ranking factor.
- Duplicate content: Magento 2 provides a Canonical tag, which means that there’s no way to a problem with duplicate content.
- Meta Title Meta Description, Meta Keywords: Magento 2.2.0 allows meta tags to be used on individual pages.
Security
Magento has boosted the algorithms for hashing (SHA-256) that are used for password management. Magento now is able to support Argon2ID13 via the PHP sodium extension, which requires libraries libsodium version 1.0.13 or greater.
The password should not be your main concern if you’re working with Magento 1. The real threat is that Magento is removing support in June 2020.
There are no security patches, updates, or issues that are resolved for Magento any longer.
Open Source Platform with no support for the platform makes it vulnerable.
Pricing
Even though the community versions of Magento can be downloaded for free.
However, there’s a slight difference in the price of the Enterprise Edition of Magento 1 and Magento 2.
- Magento EE license cost: starts at $18,000 annually
- Price for Magento 2. EE: starting at $22,000 annually
The version for the community of Magento 2 is free.
Magento 2 Enterprise Solutions Edition price begins with $22,000.00 annually for businesses with lower than one million dollars in revenue and pricing tiers go up based upon the amount of revenue.
Why should you migrate from Magento 1 to Magento 2?
In the near future, Magento 1 support will end.
If you don’t have plans to move from Magento 2, create one.
For support, improved user interface, sleek dashboard, speedy loading, and overall improved platform that your website deserves.
Follow these steps to migrate the website from Magento 1 to Magento 2 with ease.
Why aren’t users migrating from Magento 2?
Magento 2 has many more functions however, many people aren’t making the switch. Many stores are still using Magento 1 despite the End of Life.
The reasons are:
- The Fear of Change: The transition to a new system always causes anxiety. It is difficult to step out of their comfort zone. However, sooner or later, you will have to make the decision.
- Customer Satisfaction: Magento 1 customers are satisfied with M1. They don’t have a reason to move their stores elsewhere.
- Magento 2 extensions: M2 offers numerous functions, however, it’s not yet fully developed. M1 includes a wealth of extensions, and tools as well as helping communities across the internet.
- Extremely expensive migration: The process of moving between Magento 1 to Magento 2 is not an easy upgrade. It’s a totally different platform that has its advantages and disadvantages, as well as an extensive learning curve. It requires a lot of time and a substantial budget.
Conclusion
Magento 2 is better than Magento 1 on every scale. However, there are many guides as well as resources and communities centered around Magento 1. Since Magento 1 is present for several years, it has plenty of space that the platform.
Hiring a professional Magento development firm would be a good idea if you are planning to migrate to Magento 2. With time, Magento 2 will garner the same or even more of the internet.
