Magento the platform is now a three-way split: Magento Open Source (the free community edition continued by Adobe), Adobe Commerce (the paid enterprise edition with B2B features and cloud hosting) and MageOS (a community-driven fork that shipped in 2023). UK merchants on SmartXHosting can choose Magento Open Source or MageOS — this guide explains the differences, the trade-offs and which is right for your business in 2026.
The three Magentos today • Magento Open Source — what you get • Adobe Commerce — when the premium is worth it • MageOS — the community fork • Feature-by-feature comparison • Cost comparison • Upgrade and migration paths • How SmartXHosting supports your choice • FAQ
A short history. Adobe bought Magento from eBay in 2018. Since then, Magento has continued in two Adobe editions (Open Source free, Commerce paid) plus the cloud-hosted Adobe Commerce on Cloud. In September 2023, a group of Magento solution partners launched MageOS, a hard fork of Magento Open Source with an independent governance model and faster security-patch schedule. All three share a common codebase lineage and remain highly compatible — an extension written for one usually works on the other two.
For a UK merchant choosing today, the practical options are Magento Open Source, Adobe Commerce (if your business is large enough) and MageOS. SmartXHosting supports the two open-source editions (Magento and MageOS) on every Magento plan.
Magento Open Source is free to download, install and run commercially. Features include:
What is missing compared to Adobe Commerce:
For 80% of UK SME retailers, Open Source covers every business need.
Adobe Commerce starts around £18,000–£25,000 per year in licensing (varies by gross merchandise value) and requires hosting on top, or Adobe Commerce Cloud at a higher all-in price. The extra features target enterprise and B2B merchants:
Consider Adobe Commerce if your revenue exceeds £5m, you run active B2B trade with purchase approvals, or compliance demands the enterprise support contract. Below that scale, the licensing cost is usually disproportionate to the feature delta.
MageOS forked from Magento Open Source in September 2023. The key differences:
What MageOS does not have: Adobe’s marketing support, the official Magento Marketplace (though most extensions are distributed via GitHub or Composer). Commercial extension support is slightly more fragmented, but for UK merchants using established community modules this is rarely a real limitation.
MageOS is a good choice if you value independence from Adobe’s roadmap, want faster security patches, or simply prefer community-run projects. Functionally, it behaves like Magento Open Source.
| Feature | Magento Open Source | Adobe Commerce | MageOS |
|---|---|---|---|
| License cost | Free | £18,000+/year | Free |
| Hosting | Any (SmartXHosting, AWS, etc.) | Adobe Cloud or any (BYOH) | Any (SmartXHosting, AWS, etc.) |
| Product catalogue | Full | Full + Visual Merchandiser | Full |
| B2B module | Extensions only | Included | Extensions only |
| Content Staging | No | Yes | No |
| Customer Segments | Extensions only | Yes | Extensions only |
| Security patches | Quarterly | Quarterly + hotfixes | Rolling, fast |
| Official marketplace | Yes | Yes | Community channels |
| Enterprise support SLA | No | Yes (included) | No |
| PHP version cadence | Adobe-led | Adobe-led | Community-led (faster) |
Indicative annual total-cost-of-ownership for a UK store doing £1m revenue with 5,000 SKUs:
| Component | Magento Open Source on SmartXHosting | Adobe Commerce on Cloud | MageOS on SmartXHosting |
|---|---|---|---|
| License | £0 | £22,000 | £0 |
| Hosting (Shop Hypermarket or equivalent) | ~£1,200 | Included | ~£1,200 |
| Essential extensions (SEO, shipping, reviews) | £400–800 | Often included | £400–800 |
| Developer retainer (part-time) | £6,000–12,000 | £8,000–15,000 | £6,000–12,000 |
| Total (est.) | £7,600–14,000 | £30,000–37,000 | £7,600–14,000 |
Adobe Commerce’s 2–4x cost is absorbed by larger retailers where its enterprise features avoid custom development. Below £5m revenue, open-source options on SmartXHosting are the cost-rational choice.
All three editions share the same core database schema and extension API, so migrating between them is feasible:
SmartXHosting engineers handle these platform swaps as part of supported migrations — tell us at order or support ticket stage and we plan the switch.
Every SmartXHosting Magento plan supports both Magento Open Source and MageOS. You choose at order (or switch later via support ticket). Both come with the same software stack: Hyva theme, Satoshi frontend, Redis caching, Imunify360 and Plesk. The experience is identical except for the patch cadence MageOS brings.
Adobe Commerce is not supported on SmartXHosting Magento plans, because Adobe requires its own cloud or enterprise-grade dedicated infrastructure. If your business reaches Adobe Commerce scale, SmartXHosting can advise on the migration and manage a bring-your-own-hosting deployment on dedicated UK infrastructure.
Your choice of Magento or MageOS — both on UK infrastructure
SmartXHosting provisions Magento Open Source or MageOS on your preferred plan with identical performance and the same UK-based support team.
View Magento plansQ: Is MageOS officially endorsed by Adobe?
A: No. MageOS is an independent fork launched by the Magento community when some solution partners felt Adobe’s stewardship of Open Source was slowing. Adobe has acknowledged MageOS but does not contribute to it directly. The two codebases remain close to compatible but are governed independently.
Q: Will my Magento Open Source extensions work on MageOS?
A: Almost certainly yes. MageOS maintains API compatibility and most Marketplace or GitHub-distributed extensions install and run unmodified. The MageOS team publishes a compatibility registry. For certainty on a specific extension, test on a staging environment first.
Q: What about Magento Cloud — is that Adobe Commerce on Cloud?
A: Yes, formally “Adobe Commerce Cloud”. It is Adobe Commerce with Adobe’s fully-managed infrastructure and support. Pricing is higher still than self-hosted Adobe Commerce. Enterprise retailers often choose Cloud for the simplicity; cost-conscious ones self-host on dedicated UK infrastructure.
Q: How often does Magento Open Source release patches?
A: Quarterly feature releases (March, June, September, December) plus security-only patches in between. Magento’s security patch cadence has been criticised as slow — historically 30–60 days between vulnerability disclosure and patch release. MageOS targets days, not weeks, for security fixes.
Q: Does Hyva work on all three editions?
A: Yes. Hyva is an independent frontend theme that works on Magento Open Source, Adobe Commerce and MageOS. The Hyva team maintains compatibility with all three. On SmartXHosting, Hyva + Satoshi are pre-installed and active on whichever edition you choose.
Q: What version of PHP do the editions support?
A: Magento Open Source 2.4.7+ supports PHP 8.2 and 8.3. Adobe Commerce aligns with Open Source. MageOS tends to support newer PHP versions faster, typically rolling forward to current stable releases within weeks.
Q: If I start on Magento Open Source, can I switch to MageOS later?
A: Yes. The migration is essentially a package swap: remove Magento Open Source Composer packages, add MageOS packages, run composer update and re-run Magento’s setup commands. Data is untouched. SmartXHosting performs this migration on request.