Magento upgrade: Key points to stay up-to-date with minimum cost

Keeping Magento up-to-date is essential for maintaining a secure, stable and reliable eCommerce store. Yet a Magento upgrade is rarely as straightforward as installing a new software version. Changes to system requirements, third-party modules, custom code and integrations can introduce technical challenges, unexpected costs and potential disruption.

For merchants, the challenge is knowing when to upgrade, which version to choose and how to manage the process without putting day-to-day operations at risk.

Whether you are applying a security patch, moving between supported releases or planning a more extensive platform update, a successful Magento upgrade requires preparation, technical expertise and thorough testing.

This guide explains how to upgrade Magento, assess version compatibility, manage common issues and plan costs. It also explores how to make future upgrades more predictable and cost-efficient.

A Magento upgrade is the process of updating your store's core software to a newer release, along with any necessary changes to its dependencies, modules, customisations and hosting environment.

The work involved depends on the difference between your existing version and the target release.

Magento upgrades generally fall into three categories:

Each type presents different levels of complexity. Security patches are usually more contained, while minor and major upgrades can require extensive compatibility checks and development work.

However, version numbers alone do not determine the difficulty of an upgrade. Some minor releases introduce significant architectural or infrastructure changes that can affect custom modules, integrations and hosting requirements.

For example, moving between Magento 2.4 releases can involve changes to PHP, Composer, database systems and search technologies. These dependencies must be addressed alongside the core application.

Expert insights: Not every minor Magento upgrade is simple. Some releases include architectural changes that affect dependencies, integrations, and compatibility. For example, the 2.4.2 to 2.4.3 release introduced new system requirements such as Composer 2, which manages Magento’s core code and modules, along with updated search and payment technologies. These updates modified Magento’s underlying framework, making the upgrade more complex than typical minor releases and requiring thorough preparation, testing, and validation to ensure stability and avoid disruption.

Each upgrade type carries different levels of complexity, but all are important to long-term stability. Major Magento releases introduce deep architectural improvements and new features that keep your store secure, compatible, and ready for future growth. Minor versions and security patches should also be applied regularly to maintain performance and reduce long-term upgrade effort. The next section explains how to determine when an upgrade becomes essential for your store.

Regular Magento upgrades help merchants maintain a secure, stable and reliable eCommerce platform while reducing the technical challenges associated with outdated software. Beyond keeping the system up to date, they help ensure your store can continue to support changing business needs, customer expectations and technology requirements.

• Improved security: Supported Magento releases receive security updates that address identified vulnerabilities. Keeping your store updated helps reduce exposure to known threats and protect sensitive customer and business data.

• Technology compatibility: Newer releases support more recent versions of PHP, databases, search engines and other infrastructure components. Regular upgrades help ensure these technologies remain compatible, reducing the risk of running outdated or unsupported systems.

• Greater stability: Magento updates include bug fixes that address issues affecting checkout, catalogue management, order processing and administrative operations. Resolving these issues can improve day-to-day reliability and reduce disruptions for customers and internal teams.

• Access to improvements: Depending on the release, merchants can benefit from new functionality, performance enhancements and developer tools. These improvements can help streamline store management, support a better shopping experience and make future development more efficient.

• Easier maintenance: Keeping Magento relatively current reduces the gap between your existing codebase and newer platform releases. This makes it easier to maintain third-party modules, manage dependencies and avoid accumulating technical debt that could make future upgrades more complex and costly.

However, upgrading does not necessarily mean installing every new minor version as soon as it becomes available. A new release can introduce changes to infrastructure requirements, extensions and custom code that need careful assessment before deployment.

The right approach depends on your current version, security exposure, Adobe's support lifecycle and the technical readiness of your store. By planning Magento upgrades around these factors, you can maintain a supported, reliable platform while minimising unnecessary disruption to business operations.

What if frequent upgrades strain your budget?

Magento upgrades can seem costly and time-consuming, but they do not have to be.

On Tap’s Evergreen solution includes free lifetime upgrades after your first project, covering all future minor and security releases. Once your store is fully optimised and aligned with Adobe’s best practices, we handle every upgrade proactively with each official Magento release. This approach keeps your site continuously up to date while delivering predictable total cost of ownership and long-term savings.

