May 20, 2019

What is Magento - A Complete and Ultimate Guide for Beginners

iOSS Editorial Team Updated on June 24th, 2026

What is Magento?

Magento is an e-commerce platform developed using a scripting language PHP and Zend framework. In 2007, it was introduced and founded by Varien. The versions and products of Magento were constantly developed. Now it is one of the popular open source e-commerce platforms which provides all the tools and attributes to e-commerce development website. Many online merchants prefer Magento when compared to other e-commerce platforms like WooCommerce, OpenCart, Shopify, 3dcart, etc and the reason for that preference are as follows

It is a free source and extensible platform
Sellers have complete access to hosting and will have the ownership
The attributes of this platform meet the requirements of the merchants like B2B, B2C, or any online shipping or transportation.

We will see a general overview of Magento

Magento is divided into two platforms. One is Magento Open Source and the other one is Magento Commerce.
Magento open source is previously known as Magento Community Edition and Magento Commerce is previously known as Magento Enterprise Edition.
This platform is accessible in an on-premises version or it is previously known as Magento Enterprise Cloud Edition which is a platform for service.
Two more platforms were there earlier and it was named as Magento Professional and Magento Go

Magento Open Source

As the name itself implies that it is an Open source. In Magento open source or in Magento Community edition the functionalities can be extended by adding new plug-in or modules.
In 2007 the beta version of this platform is introduced. This platform is customized in such a way to get the basic platform for e-commerce.
Magento Open source branch versions are 1.X and 2.X. The previous and the current versions of both 1.X and 2.X branch versions are accessible in Magento Commerce platform.
The latest and the supported version is- CE 1.9.3 and CE- 2.2.0

Magento Commerce

This is a platform for service. In 2016, It was released in April 11th.
Magento 2 platform comes with enhanced features, tools for developers, the architecture of Magento 2 is different from the other versions of Magento.
In 2010, it was introduced and in 2015, the beta version was released.
The latest and the supported version is-EE 1.14.2.4 and EE 2.2.0

Know more about Magento affiliate extensions

#1. What are the main versions of Magento?

Once Magento was founded, within the past 10 years it launched many versions and they are divided into Magento 1 and Magento 2.
Each time the version is released it provides the release notes of that version with enhanced features and fixed bugs.

#2. Can you still install Magento 1, is it worth to do that?

From an expert point of view, it is not recommended to install Magento 1 if you are a new user but at the same time if you are an existing user with your online store, then you can continue to use that.
It means Magento 1 will be supported until June 2020. However, it is difficult to support with Magento 1 features when the demand is more for that platform.
It is better to move from Magento 1 to Magento 2 for the above reason and so Magento 2 will be the future platform.

#3. What are the Magento 2 main features? The main features of Magento 2 like handling SEO, Marketing, Site Management, and analysis makes it outstanding when compared to other platforms like Shopify or WooCommerce. #4. Why should you choose Magento? As you know there are many other e-commerce platforms like WooCommerce, Shopify, 3dcart, Prestashop, etc the reasons to select Magento are as follows To be very clear please look into the following reasons.

Open source

As we already discussed it is open source platform which enables free customization, modification and adding the functionalities to the platform.

Scalability

As it can support large stores, it is scalable when compared to other platforms.

SEO- friendliness

SEO score for Magento is high when compared to other platforms. This proves that it is SEO friendly. #5. Does Magento 2 Support Marketing? Since its SEO friendly, we can say that it supports Marketing. It provides many tools to successfully carry out Marketing strategies. It involves promotion, sending newsletter and emails, integrating marketing tools, etc. #6. Which Edition would you choose Magento EE or Magento CE? Magento CE is mainly used for small scale business and at the same time, Magento 2 EE is used for medium and large scale business. Depending upon your business you can choose the versions of Magento 2. #7. How will you choose the exact themes for your website? Depending upon your business and products, you can select the Magento 2 theme to express yourself to the customers. These themes will add the design to your website. #8. How to find Magento developers to help build your website? To find the developers to build your website depends upon the cost of production, complexity, and requirements of the website. #9. How to analyze the Magento 2 website performance?

The performance is based on the time taken to load the page especially when the load to the site is more.
When it takes more time to load the page then the performance is bad and the customers will be dissatisfied.
If you find any agency providing the service to optimize the site performance of Magento, you can go ahead with that service provider.

#10. How will you maintain the Magento website? Apart from optimizing the performance of the website. It requires web agencies to maintain the website services because they perform an audit of the whole website and provides a complete solution. System requirements to install Magento 2?

Technology stacks, web browsers, and security layers important system requirements to install Magento 2.
Technology stack- OS, database, web server, PHP, mail server, memory requirements, etc
Security requirement- TLS or Transport Layer Security

#11. How to install Magento 2? Please follow the below instructions to install Magento 2?

See to it that the system requirements are met
Select the Magento Software
Make use of Command line or Web Setup Wizard.
Post installation, Verify and configure the settings.

Try the Magento Extension Demo to feel the features of Magento. Conclusion Hope in this article, you will find the complete details of Magento, e-commerce platform. Select the versions, themes based on your business scale to start your online store.

Read more on Magento E-commerce Software Integration in MLM Software

Written by

iOSS Editorial Team

Software Development Insights | AI, Blockchain & Product Strategy | iOSS Knowledge Hub

The iOSS editorial team shares practical insights on software engineering, AI, blockchain, mobile apps and digital product strategy drawn from 16+ years of building solutions for clients worldwide.

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