Magento 1: End of life - What Do You Need To Know?
- Web Design & Development
- 23rd November 2019
- Abigail
Support for Magento 1 will end June 2020, over a decade after its release. What does this mean for its users? Stores built in Magento 1.0 are more vulnerable and could experience cyber security attacks, general breaks in website functionality and a sudden halt in quality bug patches.
Magento 1 End of Life - What Happens Next?
Magento has offered support for all existing users running sites in Magento 1.0 versions until June 2020, but the implications on your site after this period are as follows:
- All the plug-ins you have installed on your site, that are essential for the functionality of your online business, will become out-dated. This can result in a multitude of issues such as; vulnerability to hackers and even just a completely broken website.
- The general security of your website will almost be non-existent next summer which means you’re prone to plenty of security breaches.
- Speed & quality of your website will be the first to suffer due to regular quality updates coming to a halt with the support.
Check out the tables below so you can reference when your exact version will be affected
| Version | Release date | End of security maintenance |
|---|---|---|
| 1.13 | October 2013 | June 2020 |
| 1.14 | June 2014 | June 2020 |
| 2.0 | November 2015 | March 2018 |
| 2.1 | June 2016 | June 2019 |
| Magento Commerce (2.2) | September 2017 | December 2019 |
| Version | Release date | End of security maintenance |
|---|---|---|
| 1.5 | February 2011 | June 2020 |
| 1.6 | August 2011 | June 2020 |
| 1.7 | April 2012 | June 2020 |
| 1.8 | September 2013 | June 2020 |
| 1.9 | May 2014 | June 2020 |
| 2.1 | June 2016 | June 2019 |
| Open Source (2.2) | September 2017 | September 2019 |
What's new in Magento 2?
Over the last few years behind the scenes, Magento has been working tirelessly to craft Magento 2 which is set to be an upgrade on its predecessor. Apart from the obvious enhancements in build quality and site functionality, Magento 2 also includes:
Streamlined checkout process
The whole process has been optimised to increase sales, customers now have the ability to checkout as guests. After checkout, the customer has the option to register, which means you won’t miss out on capturing their email addresses.
Simple navigation menus
Navigate the admin panel with ease, changes in Magento 2 mean that it’s now easier for store owners to use the admin without being a tech-savvy website developer. This was changed due to several complaints from existing Magento clients.
Optimised dashboard feature
In Magento 2.0, the dashboard revolves around what’s important to the store owner as opposed to a developer. It provides an overview of the following: lifetime sales, average order amount, last orders, top search terms, most viewed products and new customers.
How small to medium enterprises will benefit from Magento's end of life?
With the average production time of a new website being 6-8 weeks, the risk your business faces if you’ve not migrated to a secure and reliable platform in time increases greatly.
Your options are to migrate your site into a new platform or to upgrade to Magento 2.0. Otherwise, your customer’s details and your online business is at serious threat of a system failure.
With major cost implications depending on your annual turnover, paid plans can start from $22,000 a year once upgraded to Magento 2. This means that small to medium sized enterprises would benefit more by moving to OpenCart.
How can we help?
We specialise in OpenCart built website design & development, so we have the facilities you need to take your online business to new heights. With 15 years of experience in the web design industry, we are guaranteed to find the most perfect, suitable solution for you and your online business.
OpenCart is a cost effective, secure and user friendly eCommerce solution and it’s the perfect alternative to Magento 1. It has been specifically developed for the small to medium sized enterprises, find out more about the key differences between OpenCart and Magento here
Our team, comprised of developers, marketers and designers, specialise in OpenCart and we have developed 20 extensions for the marketplace ourselves which you can view here. Finally, as OpenCart is more versatile, flexible and manageable than Magento, it means you won’t encounter the same reliability issues as Magento.
Our team is proud to have gained over six years' experience on the platform since its release, so get in touch with your specifications to see if we can make OpenCart work for you.