Staying current is essential for protecting the long-term stability, security, and performance of your store. Each release from Adobe brings essential updates, including security patches, PHP compatibility, and new integration support. Ignoring these updates can leave your store vulnerable, unstable, and more expensive to maintain in the long run.

However, not every business needs to upgrade Magento store immediately after each release. The right timing depends on the health of your current site and the internal resources you have for managing upgrades safely.

The framework below helps you determine whether you can wait or need to act now, and also outlines a separate path for stores with foundations that are no longer stable enough to support safe upgrades.

Adobe maintains a defined support lifecycle for Magento Open Source and Adobe Commerce releases.

The table below summarises regular support deadlines for recent Magento release lines.

Adobe Commerce customers may have access to additional extended-support or security-fix provisions for certain older versions. These arrangements should not be assumed to apply to Magento Open Source.

Support coverage can also depend on third-party infrastructure components, which have their own lifecycle deadlines.

Before making decisions, check Adobe's official release and support information.

If your Magento version is still within Adobe’s official support window and your technology stack remains stable, you can safely defer an upgrade for a short period. However, deferral should always be intentional and time-bound. Each skipped release gradually widens the architectural gap, introducing deprecated code, outdated libraries, and configuration inconsistencies that make the next upgrade slower and more costly. The longer you wait, the more effort and risk compound.

To stay in control, treat the time between releases as preparation. Plan the next upgrade around Adobe’s release schedule, allowing time for testing, compatibility checks, and dependency updates. This proactive approach ensures that even if you defer, you remain ready and avoid last-minute rebuilds, unstable deployments, or unexpected costs.

There comes a point when deferring is no longer an option. If your Magento version is approaching the end of Adobe’s support window or your store has started showing signs of instability, it is time to prioritise an upgrade. Acting early prevents the situation from escalating into security risks, broken integrations, and higher long-term costs.

1 - Version gaps

If you already know which Magento version your store is running, these signs indicate that your current setup may already be drifting from the latest supported standards:

• Your Magento or PHP version is at the end of support: Each Magento version is supported by Adobe for a limited time. When that support period ends, Adobe discontinues all security patches, bug fixes, and performance updates. Over time, this leaves your store exposed to unresolved vulnerabilities and gradually incompatible with newer technologies and modules.

• Your store has fallen several releases behind the current versions: Even if your version is still technically supported, large version gaps introduce architectural drift: Outdated libraries, deprecated APIs, and module conflicts that make maintenance increasingly difficult and the future upgrade significantly more costly.

2 - Operational and business symptoms

If you haven’t checked your version yet but are experiencing problems, these symptoms may indicate that your store is running on outdated architecture:

• Noticeable performance or reliability issues: Slow page loads, unstable indexing, or checkout errors often signal that your underlying architecture and dependencies are no longer optimised for current standards.

• Extensions or integrations fail to work properly: Payment gateways, shipping systems, or marketing tools may stop syncing correctly when your Magento version no longer supports their latest APIs.

• Security or compliance warnings: Frequent vulnerability alerts or PCI/GDPR compliance issues indicate that your version’s protection layer is outdated and can no longer be patched effectively.

Slow page loads, unstable indexing, or checkout errors often signal that your underlying architecture is outdated. AuditIQ eCommerce monitoring tool can detect all of the above - from performance regressions and Core Web Vitals drops to security vulnerabilities and technical health issues - all in one platform. AuditIQ ranks what matters most so your team knows exactly what to prioritise and what the next step should be.

Sometimes, upgrading is not an effective solution. If your store relies on heavy customisation or runs on legacy code that conflicts with Magento’s modern framework, even a successful upgrade may not restore long-term stability.

In such cases, rebuilding the store on the latest Magento version is often the more effective approach, particularly when moving from Magento 1 to Magento 2. It allows you to re-establish a clean, standards-aligned codebase instead of constantly patching legacy logic. In the short term, this approach is typically faster and more predictable than attempting a complex upgrade followed by module refactoring. In the long term, it delivers a stable foundation that performs better, is easier to maintain, and keeps future upgrades low-risk and cost-efficient.

Carbon is built specifically for this purpose. It is a rapid-deployment system for Magento and Adobe Commerce that helps merchants rebuild on a high-performance, Hyvä-based framework while retaining full flexibility and scalability.

