All Magento versions history, basic details and methods to identify Magento version

Magento enjoys its status as one of the most popular CMS platforms in the world. Founder Roy Rubin envisioned an ecommerce platform that offered stability and flexibility to all online merchants. Today Magento has downsized the hassle which online store owners had to face like last 5 years ago. Currently, there are 978,132 websites using Magento. Regular and frequent updates and security patches also count among the reasons for Magento’s popularity.   The latest updated version always builds upon the strengths and weaknesses of its predecessors. Hence, ecommerce merchants can update their store to the current Magento versions for more optimized store performance. In this article, I will show you how to identify the Magento versions/editions of your store, and then explore the release of the latest Magento version 2.4. In the end, there will be a tour of the different Magento versions over the years, from the beginning to now.

How to Identify the Magento Version You’re Using

1. Check Magento Version with Admin Dashboard

The easiest way to check what version of Magento is running your website is through your Magento admin panel. Access your Magento admin panel and scroll down to the bottom. You’ll find your Magento version in the right corner at the bottom of each page of the Magento backend panel. 

2. Check the Magento Version Through URL

Write the complete store name or website URL on the browser (like example.com/magento_version), and hit the search button. This will display a short answer of the Magento version and edition run on your website.

3. Use Command Line

Time for some technical ways to check the Magento version. Use the SSH terminal for this (you can also use PuTTY). Here, I’m using the SSH terminal:

• Provide the credentials to access your application.

• Check the directory of your application by providing the right path.

• Run this command to get the Magento version: php bin/magento –version

4. Use PHP Code

To use this method, execute code for different Magento versions such as 1 & 2.

• To find what version of Magento 1 you’re using, execute the below code with the function called:

Mage::getVersion()
          
public static function getVersion()
{
    $i = self::getVersionInfo();
    return trim("{$i['major']}.{$i['minor']}.{$i['revision']}" . ($i['patch'] != '' ? ".{$i['patch']}" : "")
                    . "-{$i['stability']}{$i['number']}", '.-');
}

public static function getVersionInfo()
{ 
return array( 
'major' => '1', 
'minor' => '7', 
'revision' => '0', 
'patch' => '2', 
'stability' => '', 
'number' => '', ); 
}

Magento uses the array returned by the getVersionInfo method to come up with a version number.

• To find what version of Magento 2 you’re using, you can try out a couple of methods:

 echo \Magento\Framework\AppInterface::VERSION;

public function __construct( \Magento\Framework\App\ProductMetadataInterface $productMetadata ) { 
 $this->productMetadata = $productMetadata; 
} 
public function getMagentoVersion() { 
 return $this->productMetadata->getVersion(); 
}

The code above uses the Dependency Injection approach. It lets you create your own DI container, so you can inject objects into a class instead of creating them. The second way is to use the ObjectManager, which defines the rules for retention, naming, security of objects.

$objectManager = \Magento\Framework\App\ObjectManager::getInstance(); 
$productMetadata = $objectManager->get('Magento\Framework\App\ProductMetadataInterface'); 
echo $productMetadata->getVersion();

5. Use Composer.json

If coding is not your cup of team, check for the Magento 2 version in the root composer.json file code line no.5.

{
    "name": "magento/project-community-edition",
    "description": "eCommerce Platform for Growth (Community Edition)",
    "type": "project",
    "version": "2.1.1",
    "license": [
        "OSL-3.0",
        "AFL-3.0"
    ],
….

Magento 2.4 – Release of Magento 2 Latest Version

The improvements within Magento 2 serve to better the chances of success for ecommerce merchants. This year saw the Magento 1 End-of-Life on July 28, 2020, followed by the release of the Magento latest version 2.4.0. This release includes:

• All the improvements to core quality that were included in Magento 2.3.5-p1
• 100+ new fixes to core code
• 30 security enhancements
• The resolution of 226 GitHub issues by community members

In addition to these fixes and improvements,, the latest version also has new features, such as:

