Why Is Adobe Commerce Expensive?

Discover why Adobe Commerce is expensive to maintain and learn strategies to manage these costs.

Need help managing the expense of Adobe Commerce? Or maybe you want to see if there is a less expensive platform that fits your needs. Let's chat. Our experts are here to help you maintain your current website, or migrate to a brand new platform that better suits your business.

In the third installment of the eCom Buzz, we're exploring what makes Adobe Commerce that expensive to maintain, and how you can better manage these costs. There are things that contribute to the overall expense, including the cost to maintain and technical debt. But there are also strategies you can use to reduce these costs and make this robust platform more reasonably priced.

Key Factors Contributing to Costs

Licensing and hosting fees are primary expenses, especially for enterprise or B2B versions. Regular upgrades and quarterly security patches are essential but can be labor-intensive and expensive. Third-party modules and custom code often exacerbate the complexity of upgrades, and ongoing maintenance, including fixing bugs and ensuring compatibility with third-party modules, adds to the cost.

Licensing and Hosting:
For enterprise or B2B versions, licensing fees are a primary cost.
Hosting fees are another major expense unless you're using Adobe Commerce Cloud.
Upgrades and Patches:
Regular upgrades (triennial) and quarterly security patches are essential but can be labor-intensive and expensive.
The complexity of upgrades is often exacerbated by third-party modules and custom code.
Maintenance and Bug Fixes:
Ongoing maintenance, including fixing bugs and ensuring compatibility with third-party modules, adds to the cost.

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The Impact of Customization and Technical Debt

Adobe Commerce is renowned for its flexibility, allowing for extensive customization. However, this can lead to high technical debt if not managed properly. Technical debt refers to the cost of additional rework caused by choosing an easy solution now instead of using a better approach that would take longer. High technical debt often results from complex business logic and poor-quality implementations, causing instability and frequent problems.

Complex Business Logic: The more complex the customizations, the higher the potential for issues.
Poor Quality Implementations: Custom code and third-party modules that are not well-integrated can cause instability and frequent problems.

Strategies to Reduce Costs

Limit Frequent Upgrades:
Avoid upgrading with every new release unless there is a compelling reason. Instead, plan upgrades strategically, roughly every three years, to stay within the end of software support periods.
Certified Developers:
Employ certified developers, preferably at the expert or master level, who have a deep understanding of Adobe Commerce. This ensures efficient problem-solving and better implementation of features.
Testing Automation:
Implement automated testing to quickly identify issues with updates or new code, reducing the time and cost of manual testing and bug fixing.
Architectural Oversight:
Engage an experienced architect to oversee the project. This ensures a cohesive architectural blueprint and reduces the risk of creating a 'house of cards' system.

Adobe Commerce’s costs stem from its flexibility and power, but by managing technical debt and optimizing the development process, you can mitigate these expenses. Investing in certified developers, automated testing, and strong architectural oversight can significantly reduce the long-term costs and ensure a stable, efficient eCommerce platform.

Considering making a change?

We would love the opportunity to chat with you about cost management or platform migration options—taking the 'e' in eCommerce from 'electronic' to 'easy.'