Unlike a standard theme rebuild, Carbon gives you a ready-to-deploy Magento foundation with a pre-configured codebase, integrations, and performance settings, enabling faster time to launch. Because it’s built to follow Adobe’s latest standards, Carbon provides a clean and stable setup that keeps your store upgrade-ready and cost-efficient to maintain. 

Carbon provides:

• Fast time to market – ready to launch in weeks, not months.

• High performance and Core Web Vitals optimisation through streamlined frontend architecture and efficient caching. 

• Feature-rich functionality out of the box, including advanced search, optimised checkout, B2B tools, and SEO enhancements. Built on proven best practices from On Tap’s nearly 20 years of eCommerce experience, Carbon delivers a conversion-ready storefront from day one.

Rebuilding with Carbon also gives you access to On Tap’s Evergreen solution, which provides free lifetime upgrades to keep your store continuously up to date. Every future minor and security release is included, ensuring your site remains secure, stable, and fully compatible without the recurring expense of traditional upgrades.

Before deciding how to approach your next Magento upgrade, it’s important to assess the following realities: 

• Evaluate architectural differences, not just version gaps: As mentioned above, when version numbers appear close, not every Magento upgrade is straightforward. Some releases include significant architectural changes that affect dependencies, integrations, and compatibility. These variations can make “minor” upgrades almost as complex as major ones, which is why it is important to assess the underlying architectural distance and ensure your team has the expertise and resources to manage it effectively.

• Successful upgrades require capability and planning: Because upgrades impact every layer of your site, from infrastructure and database to frontend and integrations, they demand both technical proficiency and planning. Teams must have the skill to manage dependencies, resolve conflicts, and test across environments to ensure stability and performance.

• Upgrades are a recurring investment: Adobe releases new Magento versions three to four times a year. Each release involves testing, deployment, and quality assurance, which means upgrades are not one-off tasks but part of your store’s long-term total cost of ownership (TCO).  The most sustainable approach is to treat upgrades as a continuous process: planned, budgeted, and executed in line with Adobe’s release cadence.

Once you understand these realities, the next step is to decide who should manage your Magento upgrades. Depending on your technical foundation and available expertise, you can either continue managing upgrades with your current resources or engage a specialised Magento agency for professional support.

• Your store has a solid foundation with minimal technical debt and limited customisation.

• The version gap is small (for example, from 2.4.4 to 2.4.8).

• Your internal team or current partner has certified Magento expertise and capacity for ongoing maintenance.

If you decide to manage upgrades internally, follow the process in the Step-by-step guide for handling a Magento upgrade on your own section to plan and execute them safely.

• Your site’s architecture is outdated or unstable.

• You have heavy customisation, complex integrations, or large data volumes.

• Your current setup is architecturally distant from the target version. 

• Your internal resources or current partners lack the expertise or time to ensure a safe, efficient upgrade.

If your store falls into one of these scenarios, it’s best to work with an experienced Magento agency. Refer to the Time, cost and key considerations when engaging expert support section to understand the factors that influence project timelines, costs, and how to choose the right Magento partner.

If you decide to manage your Magento upgrade internally, following a structured process is essential to reduce risks, avoid unnecessary downtime and maintain site stability. Each stage requires careful preparation and validation to ensure that changes to the platform do not disrupt critical business operations.

1. Prepare and align your infrastructure: Review your current hosting environment and system configuration against the requirements of the target Magento version. Check PHP, Composer, MySQL or MariaDB, search engines such as OpenSearch, caching services and other dependencies. Identify components that need upgrading or reconfiguring, and confirm that your hosting environment can support the changes. Addressing infrastructure compatibility early helps prevent installation failures, performance issues and unexpected downtime later in the process.

2. Create a staging environment and back up data: Set up a staging environment that mirrors your production store as closely as possible, including its infrastructure, modules and configurations. Create complete backups of your database, media files, application code and essential configuration settings. Where appropriate, use a sanitised copy of production data to test realistic customer journeys and store operations. Verify that your backups can be restored and establish a recovery plan before making changes to the live environment.

