Magento

Magento
Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	E-commerce software
Founded	2007; 19 years ago
Founder	Roy Rubin
Headquarters	Culver City, California, United States
Area served	Worldwide
Products	E-commerce platform software (Magento Open Source, Adobe Commerce)
Owner	Adobe Inc.
Website	magento.com

Magento is an open-source e-commerce platform developed using PHP. Its codebase is distributed under the terms of the Open Software License. In May 2018, Adobe Inc. completed the acquisition of Magento for $1.68 billion.

The platform supports over 150,000 online retailers and has been downloaded more than 2.5 million times. In 2019, transactions totaling $155 billion were processed through Magento-powered websites. By April 2021, Magento accounted for a 2.32% share of the worldwide e-commerce platform market.

Magento was established by Roy Rubin, previously CEO of Varien. Initially, eBay acquired a partial stake in Magento before obtaining full ownership and later divesting it to the private equity firm Permira in 2015. Permira subsequently transferred ownership to Adobe.

History

Development of Magento started in early 2007 at Varien Inc., a private company based in Culver City, California, with input from open-source contributors and volunteers. The initial public beta version was launched on August 31, 2007.

Although Varien initially planned to fork osCommerce, they ultimately chose to create Magento from the ground up. The first stable release became available on March 31, 2008.

Magento quickly gained industry recognition, receiving accolades such as the Best of Open Source Software Awards and the SourceForge Community Choice Awards.

In February 2011, eBay purchased a 49% stake in Magento and completed full acquisition by June that year, integrating it into its X.Commerce program. Co-founder Roy Rubin confirmed that Magento would continue operations in Los Angeles under his leadership alongside Yoav Kutner.

Yoav Kutner left the company in April 2012 due to changes in management that altered the original vision following eBay's takeover.

After the separation of eBay and PayPal, Magento was spun off and sold to private equity firm Permira on November 3, 2015.

Adobe Inc. announced its intention to acquire Magento for $1.68 billion in May 2018 to incorporate it into Adobe Experience Cloud, with the deal closing on June 19, 2018.

Overview

Magento operates using MySQL or MariaDB relational database management systems alongside the PHP programming language and elements from the Zend Framework. It also integrates PHP frameworks such as Laminas (formerly known as Zend Framework) and Symfony, adhering to principles of object-oriented programming and employing a model–view–controller architecture. Data storage utilizes the entity–attribute–value model, and starting from version 2.4, Elasticsearch is mandatory for catalog search capabilities. The front end of Magento 2 adopted the Model-View-ViewModel design pattern using the JavaScript library Knockout.js.

Magento Open Source

Previously called Magento Community Edition, Magento Open Source is an open-source e-commerce solution that allows developers to modify core components and enhance features through third-party extensions.

By 2017, all versions of Magento Open Source for both 1.x and 2.x series were accessible via downloads on the Magento Commerce website. The development process for version 2 has been publicly managed on GitHub.

Following Adobe’s acquisition, Magento continued as an open-source platform. The last release of the Magento 1.x series, version 1.9.4, reached its end-of-life status on June 30, 2020.

Magento 2

Magento 2 was initially announced in 2010, with a planned launch in 2011 that was postponed until a merchant beta became available in July 2015. The official stable release arrived on November 17, 2015, introducing a redesigned codebase aimed at improving performance, scalability, and developer tools. During this period, both Magento 1 and Magento 2 were supported simultaneously to facilitate merchants' transition.

Notable improvements introduced in Magento 2 comprise:

Integration of Apache Varnish for full-page server-side caching
Compatibility with PHP 7 and above, enhancing speed and lowering memory consumption
Enhanced scalability through minimized database locking
SEO advancements including structured data Rich Snippets support
A modular architecture and reorganized directory layout to simplify customization
Use of LESS for CSS preprocessing and refined URL management
Native JavaScript bundling and minification to accelerate front-end loading
Strengthened browser caching mechanisms for static resources
Adoption of improved coding standards and streamlined developer workflows

OpenMage

OpenMage is a GitHub-hosted community-driven fork of Magento 1.x (specifically version 1.9.4.5) that delivers extended support and continuous bug fixes for Magento 1.x users.

