Magento Open Source for Developers and Merchants: A Complete Handbook

Magento Open Source is a free, self-hosted eCommerce platform built for large catalogues, several store views and heavy customisation. That power comes with real server requirements, so the first decision is where to run it. This handbook covers what Magento needs in 2026, why it belongs on a VPS rather than shared hosting, how to install it, and how to keep a store fast, secure and up to date.

1. What Magento Open Source is

Magento Open Source is the free edition of the platform now owned by Adobe; Adobe Commerce is the paid edition with B2B features and support. Both are written in PHP and share the same core. There is also Mage-OS, a community-run distribution of the same open-source code.

It suits merchants with thousands of products, several languages or storefronts, complex pricing or B2B-style catalogues, and a developer or agency to look after it.

For a small or medium store, WooCommerce on shared hosting is usually cheaper and simpler. See comparing PrestaShop, WooCommerce, Magento, Shopify and BigCommerce.

2. What Magento 2.4 needs

Each 2.4 release supports specific versions of PHP, the database and the search engine, so check Adobe's system requirements page for the exact release you install. Current releases of the 2.4 line need:

PHP extensions required include bcmath, ctype, curl, dom, gd, intl, mbstring, openssl, pdo_mysql, simplexml, soap, sodium, xsl and zip.

3. Why Magento doesn't fit shared hosting

Softaculous on our shared servers includes Magento installers, but a production Magento 2.4 store can't run properly on shared hosting:

• No search service. Shared hosting doesn't run OpenSearch, which Magento 2.4 requires.
• Composer can't run. The PHP functions Composer needs to unpack packages are disabled on shared hosting, so you can't install extensions or apply patches on the server. See PHP disabled functions on shared hosting.
• Cron runs every 4 minutes at best. Magento expects its cron every minute.
• No Redis. Shared plans don't include a Redis server.
• Resource limits. Reindexing and a busy catalogue quickly reach a shared account's CPU and memory limits.

A VPS removes all of these limits.

4. Install Magento on a VPS

The outline below uses Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, which ships PHP 8.3. Adjust versions to match Adobe's requirements for the release you choose.

The key commands, run from the site user's account:

composer create-project --repository-url=https://repo.magento.com/ \
  magento/project-community-edition /var/www/magento
cd /var/www/magento
bin/magento setup:install \
  --base-url=https://shop.example.com/ \
  --db-host=localhost --db-name=magento --db-user=magento --db-password='CHANGE-ME' \
  --admin-firstname=Store --admin-lastname=Admin [email protected] \
  --admin-user=storeadmin --admin-password='CHANGE-ME-TOO' \
  --backend-frontname=manage_7x2k \
  --search-engine=opensearch --opensearch-host=localhost --opensearch-port=9200 \
  --language=en_IN --currency=INR --timezone=Asia/Kolkata
bin/magento deploy:mode:set production
bin/magento cron:install

5. Set up the store

Most basic settings live in the admin under Stores → Configuration and Stores → Settings:

• Locale, currency and time zone. English (India), Indian rupee and Asia/Kolkata for an Indian store.
• Taxes. Create tax classes, rates and rules under Stores → Tax Zones and Rates and Tax Rules to match your GST obligations. Ask your accountant how prices should be shown and invoiced.
• Shipping and payments. Configure shipping methods, then install your payment gateway's official Magento extension. Most Indian gateways publish one; install it from the gateway's own documentation or the Marketplace.
• Catalogue. Create attribute sets first, then categories and products. Configurable products group variants such as size and colour.

6. Keep it fast

7. Security, updates and backups

Adobe publishes security patches for supported 2.4 releases on a regular schedule. Apply them promptly, because online stores are prime targets for card-skimming attacks.

To upgrade, test on a staging copy first, then on the live store:

bin/magento maintenance:enable
composer require magento/product-community-edition=2.4.x --no-update   # the target release
composer update
bin/magento setup:upgrade
bin/magento setup:di:compile
bin/magento setup:static-content:deploy -f
bin/magento maintenance:disable

Also:

• Install extensions only from their developers or the Marketplace, never from "nulled" download sites.
• Use your payment gateway's hosted or redirect checkout where possible, so card data never touches your server.
• Back up the database and the pub/media folder to storage outside the server, and test a restore.

8. Where Domain India fits

Magento belongs on a VPS. A Domain India VPS gives you root access and is self-managed: you install, secure, update and back up the stack yourself. cPanel is not offered on our VPS plans; the control panel options at checkout are none, CyberPanel, Webuzo or DirectAdmin. Choose at least 4 GB of RAM for a small store with OpenSearch, and more as your catalogue and traffic grow.

The cards show live Domain India list prices, excluding 18% GST. For a smaller store, WooCommerce on WordPress hosting is often the better fit.

Frequently asked questions

Ready to launch your store? Compare VPS plans for Magento, see WordPress hosting for a WooCommerce store, or open a support ticket if you are not sure which fits.