The verdict in three sentences
Staying on Magento 1 in 2026 exposes a store to known vulnerabilities, PCI DSS non-compliance and technical debt that slows every change. For a retailer with EUR 4 million in online revenue, Shopify (EUR 25,000 to 50,000) is the fastest option if the catalog stays standard, Adobe Commerce (EUR 80,000 to 200,000 plus license) is only justified by heavy B2B and multi-site needs, and custom development (EUR 60,000 to 120,000) fits specific business logic. In every case, success depends on migrating 9,000 products, 3,000 301 redirects and holding a 12-week schedule.
Why Magento 1 costs more every month
| Risk | Practical consequence | Estimated 2026 cost |
|---|---|---|
| No official patches since June 2020 | Flaws exploited by card-skimming scripts | A data breach: EUR 50,000 to 300,000 (notification, forensics, losses) |
| PCI DSS 4.0 non-compliance | Risk of suspension by the payment provider | Several days of lost revenue |
| Unsupported PHP 7.x | Hosts charging for extended support | EUR 300 to 1,000 per month extra |
| Abandoned extensions | Manual fixes at every incident | EUR 8,000 to 20,000 per year of corrective maintenance |
| Weak mobile performance | Core Web Vitals in the red, conversion penalized | 0.2 to 0.5 conversion points lost |
| Scarce Magento 1 developers | Rising day rates | EUR 650 to 900 per day |
For a EUR 4 million store converting at 2%, losing 0.3 conversion points means roughly EUR 600,000 of revenue per year. The cost of doing nothing quickly exceeds the cost of migrating.
Shopify, Adobe Commerce or custom: the comparison
| Criterion | Shopify (Advanced or Plus) | Adobe Commerce | Custom |
|---|---|---|---|
| Migration cost | EUR 25,000 to 50,000 | EUR 80,000 to 200,000 | EUR 60,000 to 120,000 |
| Annual license or subscription | EUR 4,000 (Advanced) to 27,000 (Plus) | EUR 40,000 to 120,000 depending on revenue | EUR 0 |
| Transaction fee | 0.15 to 0.6% without Shopify Payments | 0% | 0% |
| Hosting | Included | Included in cloud or EUR 10,000 to 30,000 | EUR 4,000 to 10,000 |
| Typical timeline | 8 to 12 weeks | 16 to 24 weeks | 14 to 20 weeks |
| Business customization | Limited to apps and API | Very broad | Full |
| 3-year total cost (order of magnitude) | EUR 60,000 to 130,000 | EUR 250,000 to 500,000 | EUR 100,000 to 170,000 |
For most B2C retailers between EUR 2 and 10 million, Shopify offers the best total cost. Custom takes the lead as soon as the store relies on configurators, contract pricing or proprietary logistics.
The 12-week migration project
| Weeks | Workstream | Deliverable |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 2 | Audit and mapping | Inventory of 9,000 products, extensions, ERP feeds |
| 2 to 4 | Redirect plan | Validated file of 3,000 301 redirects |
| 3 to 8 | Theme and integration development | Staging store, ERP and carrier connectors |
| 5 to 9 | Data migration | Products, 120,000 customers, order history |
| 9 to 11 | Acceptance and load testing | Checkout flow validated, zero broken links |
| 12 | Go-live and SEO monitoring | Launch, Search Console tracking for 8 weeks |
Customer passwords cannot always be migrated, depending on Magento 1's hashing format. Plan a password reset email campaign, which typically recovers 60 to 70% of active accounts within a month.
Mini case study
Julien, e-commerce director of a home decor retailer in Bordeaux (EUR 4 million online revenue, 9,000 SKUs), spends EUR 18,000 a year on Magento 1 corrective maintenance and EUR 7,200 on hosting with extended PHP support. He migrates to Shopify Plus for EUR 45,000, with an EUR 27,000 annual subscription. Mobile conversion rises from 1.4% to 1.8%, about +0.25 points on average: 0.25% × 200,000 monthly visits × 12 × EUR 83 average basket = about EUR 498,000 of extra revenue per year. At a 35% gross margin, the net gain exceeds EUR 170,000, and the migration pays back in about 3 months.
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FAQ
Will we lose our organic rankings?
Not if the 3,000 301 redirects are prepared upfront and tested before go-live. A 5 to 10% traffic dip for 2 to 4 weeks is common, then traffic returns, often higher thanks to faster load times.
Can we move to open source Magento 2 instead of Adobe Commerce?
Yes, there is no license fee, but the migration is close to a rebuild at EUR 50,000 to 100,000, with high maintenance costs. Compare it with custom, which is often simpler to evolve.
How long should we keep the old store?
Keep a read-only copy for 3 to 6 months for history and disputes. The cost is low, EUR 100 to 300 per month of hosting.
Do we need to migrate the full order history?
The last 24 to 36 months are enough for customer service and loyalty. Older orders can be archived as an export, which cuts the data migration effort by 30 to 40%.
What is the realistic minimum budget?
For 9,000 products with an ERP integration, expect at least EUR 25,000 on Shopify. Below that, data migration and redirects are usually rushed.
Let's scope your project. Send us your product count, your Magento 1 extensions and your integrations, and we will price the best-fit migration between EUR 25,000 and 120,000 with a 12-week schedule. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
