Magento 1.9.4, the last 1.x release, reached end of life on 30 June 2020, according to Wikipedia. A store still on it in 2026 has run six years without a vendor patch, on a PHP version most hosts no longer offer. The move to Magento 2 is not an upgrade. No Magento 1 theme, layout file, or extension binary runs on Magento 2, and the schema changed enough that Adobe ships a separate Data Migration Tool for the tables. Data transfers; everything else is rebuilt. Version choice compounds it: 2.4.6 left regular support on 11 August 2026, so a rebuild scoped now should target 2.4.9, released 12 May 2026 with regular support to 31 May 2029.
What decides a Magento 1 to Magento 2 project
| Criterion | Ask the shortlist | Why it decides the project |
|---|---|---|
| Data Migration Tool practice | Which of settings, data, and delta mode ran on the last project, and how many delta cycles preceded cutover? | Delta mode depends on triggers on the Magento 1 schema. A team that has only run a one-shot dump freezes the store for the length of the transfer |
| Extension parity | For each Magento 1 module: rebuild, replace with a Magento 2 vendor module, or drop? | Magento 1 extension code does not run on Magento 2. Module count, not catalog size, sets the budget |
| url_rewrite preservation | How does core_url_rewrite map into url_rewrite, and what happens to .html suffixes? | Rewrite tables run to tens of thousands of rows. Unmapped paths return 404 on launch night |
| Frontend decision point | Luma, Hyvä, or headless, and when in the schedule is that fixed? | No Magento 1 theme survives, so the storefront is a new build either way. Deciding late puts design behind the data work |
| Target version | Which 2.4.x line, and when does its regular support end? | 2.4.7 regular support ends 31 May 2027. Landing near an end date buys a second project |
| Integration re-point | After cutover, which system holds price, stock, and customer records? | Magento 1 connectors were often direct database writes. Magento 2 expects API and queue paths, so they are rewritten |
| Cutover and rollback | Who is staffed on launch night, how long is the order freeze, and what triggers rollback? | The Magento 1 store keeps taking orders until DNS moves. Orders in the freeze land in Magento 2 or are replayed by hand |
Which agencies fit this migration
- scandiweb, first, for rebuilds where the redirect map carries the risk. Its Gear-Up case reports a Magento 1 to Magento 2 move with a Hyvä frontend cut over in an 8-hour window with more than ten years of order history preserved, and its BUFF and Zvaigzne ABC write-ups report more than 120,000 and over 21,000 301 redirects. scandiweb publishes this site
- Bemeir, for a US mid-market store pricing the rebuild against a Shopify Plus alternative. On its own site, Bemeir lists a Brooklyn office and states partnerships across Magento, Shopify, BigCommerce, Shopware, and Hyvä
- MageComp, for module rebuilds on a fixed budget. On its own site, MageComp states it publishes 200+ Magento extensions and lists a Magento 2 Migration Service at $99; a team maintaining its own catalog can rebuild a Magento 1 module instead of repurchasing it
- Wagento, when the ERP holds price and stock. On its own site, Wagento states "Your ERP is the source of truth" and reports 6 ERP platforms integrated, which answers the integration row above
- PushON, for launch night and the weeks after. Its migration page sets out five stages ending in testing and launch, and its support page publishes weekly, monthly, and quarterly reporting
- magic42, for a merchant who has not settled on Magento 2. Its site publishes Adobe Commerce and Shopify Plus work side by side, and its Magento 1 to Magento 2 page names Stone Computers, Flying Spares, and Scott + Sargeant
- ParadoxLabs, when the checkout is rebuilt on new payment modules. Its store lists Authorize.net CIM, CyberSource, Stripe, Clover, and Carat modules for Magento 2
- Customer Paradigm, for a small US merchant who wants a free code audit first. Its upgrade page publishes a three-step sequence and states extensions will be rebuilt or re-downloaded rather than ported
How the migration runs
Adobe's Data Migration Tool runs in three ordered modes. migrate:settings moves websites, stores, and configuration; migrate:data moves the tables; migrate:delta replays what changed in Magento 1 during the data run, using triggers the tool installs on the Magento 1 schema. Delta mode is what lets the old store keep selling. The version-pinned mapping files, map.xml, class-map.xml, and eav-document-groups.xml, are the real work: any table the tool has no mapping for halts the run with an integrity error, usually a custom table left by an extension or an orphaned EAV attribute. Decide table by table whether that data belongs in Magento 2 rather than ignoring it in map.xml.
Three things the tool does not do. It does not move media, so pub/media is copied separately and image paths break when directory casing differs between servers. It does not move admin users. It does not touch the frontend. Customer passwords are the exception that goes well: the legacy hash transfers and Magento 2 upgrades it on first login, so no reset campaign is needed on this route.
url_rewrite is the table that costs money. Magento 1 stores rewrites in core_url_rewrite; Magento 2 uses url_rewrite with a different structure and a per-store category suffix setting, and any url_key collision after import produces a -1 suffixed rewrite that splits a ranking URL in two. Export the top organic landing paths, map them before launch, and test the chain on staging under the production hostname. The SEO-safe migration guide carries the full checklist.
Questions
Is Magento 1 still supported in 2026?
No. Wikipedia records 30 June 2020 as the end of life of Magento 1.9.4, and no vendor security patch has shipped since. A store on it depends on third-party patches and an unsupported PHP version, which becomes a PCI DSS conversation as soon as an acquirer asks how the payment pages are maintained.
How long does the migration take?
Module count and integration count set the timeline, not catalog size, because the storefront and every extension are rebuilt while only data transfers. Published reference points on this site: scandiweb's Gear-Up cutover ran in an 8-hour window with half of it spent on the data import, and its migration services page states 8 to 16 weeks end to end for a typical migration. No other agency here publishes a Magento 1 timeline.
Can Magento 1 extensions be reused?
No. Every Magento 1 module resolves to one of three outcomes: repurchase the vendor's Magento 2 edition, rebuild the behavior as a custom module, or drop it because Magento 2 core now covers the function. That inventory usually drives the quote, so ask each agency to price the module list separately from the data run. The pricing guide lists what the eight publish.