3. Audit and categorise modules, themes, and integrations: Compile a complete inventory of custom and third-party modules, frontend themes and connected systems, including payment gateways, shipping providers, ERPs and CRMs. Check whether each component supports the target Magento version and identify those requiring updates, replacements or removal. Pay particular attention to modules that are no longer maintained, as they can create compatibility issues or security risks. Document the required changes before installation to avoid unexpected development work.

4. Install the target version: Use Composer to update Magento's core application and required dependencies, following Adobe's official instructions for your release and deployment environment. Monitor the installation for dependency conflicts, missing packages and compatibility errors. Resolve these issues before proceeding with database updates, code compilation and static content deployment. Complete the installation in staging first, ensuring that the application starts correctly and essential services remain accessible.

5. Module licensing and code refactoring: Confirm that your extension licences and vendor support agreements cover the target Magento version. Update or replace incompatible modules, and review custom code for deprecated functions, changed APIs and framework dependencies. Where necessary, refactor existing customisations to work with the updated platform. This helps prevent functionality issues after deployment and reduces technical debt that could complicate future Magento upgrades.

6. Quality assurance and regression testing: Test all critical storefront and administrative functions, including product browsing, search, checkout, payments, order processing, customer accounts and inventory updates. Verify that third-party integrations continue to exchange data correctly and that scheduled tasks operate as expected. Compare key performance indicators between staging and production, such as page loading times and checkout behaviour, to identify unexpected changes. Resolve and retest any issues before approving the production deployment.

7. Launch and rollback: Schedule the production upgrade during a period of relatively low traffic to minimise potential disruption. Establish a clear deployment plan covering responsibilities, maintenance windows, final backups and post-deployment checks. Prepare and validate a rollback procedure that accounts for application files, database changes and infrastructure dependencies. Before reopening the store, confirm that critical customer journeys and operational processes are functioning correctly.

8. Post-launch validation: Continue monitoring the upgraded store for several days after deployment, paying particular attention to application errors, website performance, checkout completion, order processing and integrations. Review logs and operational metrics to identify issues that may only appear under real customer traffic. AuditIQ features cover real-time log analysis, performance metrics and checkout health so you can resolve bugs quickly and protect both stability and customer experience.

Even with careful preparation, Magento upgrades can introduce unexpected compatibility issues, performance problems or integration failures. Following a structured process, documenting changes and completing thorough testing helps reduce these risks while keeping your store maintainable and ready for future updates.

Even well-planned Magento upgrades can encounter technical problems.

Many issues arise from incompatible dependencies, outdated modules or configuration differences between the original and target environments.

The appropriate fix depends on the root cause.

For example, clearing caches may resolve an asset deployment issue, but it will not fix an incompatible PHP dependency or a failing payment integration.

When repeated errors indicate deeper compatibility problems, a technical audit may be more effective than addressing symptoms individually.

Magento upgrade cost varies depending on your existing version, level of customisation, hosting environment and integration requirements.

There is no universal price because two stores running the same Magento release can require very different amounts of work.

A relatively standard installation with well-maintained modules may be easier to update than a heavily customised store with legacy dependencies and multiple integrations.

1. Environment and system alignment: Every Magento upgrade must run on a compatible technical foundation. This means the underlying systems that power your store, including the hosting setup, database, and supporting software such as PHP, must meet the requirements of the newer version. If any of these components are outdated, they need to be updated or reconfigured first to ensure the upgrade runs smoothly and the site remains stable.

2. Core application and module compatibility: Magento upgrades update the core system that your store runs on, which can affect both built-in functions and any additional modules you use. Some of these may rely on older logic that is no longer supported, so they need to be reviewed and adjusted to stay compatible. Because this process often involves detailed testing and code adjustments, it can be time-consuming. If not done thoroughly, some modules may remain only partly compatible, leaving behind inconsistencies that reduce efficiency and build up technical debt over time.

3. Storefront and theme updates: Themes built on the older Luma framework rely on technologies such as KnockoutJS and RequireJS, which Magento is gradually phasing out. As newer versions introduce changes to templates, layouts, and rendering methods, these themes often require code adjustments and stylesheet updates to remain compatible. Because even small structural differences can break page rendering or affect site performance, this stage demands careful frontend development and testing to ensure a stable, consistent storefront after the upgrade.