• Introduced support for PHP 7.4, Elasticsearch 7.6.x, and MySQL 8.0
• 2FA security for Magento 2 admin panel
• Purchase approval workflows
• Seller assisted shopping
• In-store pickup
• New media gallery
• PWA Development
• Headless commerce

History 101: Magento 1 Versions Through the Years

Magento CE 1.0 – Beta – August 31, 2007 The first public Magento beta version released. Magento CE 1.0 – June 24, 2008 This version lets you enable features stores such as API, bundled and virtual products, custom product options. Magento CE 1.1 – July, 2008 The first stable Community Edition version available for download. Magento CE 1.2 – December 29, 2008 More advanced features such as FTP, layered navigation and downloadable products. Magento CE 1.3 – March 30, 2009 Introduced the catalogues feature for the first time. Magento CE 1.4 – February 12, 2010 Added changes in customizability and appearance, and launched the widgets and WYSIWYG editor. Magento CE 1.5 – February 8, 2011 Enabled the functionality to add Magento for iPad and Android. Magento CE 1.6 – August 8, 2011 Let you run several different ecommerce stores at the same time, and offer multi database support. Magento CE 1.7 – April 24, 2012 Introduced mobiles phone themes, auto generating coupon codes, and customer group pricing. Magento CE 1.8 – December 11, 2013 Improved taxation calculation, and introduced Redis cache. Magento CE 1.9.X – 2014 – 2015 Addition of infinite themes, responsive theme, responsive emails, and more.

