A Guide to Magento Open Source and Adobe Commerce Cloud for Enterprise Companies

Enterprise-level companies require robust and scalable platforms to manage their online presence effectively — and Adobe’s commerce solutions, Adobe Commerce Cloud and Magento Open Source, have become go-to choices for businesses seeking to build and optimize their online selling capabilities. Cut through the marketing speak and biased pitches to understand which platform is right for your business.

In this guide, we’re going to explore these popular solutions — Adobe Commerce Cloud (formerly known as Magento Commerce and Magento Enterprise) and Magento Open Source (formerly known as Magento Community Edition) — and delve into the differences in functionality, available support, and costs. We hope this eCommerce platform analysis helps  you make an informed decision about which platform is best for your business.

Adobe Commerce Cloud: Elevating Enterprise Commerce Capabilities

Adobe Commerce Cloud — formerly known as Magento Commerce or Magento Enterprise Edition — is the premium eCommerce offering from Adobe. Adobe Commerce caters to the complex needs of enterprise companies, providing a comprehensive foundation for your eCommerce ecosystem. While there are functional distinctions between Adobe Commerce Cloud and Magento Open Source, it is often the link between Adobe Commerce Cloud and the Adobe company itself that provides some degree of reassurance in the platform.

Key Features of Adobe Commerce

• Advanced B2B Functionality: Adobe Commerce offers a number of features designed specifically for B2B businesses, including custom catalogs, buyer-specific pricing, negotiated quotes, and more.
• Built-in AI Capabilities: Adobe integrates AI components with Adobe Commerce via their Sensei AI platform. This allows businesses to implement omnichannel personalization as well as personalized content, promotions, recommendations, and site search.
• Adobe Managed Infrastructure: Adobe Commerce Cloud is built upon a cloud hosting infrastructure implemented and maintained by Adobe professional services. While there may be additional support costs for Adobe’s Managed Services, having a centralized hosting support contact point can be efficient.
• Adobe Ecosystem Integrations: Due to Adobe’s more direct involvement in the infrastructure of Adobe Commerce Cloud, they have improved the native compatibility for integrations with other Adobe offerings such as Adobe Experience and Adobe Cloud products.
• Content Staging: Using Adobe’s staging module framework, Adobe Commerce Cloud allows users to build and stage content for publishing following approval or according to a defined publication schedule.
• Native Composability: Adobe has adjusted their focus to Adobe Commerce as a component in a composable architecture spanning various other Adobe platforms. This focus also has the potential of improving their long-term feature building infrastructure for development partners via their App Builder tools.

Adobe Commerce Cloud Benefits for Enterprise Companies

Adobe Commerce Cloud is a platform well-suited to enterprise businesses. Adobe’s more direct connection to the platform is a form of both reassurance and a form of insurance that a single, well-respected technology company is backing the selected commerce platform. Furthermore, as Adobe Commerce Cloud becomes more and more integrated into Adobe’s other product offerings, the synergies for enterprises already using those Adobe Experience and Adobe Cloud products are notable.

Adding to these considerations, Adobe Commerce’s greater functionality out of the box, and Adobe’s ongoing focus on product updates and feature expansion makes Adobe Commerce Cloud a top pick for Enterprise businesses in any industry.

At the enterprise level, Adobe also provides different support agreements via their Managed Services team. The costs for these services are in addition to the licensing fee and come with their own SLAs for services and responsiveness.

Magento Open Source: Community Commerce for Enterprise Businesses

Magento Open Source — previously known as Magento Community Edition — is the original source of the Magento codebase that is also still used by the Adobe Commerce Cloud platform. Platform updates for Magento Open Source driven by a well-established community of developers around the world with oversight and release management from Adobe directly. While Adobe has shifted their primary focus to Adobe Commerce Cloud, the community support for Magento Open Source remains strong. 

The Magento Open Source Community has a long history with the platform: developing new features, improving performance, enhancing security, and creating modules that extend the core functionality of the platform. Magento Open Source is available without a license fee and this makes it attractive to both enterprise businesses and non enterprise businesses alike.

Key Features of Magento Open Source

• Community Support: Being open-source, Magento Open Source benefits from an active community of developers, experts, and users who contribute to its continuous improvement and development.
• Cost-Effective Solution: As a free platform, Magento Open Source offers a cost-effective option for enterprise companies that want to build a powerful online presence without incurring significant licensing fees.
• Agency Partner Support vs. Adobe Support: While Adobe Commerce Cloud depends heavily on Adobe support, Magento Open Source depends heavily on your selected development team - whether that's an internal department or an external agency. A highly skilled Magento development agency can present a greater opportunity for a long-term partnership with a consistent team and deeper understanding of your business needs. Given Adobe’s scale, it is often difficult to find the same degree of responsiveness, attention, and partnership from their support systems.
• Feature Parity via Extensions: Many of the features initially launched on Adobe Commerce Cloud have subsequently been made available for Magento Open Source via community extension development or by Adobe themselves with a delayed release (often several months after the release in Adobe Commerce). While implementing and maintaining these features on Magento Open Source may require additional effort, the overall cost is often much lower than the costs associated with Adobe Commerce Cloud. 

