Should We Migrate Magento 1 to Magento 2 Or To Another Platform?
Magento 1 End Of Life (June 30, 2020) will drive current Magento 1 stores to the verge of serious security risks, PCI DSS non-compliance, and ruined reputation. Therefore, major credit card companies like PayPal and VISA have urged merchants to migrate Magento 1 to Magento 2 or change to another e-commerce platform at the earliest. However, what is the best option to rescue the store from Magento 1 EOL? Let’s find out the answer!
Why Are Magento 1 Merchants In Two Minds?
In fact, the reason that makes Magento merchants are considering implementing Magento 2 migration and replacing Magento 1 by an entirely new platform is not due to PayPal’s or VISA’s advice.
Below are three common reasons:
1. Magento migration takes time while Magento 1 EOL is coming closer
In general, it will take at least a month to migrate Magento 1 to Magento 2. For a large Magento e-commerce store with a big database, complex custom design and functions, many third-party system integrations and extensions, the store owners even have to spend up to 6 months for the migration.
However, Magento will end its support for Magento 1 from July 2020. Even when the merchants start migrating to Magento 2, it will not be possible to launch the new website before Magento 1 EOL date.
Therefore, many Magento store owners are seeking more solutions that are faster to carry out than migration to Magento 2.
2. Magento migration takes effort like creating a new website
As you might know, Magento 2 migration process is actually rebuilding the website from scratch since we can’t re-use anything of the old site (e.g., theme, extensions, custom functions). The only thing that can be maintained and transferred is the database (products, customers, orders, CMS pages’ content).
If Magento migration from 1 to 2 is just as simple and fast as upgrading to the latest Magento version, most of the Magento merchants will not hesitate to convert their websites to Magento 2 immediately. However, since it requires significant time and effort, many store owners want to take this chance to experience an absolutely new platform.
3. Magento migration is costly
Although the Magento 1 to Magento 2 migration cost is varied, depending on your specific requirements and your selected Magento migration services, some Magento stores don’t have a budget for it.
As a result, they might consider using another e-commerce platform with a more affordable cost of development.
What Are The Truths?
1. Will Magento 1 stop working after Magento 1 EOL?
Many Magento 1 stores are not understanding the true meaning behind “Magento 1 End of Life”. Put it simply, this announcement means that Magento will not provide security patches as well as any updates for Magento 1 stores after June 30, 2020. As a consequence, the stores can face some risks, for example, becoming a security target, falling out of PCI DSS non-compliant, being declined by some third-party service providers, etc.
Nonetheless, Magento’s end of support does not mean Magento 1 websites will be switched off/ stop operating from July 2020.
Owing to that, Magento 1 websites should be migrated to Magento 2 as soon as possible to avoid certain damages that are not happening now but might occur in the future. In other words, it’s not a must for the stores to finish their Magento migration process before Magento 1 EOL.
2. How much effort will Magento merchants put into the Magento migration process?
Obviously Magento migration is a complicated process, but in most cases, it will be carried out by experienced Magento developers/ Magento development companies instead of by the store owners.
Due to that, the merchants should not worry that they are lack of time or too busy to start the migration. What they need to do is just finding a reliable Magento migration service provider, letting the developers do their work, and following the project progress to keep it on the right track.
Put it in another way, from the store owners’ point of view, they don’t need to concern too much about whether Magento migration is an arduous task like new website development or as easy as normal Magento updates and consider as a reason for migration refusion.
3. Are all Magento 2 migration services expensive?
If you hire a Magento development company in the US, UK, Canada, Australia,… so yes, your cost to migrate to Magento 2 will be pricey definitely.
On the contrary, if you select an offshore Magento agency in Vietnam, India, Thailand,… the Magento migration cost will be much more affordable, starting from $2,500, including the cost of new extensions and theme.
Therefore, comparing to the cost of developing a new website from the ground up based on another platform, Magento migration can be either cheaper or more expensive.
Migrate Magento 1 to Magento 2 vs. Alter to An Entirely Different Platform
After knowing the above truths, Magento merchants probably have a more objective view about the Magento 1 End of Life and Magento 2 migration process. However, some of them might still incline to use a new e-commerce platform. Hence, let’s make a detailed comparison between the two options: Migrate Magento 1 to Magento 2 vs Migrate Magento to Another Platform.
