Magento 1 End Of Life — What’s Next For Magento Store Owners?

Joe Ayyoub — Director of Support Operations, Magento has officially announced that, from June 2020, the eCommerce giant will officially break-off the support for Magento 1.X versions. Although the news was not that surprising, it has put store owners in a position where they may feel confused and pressured into an expensive upgrade.

So, what does this mean for you as a Magento store owner?

Don't get panic, it's not that your website will be idle or will be a mess. But as there will be no official updates beyond June 2020, it’s critical that you take some form of action. Here we discuss the top 5 options that would be worth trying on how to deal with this.

• Stay With Magento 1 without doing anything

If your current Magento 1.x site is performing well, there’s no need to rush into anything. Hopefully, there will be no major vulnerabilities that appear in the near future. We can run the risk of unsupported software and it is just a matter of time before the technology gets outdated.

• Continue with Magento 1 with support

There are open-source communities that support Magento 1 like OpenMage. Let’s hope a lot of community support continues for Magento 1 along with security patches. Also, Magento has recommended merchants to review their Software Lifecycle Policy to see if this includes quality fixes and security patches for their version of the platform.

• Migrate to Magento 2

This is totally up to you to decide, as you would be knowing better about your business needs and what specifically require from your eCommerce solution. Magento 2 is today’s leading eCommerce platform empowering millions of stores to accomplish digital transformation. Shifting your gears from Magento 1 to 2 may sound daunting, but with the right technical partner at your side — you can make the shift smoothly without hindering your current structure.

• Move to another Open-source system

If you are considering a cheaper and an alternative eCommerce platform, the best option out there would probably be Shopware. It is a great alternative that has been taking over Europe in the past few years.

• Migrate to some SaaS solution, like Shopify

Migrate to a SaaS solution is quite a straight forward option if you don’t mind going into a hosted solution. A site built on Shopify is full-on hosted and it is apt for smaller shops who don’t want to take the headaches of managing the server.

Hopefully, this article has provided a clear picture of how EOL will affect your business and how you can prepare for the future. If you still have questions, consult with our e-commerce experts and avoid being the victim of last-minute-rush!