Magento is a feature-rich Content Management System (CMS) widely used for creating e-commerce websites. The CMS gives the owners absolute flexibility and control over the functionality of their online portal. Magento is a ZEND based framework acquired by e-bay inc. Magento’s powerful marketing tools, catalog management, ecosystems, search engine optimization and thousands of extensions allows the website owners to create such dynamic sites that gives incomparable shopping experience to their users or customers.
Additionally Magneto’s discreet administration interface empowers the owners to customize their site according to exclusive business needs. Being an extremely powerful, scalable and supported by an extensive network, Magento is the ultimate reliable and stable e-Commerce platform solution today.
Presently there are three solutions that Magento is offering, Magento Enterprise Edition (Magento EE), Magento Community Edition (Magento CE) and Magento GO. All the solutions are equally relevant, however they are meant for different business and audiences. So let us explore and compare all the three Magento solutions…
Differences between Magneto CE vs. GO vs. Enterprise Edition
| Basis | Magento Enterprise | Community | Magento GO |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | Magento Enterprise is a costly affair. The annual fees of the solution starts from $15,550 while premium version starts from $49,990 | Magento Community is a free open source platform. However it charges for services and add-ons. | Magento GO monthly billing varies from $15 to $ 125 based on different monthly plan. |
| Support | Magento EE solution is fully supported by Magento. | Very limited support from Magento. They have a vast forum. | Support varies from plan to plan. |
| PCI Compliant | Magento EE is PCI compliant and encompasses a PA-DSS payment bridge. | Magento CE is not PCI compliant; however it can be made to become so. | Magento GO meets the industry security standards while being compliant with level 1 PCI-DSS. |
| Marketing Aspects | The Enterprise solution emphasizes more upon technical aspects than on marketing aspects. | Marketing forms a strong base in CE solutions. | Magento GO designs strengthen marketing aspects. |
| B2B and B2C | It encompasses both B2B and B2C capabilities. | Community edition has full B2C capabilities, however requires 3rd party add-ons for B2B. | GO has full B2C but limited B2B capabilities. |
| Magento Hosted | No | No | Hosted by Magento on payment of monthly fees. |
| Features | The solution has enterprise class good feature | Magento CE owns limited features. | Magento Go embraces small number of features. |
| Intended users | Designed for big and medium size business. | Designed for developers and technology savvy merchants. | Designed for small business. |
Magento Enterprise, Community, and GO- Which is highly recommended?
Having looked at above comparison, we can say that the three Magento solutions – Enterprise edition, Community edition and GO are equally good however choice of a solution varies according to different business needs.
Enterprise edition is highly recommended to create rich, differentiated users experiences from desktop computer to Smartphone. The e-commerce solution is perfect for fast growing and large business. Despite being a costly solution, Magento Enterprise edition is quite popular because it encompasses hundreds of extensions along with an open architecture to add more functionality. Also the solution offers complete B2C and B2B support.
Community edition (CE) is open source software appropriate for technology-savvy proprietors and developers. The CMS is free to download and backed by community support. CE is a proven ecommerce solution that provides a dynamic framework for web designers and developers to build a completely featured e-store. Most unique features of the solution are- functionality, customized designs and third-party integration.
Magento GO Edition is specially designed for small businesses or small business needs. The e-commerce solution allows the users to build fully equipped e-store quickly n easily but without any technical resources and customization facilities. The unique features of the Magento GO Edition are- reliable hosting, 24*7 application support, customizable design, easy extension installation, third part integrations, etc…
Following link gives you a complete outlook of Enterprise Edition (EE), Community Edition and Magento GO Edition:
- http://enterprise.magento.com/explore/features
- https://www.magentocommerce.com/product/enterprise-community-faqs
- http://go.magento.com/tour/
Therefore we can say that the choice of as to which Magento solution is appropriate for a company solely depends upon its purpose and the target users.