Adobe Commerce

Initially introduced as Magento Commerce on April 11, 2016, the platform was renamed Adobe Commerce in April 2021 to reflect its integration with Adobe Experience Cloud. It is available both as an on-premises deployment and as a cloud-hosted offering.

Adobe Commerce On-Premise builds upon Magento Open Source but incorporates exclusive features designed for enterprise-scale clients. Formerly known as Magento Enterprise Edition and later Magento Commerce (On-Premises), this edition is commercially licensed rather than open source. The most recent supported release is version 2.3.4, which was made available on October 8, 2019.

Earlier available editions included Magento Professional Edition and Magento Go.

Latest Adobe Commerce Version Release Notes

Up-to-date release notes and important updates for all Adobe Commerce versions can be found here:

Adobe Commerce 2.4.8 release notes

Adobe Commerce 2.4.7 release notes

Adobe Commerce 2.4.6 release notes

Adobe Commerce 2.4.5 release notes

Adobe Commerce 2.4.4 release notes

Adobe Commerce 2.4.3 release notes

Adobe Commerce 2.4.2 release notes

Adobe Commerce 2.4.1 release notes

Adobe Commerce 2.4.0 release notes

Solution Partners

Magento Solution Partners are accredited agencies with expertise in deploying, customizing, and supporting Magento-based eCommerce platforms across B2B, B2C, and D2C sectors. Many of these partners create proprietary extensions and integrations that expand the functionality of the core platform. Adobe maintains a directory of certified partners to help merchants connect with seasoned implementation specialists.

Technology Partners

Adobe Commerce Technology Partners provide integrated solutions and services that enhance Adobe Commerce capabilities in areas such as marketing automation, payment processing, content management, shipping logistics, tax compliance, hosting solutions, and performance enhancement.

Security Concerns

In 2015, numerous outdated Magento stores were susceptible to cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks that facilitated online skimming and credit card fraud; by October 2016, more than 4,000 stores had been compromised.

A 2017 remote code execution vulnerability left Magento Community Edition stores exposed to attacks that enabled unauthorized database access and theft of stored payment information, potentially affecting up to 260,000 installations.

In 2019, Magento disclosed vulnerabilities related to administration URL configurations in versions 2.1.x through 2.3.x and reported a severe security flaw impacting users of the Magestore Store Locator extension (version 1.0.2 and earlier). These incidents underscore the persistent security challenges faced by eCommerce operators utilizing the platform.

Events

Since its inception in 2011, "Imagine eCommerce" has served as Magento’s flagship annual conference. The first event held in Los Angeles gathered over 600 merchants, partners, and developers to explore innovations in e-commerce and facilitate networking opportunities.

Alongside Imagine, Magento organizes regional "Magento Live" events that provide updates on industry trends, introduce local partners, and share the latest product developments. These gatherings have been hosted in key regions including Sydney (Australia), London (UK), Amsterdam (Netherlands), Barcelona (Spain), Paris (France), and München (Germany).

Founded in 2019, the non-profit Magento Association supports more than 24 "Meet Magento" events worldwide each year. It invites participation from businesses engaged in or considering Magento commerce across major markets such as Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Sweden, Denmark, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Russia, India, and Vietnam.

Certification

Magento provides four certification paths: three focus on verifying developers’ proficiency in module development; the Certified Solution Specialist credential is designed for business professionals such as consultants and project managers. Additionally, the Front End Developer Certification targets UI enhancement skills for back-end developers. The Plus certification evaluates advanced knowledge of Magento Enterprise architecture.

Resources

The docker-magento project streamlines the setup of Magento development environments for both new installations and existing projects. This initiative has been maintained by M.academy since 2015.

Magento Open Source version 2.0.0 was released on November 17, 2015; the most recent update is version 2.4.7-p3 as of October 8, 2025.

Transitioning from Magento 1 to Magento 2 is supported by an official Data Migration Tool and requires developers skilled with both platform versions.

Detailed Adobe Commerce release notes are publicly accessible for continuous reference.

Criticism and controversy

In 2011, an article in TechCrunch revealed that several former Magento staff members alleged they were collectively denied equity shares amounting to roughly 7–10%, which was estimated to be worth around $18 million at the time of eBay's acquisition of the company.