1. Platform’s ease of use
Magento 2:
In essence, the site management structures of Magento 1 and 2 are quite similar. Moreover, the Magento 2 backend/ admin page is even made to be simpler and more friendly to non-technical users. Therefore, it would be effortless for the owners to understand and monitor their new Magento 2 stores.
Other E-commerce Platforms:
If the websites are migrated to the new platform (e.g.: Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce,…), it can be easier or more difficult to use than Magento 2. However, since it has a totally different structure, the owners have to spend time learning how it works from the beginning.
Magento 2 vs. Other Platforms: 1–0
2. Site improvements after migration
Magento 2:
It’s unquestionable that Magento 2 is improved on both default design (frontend and backend) and functionality. Below are the major advantages of Magento 2 compared to Magento 1:
- Faster page load speed and reduced server response time
- More responsive and mobile-friendly design
- Faster and more convenient checkout flow
- More user-friendly admin panel
- More secure thanks to periodic patches
- More regular feature updates
Other E-commerce Platforms:
In comparison, there is no guarantee that the website will be better after being converted to a new platform. In fact, Magento has become one of the top e-commerce platforms in recent years, which provides almost everything the stores need to start a successful e-business.
Thence, if Magento merchants can’t find a platform that offers the same or more benefits, staying with Magento is highly recommended.
Magento 2 vs. Other Platforms: 1–0
3. Migration cost
Magento 2:
As mentioned in the previous, Magento 2 migration costs are varied. Firstly, it depends on the project requirements. Assumed that the merchants want to apply a ready-made theme for Magento 2 and require just a few extension installations, the total cost, in this case, would be much cheaper than developing a new template from scratch and adding many custom functions on the new site.
Secondly, the rate of the chosen Magento development company will contribute greatly to the final cost of Magento migration. For instance, working with offshore Magento developers will help merchants to save a lot of money compared to hiring local ones. Additionally, the owners can consider using Magento migration packages to get the best price.
Other E-commerce Platforms:
The cost of migrating from Magento 1 to another platform depends on the merchants’ selected platform. To be more specific, it will include the cost of developing the new site on the new platform, plus the cost of transferring between two platforms. For example, assumed that the owners want to replace Magento with WooCommerce, they might have to spend at least $2,000 for the development and $500–1,000 for the data migration.
Magento 2 vs. Other Platforms: 0–0
4. Migration complexity
Magento 2:
Several years ago, it could be difficult to move from Magento 1 to Magento 2 because Magento 2 was not too prevalent. But now it becomes much simpler since Magento has provided the official Data Migration Tool, and most of the Magento agencies are changing their strategies to provide Magento 2 development and Magento migration services.
In addition, the merchants can maintain their website design (by applying/ developing a similar theme) and functions (by installing new extensions with similar features) on Magento 2.
Other E-commerce Platforms:
First, it’s undeniable that we can easily find a Magento/ Shopify/ BigCommerce/ WooCommerce development company, but finding it hard to search for a reliable migration service from this platform to another platform.
Second, since each e-commerce platform has a unique data structure, so it would take time and effort to migrate all database assets from Magento to another platform.
Third, some self-hosted platforms like Shopify and BigCommerce are not easy to customize. Due to that, if merchants want to maintain their Magento 1 website design (by customizing a Shopify theme following the existing design), it might be a big issue.
Magento 2 vs. Other Platforms: 1–0
5. Migration time
Magento 2:
It will take around 1–3 months to implement Magento migration from 1 to 2, including theme, data, extensions, and settings migration. For large Magento e-commerce stores, it can take more time due to the greater amount of data and number of extensions/ custom functions.
Other E-commerce Platforms:
Again, it’s up to the merchant’s selected platform to define how long it will take for the migration. However, in most cases, the stores have to spend at least two months to migrate from Magento to another platform.
Magento 2 vs. Other Platforms: 0–0
Wrapping Up
There are some reasons for Magento merchants to worry about Magento 2 and consider using an alternative platform. However, not all of those are right. Moreover, after comparing the two options in terms of the ease of use, level of site enhancement after migration, migration time, migration cost, and migration complexity, it’s clear that Magento 2 migration is a better option for current Magento 1 stores.
There are just a few days until Magento 1 End of Life (June 30, 2020), if you decide to migrate Magento 1 to Magento 2, you should do it now. Contact Tigren team (info@tigren.com) to get the best plan and quote for your Magento migration project.
