Magento – what is it?

If you’re in e-commerce and looking for a platform for a more sophisticated e-store, sooner or later you’ll come across Magento. This solution often comes up in discussions about scaling sales, managing larger product catalogues, and building a shop tailored to more complex business needs.

However, it is not a platform for everyone. Magento is associated with great flexibility and extensive capabilities, but at the same time with a higher level of complexity than simpler systems designed for e-commerce, such as WooCommerce or Shopify.

Therefore, before you start comparing versions, features and costs, it is worth getting the basics straight. What exactly is Magento, how does it work, and for whom will it be a good choice in e-commerce?

What is Magento in e-commerce and how does it work?

Magento is an e-commerce platform designed for building and developing more advanced web stores. In practice, it allows you to create comprehensive sales websites, manage a catalogue of many thousands of products, a complex category structure, multiple language versions and multi-currency support, as well as scale the store alongside growing business needs.

Magento is a system for comprehensive online sales management.

What sets Magento apart is its high flexibility. It is an open-source e-commerce platform, developed in PHP, which offers extensive customisation options to suit individual needs. As a result, Magento is often chosen by companies that require greater scalability, more advanced features and integration with other systems.

In practice, Magento is not a ‘one-click’ solution. It is one of the three most popular e-commerce platforms in the world. According to data from early 2026, the platform serves around 7–8% of the global e-commerce market, placing it just behind Shopify and WooCommerce.

This figure gives a good sense of the scale: Magento is not a niche tool, but it also does not deliberately chase the largest number of users – it focuses on businesses that need more than a standard off-the-shelf solution.

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What capabilities does the Magento platform offer?

Magento offers extensive possibilities for expanding your e-commerce and tailoring it to more complex business needs. It is an e-commerce platform that works well where scale, flexibility and the potential for growth matter.

In practice, Magento offers, amongst other things:

• extensive product and category management,
• advanced handling of promotions, discounts and pricing rules,
• management of multiple web stores from a single admin panel:
  • stores for multiple brands;
  • stores for multiple markets/countries;
• the ability to integrate with external systems, e.g. ERP or CRM,
• expansion with new functionalities and custom modules,
• support for marketing and sales activities.

Another major advantage is that Magento offers advanced options for tailoring the shop to the company’s business model. The platform allows you to develop not only the shop itself, but also the operational back-end related to sales and customer service.

Magento’s capabilities provide scope for building a more advanced sales environment, rather than limiting the shop to a ready-made, closed framework.

What integrations and advanced features does Magento offer?

Magento offers extensive integration capabilities and the ability to expand with more advanced features. It is an e-commerce platform that works well with external systems and provides scope for creating a more complex sales environment.

In practice, Magento can be integrated:

• with ERP systems (e.g. Comarch, SAP, Oracle ERP, Enova365, Sage),
• with CRM systems (e.g. Salesforce, HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics 365, SAP CRM, PipeDrive),
• with analytics tools (e.g. Power BI, Tableau, Looker, Mixpanel, Heap),
• with email marketing and marketing automation solutions (e.g. ExpertSender),
• with payment systems, logistics and other systems supporting e-commerce operations.

This is particularly important in large e-commerce projects, where the shop itself is just one element of the entire ecosystem.

Magento also offers advanced features related to promotions, customer segmentation, reporting and the development of custom functionalities. As a result, the platform provides greater flexibility in tailoring the shop to processes, marketing activities and business needs.

What versions of Magento are available?

Magento is currently available in two main versions:

• Magento Open Source,
• Magento Commerce (now: Adobe Commerce).

In practice, this means that Magento can be adapted to various business needs. Some companies choose the open-source version because it offers greater freedom to work on the source code, whilst others opt for the paid Adobe Commerce solutions, which offer additional features (particularly for large B2B businesses) and more comprehensive support for large-scale e-commerce projects.

This is important because the choice of version affects not only the cost of implementation but also the store’s growth potential, the scope of integration and the sophistication of the entire platform. That is precisely why it is worth clearly defining the scale of the project and your business’s needs before making a decision. But that is a topic for a separate article.