4. Integration and data connections: Magento upgrades often involve changes to how it communicates with connected systems such as ERPs, CRMs, PIMs, and payment gateways. Each upgrade can alter API endpoints, authentication methods, or data formats. Without revalidation, these changes can disrupt order, inventory, or customer data synchronisation, creating costly operational issues that affect fulfilment and customer experience.

5. Testing and quality assurance: Magento’s layered caching and indexing mean that even small code differences can create hidden bugs that appear only under load. Comprehensive QA ensures that upgraded features work correctly and that no critical workflows, such as checkout or stock updates, are affected.

The time and cost of a Magento upgrade depend on several technical and operational factors, not just version numbers. The most critical include:

• Architecture distance: The deeper the structural changes between your current setup and the target version, the greater the effort. Even minor upgrades can include significant framework shifts. For example, the 2.4.2 to 2.4.3 update required merchants to adopt Composer 2, switch to Elasticsearch as the default search engine, remove obsolete libraries, and update built-in payment integrations. Though it was officially a minor release, it required code refactoring and full regression testing.

• Customisation depth: Stores with many bespoke modules or overrides need additional time for compatibility adjustments and testing.

• Integration scope: Complex connections to systems like ERP, CRM, or PIM must be retested to ensure data integrity and synchronisation.

• Data and catalogue size: Sites with extensive product data, content, and orders take longer to process, migrate, and test.

Price alone should never determine your choice of agency. A low quote can be an indicator that the project scope, testing coverage, or quality assurance time has been reduced to meet budget expectations. While this approach may appear cost-efficient upfront, it can increase the likelihood of post-launch adjustments and higher maintenance effort over time.

Magento upgrades are released regularly, so it’s best to work with a partner who can support your store continuously, not just deliver one-off projects. Look for an agency with:

• Proven Magento expertise and certification.

• A clean, well-documented upgrade process.

• A focus on long-term performance and maintainability, not just project delivery.

A successful Magento upgrade is about more than reaching the newest software version.It involves maintaining security, ensuring compatibility, protecting critical business processes and preparing your store for future platform changes.

Whether you are applying a security patch, planning a minor version upgrade or modernising an older installation, the same principles apply: assess dependencies early, prepare the environment, test thoroughly and follow a controlled deployment process.

Merchants who approach Magento upgrades as part of ongoing platform maintenance are better positioned to manage costs, reduce technical debt and avoid unnecessary disruption.

At On Tap, we make this process simple and sustainable through our Evergreen solution, which includes free lifetime Magento upgrades after your first project. This removes the uncertainty, risk, and recurring cost that traditionally come with version updates. With nearly 20 years of Magento experience, we ensure your store remains secure, high-performing, and always aligned with Adobe’s evolving standards.

If you want Magento upgrades to be simple, sustainable, and stress-free, contact us to start planning your upgrade strategy with confidence.

1. How do I upgrade Magento?

Start by identifying your current Magento version and checking the requirements of the target release. Back up your store, prepare a staging environment and assess the compatibility of modules, themes and integrations.

Follow Adobe's documented upgrade procedure, complete regression testing and resolve any issues before deploying to production. Continue monitoring critical business functions after launch.

2. What is the best way to upgrade Magento?

The best way to upgrade Magento is to follow a structured process that covers compatibility assessment, backups, staging, dependency updates, testing and deployment.

For complex or heavily customised stores, a technical audit before implementation helps identify potential problems and establish a realistic project scope.

3. Can I upgrade Magento without losing data?

Yes, Magento upgrades are designed to preserve existing store data, but database changes, incompatible modules and deployment errors can introduce risks.

Create and verify complete backups, test the upgrade in staging and prepare a rollback plan before making changes to your live store. This helps protect customer, product and order data if unexpected issues occur.

4. How long does a Magento upgrade take?

The timeline depends on your current version, store complexity and the scope of the required changes. A routine security patch may take a few working days, while a minor version upgrade can take several weeks.

Heavily customised stores or installations running significantly outdated versions may require additional development, infrastructure updates and extensive testing.

5. How often should I upgrade Magento?

Review Magento security advisories as they are released and apply relevant security fixes according to their severity and your store's exposure.

Plan minor version upgrades around Adobe's support lifecycle, infrastructure compatibility and your business requirements. Regular maintenance helps prevent technical debt and reduces the complexity of future Magento upgrades.