Magento Open Source Benefits for Enterprise Companies

Magento Open Source is a good fit for enterprise-level businesses that require a greater degree of direct control over their commerce platform. While Adobe’s hosting management and support services can offer a degree of comfort in the brand itself, the support is typically less efficient and less personalized than what businesses can find from a top-level Magento development agency. Even with Adobe’s managed services, businesses often require support from not only their internal development team, but also from a specialized Magento agency to help manage complex customizations and integrations. For these reasons, we often see enterprise businesses preferring to develop a strong relationship with a single agency to support all aspects of their Magento Open Source implementation. This is especially true for companies with their own internal teams who become direct partners with the selected agency team.

Magento Open Source is particularly effective for enterprise businesses without a need for the more robust Adobe Commerce Cloud offering, such as Adobe integrations and AI features. Furthermore, the lack of a license fee allows a business to use their financial resources to fund innovative developments to achieve their digital business goals.

Choosing the Best Commerce Solution for Your Enterprise Business is Critical to Your Online Success

Selecting the appropriate commerce solution for your enterprise company depends on various factors, including your budget, functional requirements, existing technology stack, potential integrations, and long-term goals. Both Adobe Commerce and Magento Open Source offer the necessary tools to support and grow your eCommerce store — but they do cater to different needs.

Adobe Commerce Cloud is well-suited to enterprise-level companies with sufficient financial resources to support monthly licensing and support fees from Adobe in addition to specialized agency costs. Additionally, enterprise businesses choosing Adobe Commerce Cloud are looking for:

• A comprehensive eCommerce solution backed by Adobe
• Greater integration opportunities with other Adobe products
• Earlier access to the latest features and functionality released directly from Adobe
• A deeper partnership with Adobe for infrastructure support and basic application support

Magento Open Source, while offering substantial feature parity, does not provide the more holistic Adobe support framework. Magento Open Source is ideally suited to enterprise businesses that want:

• No monthly license fee
• More direct management of hosting infrastructure
• A more centralized development and support team either with internal resources or through an outside Magento development agency
• A more personalized degree of support from a Magento agency that has a holistic view of the business and emphasizes a long-term partnership over time

Here’s a table giving you some information about each platform at a glance that can help with making an informed decision for your business.

Read more: Magento Open Source v Adobe Commerce

Driving Enterprise eCommerce Results with Magento

Magento provides powerful eCommerce platforms that can cater to the diverse needs of enterprise-level companies. With either Magento Open Source or Adobe Commerce Cloud, enterprise businesses will have a comprehensive set of core eCommerce capabilities that can support B2B operations, internationalization, systems integrations, multi-site needs, personalization, and fully custom design opportunities.

By weighing the unique features of each version and making an informed decision, your enterprise eCommerce business can create compelling shopping experiences, drive growth, and achieve success in the digital marketplace.

FAQs: eCommerce for Enterprise-Level Businesses

What is an enterprise-level business?

An enterprise-level business refers to a large-scale organization characterized by size, complexity, and operational reach. These companies typically have deep financial resources, a wide customer base, and a global or multi-location presence. They often have complex business processes and cater to both B2B and B2C markets.

What differentiates Magento, Shopify, and other eCommerce platforms for enterprise-level companies?

• Magento Open Source and Adobe Commerce: Adobe’s eCommerce platforms offer extensive customizability and scalability, making them ideal for businesses with unique requirements and complex B2B processes.
• Shopify: Known for user-friendly setup and fully-hosted solutions with a vast app ecosystem — suitable for quick launches and ease of management for businesses with less complex functional, design and operational needs.
• BigCommerce: Fits somewhere between fully custom options such as Magento and simpler solutions like Shopify. BigCommerce offers a greater degree of flexibility than Shopify, while not as much customizability as Magento.
• WooCommerce: Is the best option for businesses dedicated to the WordPress CMS for their website and looking for a commerce add-on. WooCommerce is natively less robust than Adobe’s eCommerce products, but offers a similar degree of customizability.
• Other enterprise-grade platforms: Other platforms such as Oracle/Netsuite Commerce Cloud, Salesforce Commerce Cloud or SAP Commerce Cloud are best for businesses already connected to other platforms within the software company offerings. These systems typically involve a more substantial commitment of resources and have a longer time to implementation and launch.

These descriptions just scratch the surface — be sure to diligently research the platform you’re interested in and choose the solution that aligns best with your enterprise's needs.

What size company can the Magento platform support?

The Magento platform is designed to support a wide range of company sizes, from mid-sized businesses to large enterprise-level organizations. Its scalability and robust infrastructure make it suitable for businesses with various product catalogs, traffic volumes, and sales volumes. Whether you’re a startup, a mid-sized company, or a large enterprise, Magento can be tailored to meet your eCommerce needs.