Magento Open Source – what sets it apart??

Magento Open Source stands out as a free open-source platform, offering great freedom to expand and tailor the shop to your own needs. This solution is chosen by companies that want access to the source code and to develop the platform in a flexible manner.

In practice, the Magento Open Source version provides a foundation for building an advanced e-commerce site, but without some of the features available in the paid versions of Adobe Commerce. A major advantage here is the open-source model, the ability to create new functionalities and integrate with external systems.

However, it is important to remember that the open-source version still requires significant commitment from the IT development team, as well as ongoing maintenance. This solution is ideal for companies that wish to develop their store using their own team or a technology partner and require high scalability.

Adobe Commerce / Magento Commerce – who is it for?

Adobe Commerce / Magento Commerce is primarily designed for large-scale e-commerce projects. It is a paid version of the platform that offers additional features for large-scale e-commerce – features not available from the outset in the open-source version.

Adobe Commerce is developed by Adobe and meets the needs of brands requiring more advanced tools, greater scalability and comprehensive sales management.

In practice, it is a solution for large enterprises and projects where it is not just the shop itself that matters, but also integrations, advanced reporting, and additional marketing and analytical activities.

What are the advantages of Magento and who is it a good solution for?

Magento is a flexible e-commerce platform designed for managing e-commerce operations. It has many advantages, but it works best where e-commerce is set to grow alongside the business. It is a platform that offers great flexibility, high scalability and extensive customisation options to meet more complex needs. Another plus is the extensive Magento community and the specialists with whom you can exchange insights.

One of Magento’s greatest strengths is its ability to be freely expanded. The platform allows you to develop your shop with new functionalities, integrate it with external systems, and tailor it to your individual business needs. This is particularly important when e-commerce is not just an add-on, but one of the key sales channels.

Another major advantage of Magento is that it handles more complex projects well. The platform supports the management of multiple e-commerce sites, extensive product catalogues, and more advanced sales processes. For large stores and major e-commerce projects, this is of real significance.

In practice, Magento is a good solution for companies that need greater control over the development of their shop, integrations and the architecture of the entire e-commerce environment. It is a common choice for large enterprises, more demanding brands and businesses that are thinking long-term about scaling their sales.

However, it is important to remember that Magento will not be the best solution for everyone. If the shop is to be very simple, quick to launch and cheap to maintain, other platforms may prove more convenient. Magento best demonstrates its capabilities where flexibility, development and a willingness to work on a more advanced implementation are key.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What is Magento?

Magento (currently in version Magento 2) is an e-commerce platform used to build and develop large web stores.

It is most often chosen by companies that require high flexibility, scalability and extensive capabilities compared to simpler systems. These are typically companies that have their own in-house development team.

Who is Magento a good choice for?

Magento is a good choice primarily for companies running more complex e-commerce operations and requiring high flexibility. It works best for larger e-commerce sites, extensive product catalogues, numerous integrations, and projects designed to grow alongside the business.

This solution is often chosen by brands that want to develop sales across multiple channels, manage several e-stores, or tailor the platform to their own processes. For very simple starter shops, Magento will usually not be the easiest or cheapest option.

What is Magento used for in e-commerce?

Magento is used to create, develop and manage web stores.

The platform supports the handling of products, orders, promotions, integrations and more complex sales processes in e-commerce.

How much does it cost to implement Magento?

It depends on the version chosen and the scale of the project. Magento Open Source is available free of charge, but the implementation, development, hosting, maintenance and expansion of the shop generate real costs for online retailers wishing to grow their business.

There is also Adobe Commerce (formerly Magento Commerce) on the market, which is the paid version of the platform. In this case, pricing typically follows an enterprise model, meaning the company receives a bespoke quote based on the scale of the business, functional requirements and scope of implementation.

Is Magento an ERP?

No, Magento is not an ERP. It is an e-commerce platform for running an web store, which can be integrated with ERP systems, CRM and other tools supporting sales and business operations.