5 Great Magento 2 Payment Extensions From Marketplace

Lots of successful online stores make use of payment extensions. They are functional modules that add features to your website. A Magento® 2 custom payment method module can turn a boring catalog of items into a complete online shopping experience. It adds more capabilities to your online store. Payment extensions can give you secure transactions and smarter functionality. That helps to increase your website’s sales.

What Tasks Payment Extensions Solve

There are a lot of advantages which Payment Modules can give your online shop:

• they extend the functionality without changing Magento 2 core;
• payment modules allow your customers to use the most common payment gateways which are convenient for them;
• extensions provide secure payments that that has critical importance for customers.

There are some useful extensions available for eCommerce websites that make use of Magento 2. Let’s look at some of them.

5 Best Magento 2 Payment Extensions

MultiSafepay by MultiSafepay

Rating: 5/5 stars

Functionality
MultiSafepay is a service provider that handles payment collections. This extension lets your customers make online and mobile payments easily. The process is seamless, quick and simple. MultiSafepay transactions are extremely secure, and it allows access to several payment methods.

3 Main Advantages

• It supports over 15 local and international payment methods. That includes credit cards from VISA, MasterCard, and American Express. It also works with local payment methods like iDEAL and Bancontact. Gift cards from over 20 providers can also be used.
• It’s entirely PCI compliant. Your customers’ payment details are processed securely. When purchasing on your website, they will be redirected to the MultiSafepay payment platform. The transaction will get processed using a secure SSL connection.
• It supports responsive payment pages. MultiSafepay’s mobile channel puts your customers at ease. There are also several in-app payment solutions available to enhance their shopping experience.

Price

MultiSafepay is free to download.
Compatible with: Magento Community 2.0, 2.1.

PayPlug Payment Gateway by J2T Design

Rating: 5/5 stars

Functionality
This extension allows your Magento 2 website to use the PayPlug Payment Gateway. It is the only solution designed for SMEs specifically. It provides a friendly check-out service. Using their Smart 3-D Secure feature, it reduces the chances of fraud significantly.

3 Main Advantages

• It’s effortless to install. It can be ist up with a single click, and no merchant account is required.
• It includes excellent tools to track orders. Customers often judge stores on how well the online shop manages their orders after purchase. You can retain your customers’ loyalty by offering this kind of excellent after-sales service.
• It has an infrastructure on par with registered banking institutions. It is PCI DSS certified, and it is registered as a payment agent at the ACPR. All funds are secured in French banks

Price

It is free to download and is available for Magento 2 Community Edition only. You may purchase a 1-month service agreement for $45-00. You may also add the optional installation service for an additional $120-00.

Compatible with: Magento Community 2.0, 2.1.

Stripe Payment Gateway and Subscriptions by Magenest 

Rating: 5/5 stars

Functionality

Stripe Payment Gateway and Subscriptions for Magento 2 gives your website the ability to accept once-off and recurring payments securely. It allows store owners to accept all major payment cards to create payment method in Magento2. One notable feature is that it even lets you receive Bitcoin payments via Stripe’s API.

3 Main Advantages

• It has a Level 1 PCI DSS security level. It is the highest possible compliance level of PCI DSS certification. It means outstanding security for your website’s transactions.
• It supports Bitcoin payments. So your customer base will expand. Bitcoin is a widely popular form of currency. More customers will be inclined to make purchases with Bitcoin on your website.
• It allows for smarter payment processing. This Magento 2 custom payment gateway lets you set up payment filter rules for different payments. Also, some countries have laws that restrict the act of buying and selling of specific products. This extension lets you limiting payment from particular countries.

Price

The download for Magento 2 Community Edition is $149-00. The download for Magento 2 Enterprise edition is $349-00. You may purchase an optional installation service for each version for $50-00.

There is a free 6-month service agreement included with each edition. But you also can extend to 9-month and 12-month service agreements at an extra fee:

Community Edition:

The 6-month service agreement is free.
The 9-month service agreement is $50-00.
The 12-month service agreement is $80-00.

Enterprise Edition:

The 6-month service agreement is free.
The 9-month service agreement is $100-00.
The 12-month service agreement is $150-00.

Compatible with: Magento Community 2.1, 2.2; Enterprise 2.1, 2.2

Amazon Pay by Amazon Payments, Inc.

