The team at Fluid Commerce is seeing a rise in enquiries from businesses such as manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors that are considering migrating their ecommerce platform from Adobe Commerce to Magento Open Source. The first question we ask is “Why?” It’s important for us to explore a client’s thoughts and the reasons behind this.
The majority of the time, the answer is a commercial decision, and given the enormous amount of pressure all businesses face, that’s completely understandable. It’s also entirely possible to make the move from Adobe Commerce to Magento and we have completed several migrations for clients over the past few years.
Here’s a clear, practical overview of an Adobe Commerce to Magento Open Source migration (or vice versa, since many people use the terms interchangeably).
Adobe Commerce is the paid, enterprise version of Magento.
Magento Open Source is the free version.
Migrating between them is perfectly possible.
The pros and cons of migrating a B2B ecommmerce site from Adobe Commerce to Magento
Explaining the pros and cons of migrating a site from Adobe Commerce to Magento is always helpful. From my experience, the majority of the cons can be mitigated with suitable alternatives, particularly the loss of B2B functionality, which solutions such as Portal, Fluid’s ready made B2B feature platform for Magento, exist to address.
The pros of migrating to Magento
Benefit | Explanation |
|---|---|
✅ Lower cost | No Adobe Commerce licensing fees |
✅ Full ownership | No dependencies on Adobe support cycles. |
✅ Large community | Thousands of free extensions; more flexibility. |
✅ Easier customization | Less overhead and fewer black-box Commerce modules. |
✅ Better for mid-sized businesses | If you don’t need enterprise features, Open Source is leaner. |
Cons of migrating to Magento Open Source
Drawback | Explanation |
|---|---|
❌ Loss of enterprise features | B2B, Gift Cards, segmentation, etc. |
❌ Additional development cost | To replace or rebuild missing features. |
❌ Maintenance responsibility shifts to you | No Adobe SLAs or support. |
❌ Possible performance differences | Commerce includes built-in optimizations not present in Open Source. |
❌ Integration work | Third-party integrations may rely on Commerce APIs. |
Summary of the pros and cons
The biggest benefit is cost. We have seen clients reduce their technology spend by over £50,000 per year by moving to Magento Open Source. Adobe Commerce licensing fees are tiered based on revenue growth, whereas with Magento Open Source those fees disappear. You will still pay for hosting, but this is generally a much smaller annual cost.
You will lose some out-of-the-box features such as the B2B suite, Adobe Sensei recommendations, and Adobe search. However, these challenges can be solved with Fluid’s own B2B suite (Portal) and with third-party recommendation and search providers. In many cases, these alternatives outperform the native Adobe Commerce offering.
What are the challenges?
As outlined above, there are challenges, but they are generally straightforward to resolve. Below is a curated list of the most common issues and how they can be addressed.
Feature gaps
Moving from Adobe Commerce to Magento Open Source means losing access to the following features:
- B2B suite (company accounts, quotes, approvals) There are several B2B suites available that integrate directly with Magento. Fluid’s own Portal can resolve most of these gaps.
- Adobe Sensei and AI search We partner with a range of third-party search and recommendation platforms that often outperform Adobe Commerce’s native tools.
- Page Builder Page Builder is not included in Open Source unless manually added, and even then with limitations. This is rarely an issue, as your development agency should be able to handle content management improvements.
- Advanced promotions Magento Open Source has limited advanced promotion functionality, but this can be extended through custom development or third-party modules.
- Visual merchandiser This can be added using a third-party module.
- Gift cards, rewards, and store credit These features can also be added through third-party modules.
- Customer segmentation Customer segmentation can be achieved using third-party extensions.
Data compatibility issues
- Commerce-only database tables do not exist in Open Source. These tables need to be refactored to work with Magento Open Source. As a B2B ecommerce development agency Fluid Commerce can resolve this.
- Custom attributes and extensions may cause migration errors. These issues are usually straightforward to fix if the migration is carried out correctly.
Codebase differences
- Adobe Commerce uses additional paid modules and different Composer packages. You may need to repurchase third-party modules previously licensed for Adobe Commerce. These are typically cheaper for Open Source, reducing ongoing costs.
- Custom modules may rely on Commerce-specific dependencies. These dependencies will need to be rewritten or refactored by your development agency.
Summary
Migrating from Adobe Commerce to Magento Open Source is entirely possible, but it should never be treated as a simple downgrade or licence swap. A successful migration requires a clear strategy, technical expertise, and a strong understanding of which Commerce features your business truly depends on.
In practice, this means:
- Careful auditing of your existing Adobe Commerce setup, including custom modules, integrations, and data structures.
- Rebuilding themes and modules to ensure compatibility with Magento Open Source and to avoid unnecessary technical debt.
- Defining a clear data migration strategy that protects customers, orders, catalog data, and SEO performance.
- Replacing Commerce-exclusive features such as B2B, advanced promotions, or merchandising tools with best-in-class alternatives or custom development.
When done correctly, this approach can significantly reduce annual software costs, simplify your technology stack, and give you greater control over your ecommerce platform.
An Adobe Commerce to Magento migration is typically worthwhile if:
- You do not rely heavily on advanced B2B or enterprise-only functionality, or you are happy to replace it with alternative solutions.
- You are aiming to reduce ongoing Adobe Commerce licensing costs as your revenue grows.
- You have strong in-house Magento expertise or a trusted Magento agency that can manage the migration end to end.
Need support migrating your B2B online store to Magento?
If your B2B ecommerce company is considering an Adobe Commerce to Magento Open Source migration and you want expert guidance, Fluid Commerce can help. We specialise in complex Magento and Adobe Commerce migrations for B2B ecommerce companies, including deep integrations with ERP and other systems. To discuss your requirements or arrange an initial audit, get in touch with the Fluid Commerce team here.