History 102: of Magento 2 Versions Through the Years

Magento CE 2.0.0 – November 18, 2015 Transformation of Magento Platform. Flexible architecture supporting innovation and fast time to market, and enterprise-level scalability and performance. Magento CE 2.0.1 – January 20, 2016 Several important functional updates, including official support for PHP 7.0.2. Magento CE 2.0.2 – January 29, 2016 Resolved issues of upgrading from Magento 2.0.0 to Magento 2.0.1. Magento CE 2.0.3 – March 31, 2016 This Magento version was replaced by version 2.0.4, which was released the next day. Magento CE 2.0.4 – April 1, 2016 All of the security enhancements and performance improvements of Magento 2.0.3, in new packaging. Magento CE 2.0.5 – April 28, 2016 Miscellaneous functional fixes. Magento CE 2.0.6 – May 17, 2016 Security enhancements as well as several functional fixes. Magento CE 2.0.7 – May 24, 2016 One functional fix in payment gateway. Magento CE 2.0.8 – July 19, 2016 Several functional fixes. Magento CE 2.0.9 – August 11, 2016 Several functional fixes. Magento CE 2.0.10 – October, 2016 Multiple security and functional enhancements as well as enhancements to the Sales API. Magento CE 2.0.11 – December, 2016 Over 70 bug fixes and enhancements. Like Management of configurable products with many variations in the Magento Admin interface without degrading performance. Magento CE 2.0.12 – February, 2017 Over 20 functional fixes and enhancements, and one security enhancement. Like Removal of vulnerability with the Zend framework Zend_Mail library. Magento CE 2.0.13 – April 17, 2017 This release updates the copyright date in every file. It does not contain any functional changes or security improvements. Magento CE 2.0.14 – May 31, 2017 Critical enhancements to the security of your Magento software. Magento CE 2.0.15 – June 21, 2017 Support for changes in PayPal’s Instant Payment Notification (IPN) service. Magento CE 2.1.0 – June 23, 2016 Numerous functional fixes and enhancements. Like PayPal enhancements, Braintree Hosted Fields, Improved management interfaces and many more. Magento CE 2.1.1 – August 30, 2016 Several functional fixes and enhancements to the deployment of static assets. Magento CE 2.1.2 – October 12, 2016 Release includes security enhancements, several functional fixes,Support for PHP 7.0.4 and 5.6.5,Compatible with MySQL 5.7 and 2 new web APIs (or service contracts) for the Sales module . Magento CE 2.1.3 – December 14, 2016 Release includes many functional enhancements and fixes. Like new PayPal and Braintree payment features, Increased storefront performance and many more. Magento CE 2.1.4 – February 7, 2016 Numerous functional fixes and enhancements. Like after this Magento version release one can now successfully complete Paypal checkout with products that have custom options. Magento CE 2.1.5 – February 21, 2017 This release updates the copyright date in every file. It does not contain any functional changes or security improvements. Magento CE 2.1.6 – April 28, 2017 Performance enhancements, especially for operations that involve the category page and image resizing. Magento CE 2.1.7 – May 31, 2017 Release includes critical enhancements to security Magento CE 2.2.0 – RC – August 4, 2017 Magento Community Edition 2.2.0 Release Candidate includes significant new features like the release of this Magento version includes the first third-party extension that we are bundling with Magento Commerce – Magento Social, as well as many bug fixes. Magento Open Source 2.1.8 – August 9, 2017 Magento Open Source (formerly Community Edition). Includes enhancements to Magento software like Improve Elasticsearch and indexing performance of large catalogs. Magento Open Source 2.1.9 – September 14, 2017 Includes security fixes and enhancements to Magento software. Like Remote Code Execution (RCE), Information Leak (system), Abuse of Functionality, Invalidated Redirection and Insufficient session expiration. Magento Open Source 2.2.1 – November 07, 2017 Includes functional fixes and enhancements to Magento software. Like Integrated Signifyd Fraud Protection is now available in Magento Open Source. Magento Open Source 2.2.2 – December 12, 2017 Includes new tools, functional fixes and enhancements, along with a number of contributions from Magento community to Magento software. Magento Open Source 2.2.3 – February 27, 2018 Enhancements to product security and to ACL control for cache management through Magento Admin. Magento Open Source 2.2.4 – May 02, 2018 New tools and numerous functional fixes and enhancements. Like Magento now provides dedicated payment and shipping debug log files to store information specific to those functional areas. Magento Open Source 2.2.5 – July 01, 2018 Improvement in product security, bug fixes and enhancements. Magento Open Source 2.2.6 – September 18, 2018 Critical improvements in product security, core code fixes and enhancements. Magento Open Source 2.2.7 – November 28, 2018 Improvements in product security, core code fixes and enhancements. Magento Open Source 2.3.0 – November 28, 2018 This release includes numerous functional fixes and enhancements. For further details, read this. Magento Open Source 2.2.8 – March 26, 2019 Critical improvements in product security, core code fixes and enhancements. Like Improved order creation workflow in the Admin, Magento now supports Elasticsearch 6.x. and much more. Magento Open Source 2.3.1 – March 26, 2019 Functional fixes to the core product, over 500 pull requests contributed by the community and security enhancements. Magento Open Source 2.3.2 – June 25, 2019 200+ functional fixes to the core product, 350+ pull requests contributed by the community, and 75+ security enhancements. Magento Open Source 2.3.3 – October 8, 2019 Made significant platform upgrades, substantial security changes, and PSD2-compliant core payment methods. Magento Open Source 2.3.4 – January 13, 2020 This Magento version focused mainly on shopping carts & payments, categories, payment methods, user interfaces, general bug fixes, clean code, and performance improvement. Magento Open Source 2.3.5 – April 28, 2020 This version offers significant platform upgrades, substantial security changes, and performance improvements, including over 180 functional fixes to the core product and over 25 security enhancements. Magento Open Source 2.3.6 – October 15, 2020 This was the last version of Magento 2.3 released. It includes over 160 functional fixes to the core product and over 15 security enhancements. Magento Open Source 2.4.0 – July 28, 2020 Introduced support for PHP 7.4, Elasticsearch 7.6.x, and MySQL 8.0. Substantial security changes include the enablement of two-factor authentication in the Admin by default. Magento Open Source 2.4.1 – October 15, 2020 This version enhanced performance and security. Security enhancements include support for the SameSite attribute for cookies, and the addition of CAPTCHA protection for payment-related and order-related API endpoints, as well as the Place Order storefront page.

Conclusion

Magento has continually evolved over the years. With each new update, it added numerous functional and bugs fixes, enhancements and critical updates. It is no surprise that Magento powers thousands of online stores, given its commitment to constantly enhance the efficiency of its platform.