# Still on Magento 1? Your options in 2026

> Magento 1 lost official support in June 2020, and older Magento 2 versions are now losing it too. Here are your realistic options, what each one costs you, and how to choose.

- Source: https://webdivine.agency/insights/magento-1-end-of-life-options
- Author: Fady Ilias, Director, Web Divine
- Published: 2026-10-19

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Magento 1 reached end of life on 30 June 2020. Since then, Adobe hasn't released a single official security patch for it. If your store still runs on it, it has been running on unsupported software for more than six years.

Plenty of Magento 1 stores are still trading, and many of them work fine day to day. The problem isn't that the store will stop working tomorrow. It's that every new vulnerability found in Magento 1 or the software around it stays open, and the cost of moving goes up the longer you wait.

This guide covers what end of life actually means, why Magento 2 stores now face a similar question, and the four realistic options.

## What "end of life" means in practice

When software reaches end of life, the vendor stops fixing it. For Magento 1, that means:

- **No security patches.** New vulnerabilities aren't fixed by Adobe.
- **No compatibility updates.** As servers move to newer versions of PHP and databases, Magento 1 falls further behind, which pushes stores onto old, often unsupported server software as well.
- **Fewer extensions and developers.** Extension vendors stopped supporting Magento 1 years ago, and fewer developers want to work on it.
- **Payment compliance gets harder.** The PCI DSS standard that card payments fall under requires known security vulnerabilities to be patched. A platform with no patches makes that difficult to show.

## Magento 2 stores aren't off the hook

Magento 2 versions have support windows too. According to Adobe's lifecycle policy:

| Version | End of standard support |
|---|---|
| 2.4.6 | 11 August 2026 |
| 2.4.7 | 31 May 2027 |
| 2.4.8 | 31 May 2028 |
| 2.4.9 (released May 2026) | 31 May 2029 |

Adobe Commerce customers get an extra year of support on 2.4.6 and 2.4.7 at no cost. Magento Open Source, the free edition most smaller stores run, isn't covered by that extension.

So if you're on Magento 2.4.6 or earlier, you're already outside standard support, and you face the same decision as a Magento 1 store: upgrade, patch, or move.

## Option 1: Stay on Magento 1 and patch it yourself

A community project called OpenMage maintains a fork of Magento 1 with security fixes and PHP compatibility updates. Some stores use it to buy time.

**Good for:** stores that need a few more months while they plan a proper move.

**The catch:** you depend on a volunteer project, your extensions still aren't maintained, and developers who can work on Magento 1 are getting harder to find. It's a stopgap, not a plan.

## Option 2: Upgrade to Magento 2

Magento 2 isn't an upgrade in the usual sense. It's a different codebase. Adobe provides a Data Migration Tool to move products, customers and orders across, but the theme and extensions have to be rebuilt or replaced.

**Good for:** stores with complex needs that genuinely require Magento: heavy B2B pricing rules, multiple stores and currencies from one back end, or deep custom integrations, with a budget and a technical team to match.

**The catch:** it costs about as much as building a new store, and you take on Magento 2's own upgrade cycle. You'll be planning the next version upgrade within a couple of years.

## Option 3: Move to Shopify

For most small and mid-sized stores, this is the option that stops the cycle. Shopify is hosted software, so security patches, server upgrades and platform updates are handled for you. There is no version to fall behind on.

**Good for:** stores that want to spend their budget on selling rather than maintaining the platform.

**The catch:** Shopify does some things differently. Configurable products become products with variants, customer groups and tier pricing are handled with Shopify's B2B features or apps, and some features need Shopify Plus. Every Magento extension needs a replacement or a decision that it's no longer needed.

## Option 4: Move to another platform

BigCommerce and WooCommerce are the other common destinations. WooCommerce gives you full control and no platform fees, but you take on hosting, security and updates again, which is the job you were trying to get rid of. BigCommerce is hosted like Shopify, with a smaller app ecosystem.

## How to choose

| If this sounds like you | Consider |
|---|---|
| "We need a few months to plan and budget." | OpenMage as a short-term bridge |
| "We rely on complex B2B rules, multiple stores and custom integrations, and have a dev team." | Magento 2 or Adobe Commerce |
| "We want a store that stays secure without a maintenance project every year." | Shopify |
| "We want full control and already have WordPress skills in-house." | WooCommerce |

Whichever you choose, the move itself follows the same pattern: audit what the store does today, move the data, rebuild the storefront, redirect every old URL so you keep your Google rankings, and test real orders before switching over.

## What to do this month

1. **Check your version.** Your developer or host can tell you which Magento version you're on and which PHP version the server runs.
2. **List your extensions.** Write down what each one does. This list drives the cost of any move.
3. **Check your payment setup.** Ask your payment provider what they need from you for PCI DSS compliance on your current platform.
4. **Get an audit and a fixed quote.** You can't compare options without knowing what your store actually does.

## Our take

We're a Shopify Partner, and we'll be upfront: for most Magento 1 stores we speak to, Shopify is the right move. It's usually cheaper than a Magento 2 rebuild, and it takes platform maintenance off your plate for good. When a store genuinely needs Magento, we'll say so.

See how a [Magento to Shopify migration](https://webdivine.agency/services/magento-to-shopify-migration) works, including what moves across and what changes shape, or read [how to migrate to Shopify without losing your SEO](https://webdivine.agency/insights/migrating-to-shopify-without-losing-seo). If you'd like a straight answer about your own store, [talk to us](https://webdivine.agency/lets-talk).

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Web Divine is a web design and development studio in Melbourne, Australia. More articles: https://webdivine.agency/insights. Site index for AI assistants: https://webdivine.agency/llms.txt