Functionality

Amazon Pay lets your customers easily check-in and check-out on your Magento 2 website. It uses the information already stored in their Amazon account. They can do so without even leaving your website. It supports both desktop and mobile sites. Amazon Pay consists of 2 main components. The first element is a login module that lets customers register and login using their Amazon account. There’s no need to gather any additional information. The second component is a payments module that allows customers to complete checkout using their stored Amazon payment methods.

3 Main Advantages

• It increases your online credibility. It reassures the customer with common Amazon features and security that will help capture sales from customers who are hesitant to enter their information online.
• It provides a smooth and seamless payment process. Customers won’t need to leave your site to enter any payment or shipping information. All this information is extracted from their existing Amazon account.
• It has no hidden fees. There are no unexpected add-ons for monthly use, setup, or cancellation. It will inevitably save you money by lowering the total cost of accepting payments for your online store.

Price

Amazon Pay is available for Magento 2 Community and Enterprise editions. Both are free to download. They each come with a 1-month service agreement included which is free of charge.

Compatible with: Magento Community 2.1, 2.2; Enterprise 2.1, 2.2

Mollie by Mollie Payments

Rating: 5/5 stars

Functionality

Mollie gives your online store the support it needs to accept payments and donations online. It helps expand your customer base internationally by supporting all primary global payment methods. It does this through a single integration.

3 Main Advantages

• It allows quick and easy setup. The process of creating and activating your Mollie account is a matter of minutes. You could even start accepting payments within 15 minutes.
• It includes a personal dashboard. It contains all the real-time insights you need. All this information is held in a single panel and can be exported to every kind of accounting software.
• It lets you process refunds efficiently. Refunds can be issued right from the Magento 2 backend. Partial and extra refunds are both supported.

Price

Mollie is available for Magento 2 Community edition only. It is free to download.

Compatible with: Magento Community 2.1, 2.2.

How Much Does Magento eCommerce Cost?

If you want to know what it will cost to create Magento® 2 online stores, we are going to make the things clear today.

The cost of building a Magento online store depends on the choice of your edition and further customizations. The process should begin with a full assessment of what capabilities you want your online store to have. You should also differentiate between features that are necessary versus non-critical. The main goal of doing this is to ensure that your budget can cover all the critical operational features of your store first. Once you can cover this cost, you can use the rest of your budget for other non-critical features. Every business needs to make the smartest use of its resources. The critical features of your online store should be established first. Then you can include other items.

It may seem like a complicated exercise, but we promise you, it is not. In fact, we have laid out everything you need to know to guide you through Magento eCommerce cost structure. Let’s start with the initial software cost.

How Much Will a Magento Website Cost Me?

There are two pricing approaches that you could take. You can either opt for the Magento 2 Open Source edition and then add on whatever capabilities you require. But the costs of too many additional extensions can add up. This approach may end up costing more than you budgeted for.

The other option would be to opt for the Magento 2 Commerce Edition. But this method may end up being a wasteful exercise if you don’t need the full power of this version. Therefore, it is essential to establish your critical needs first. When you know what you need, you can then see which approach suits your pocket best.

Magento Small Business Pricing

Let’s highlight they key pricing points and price range for the package. Magento Open Source is entirely free as a package. You can request the demo, and then after reviewing it, you can download the recent Magento Open Source edition and start to work on it.

Magento Enterprise Pricing

The price of all Magento Enterprise editions is dependent on what your exact needs are. The final price will depend on your store yearly revenue.

Magento 2 License Cost

For the Magento 2.x Commerce, license cost starts from $22,000 for the year plan. This Magento 2 Enterprise Edition Price is for merchants generating less than $1 million. Commerce Cloud costs around $40,000 for the year plan. The price varies from $22,000 and $40,000 to $125,000 and $190,000, if company generating between $25 – $50 million per year.

The stats above are showing the average price for packages and relies on the gross revenue of the store. However, the price also relies on the functionality implemented, and the maximum that we pointed here is for the fully functional Magento Commerce Store.

Basic Magento Website Cost Structure

Some factors contribute to the basic eCommerce website price of a Magento store. Let’s look at the most important aspects that you need to know about.

Magento 2 Server Costs

A Magento 2 server needs to be able to run a Linux x86-64 operating system. This should be supported by at least 2Gb of RAM, or else a swap file will be required. Databases must be built with MySQL 5.6 minimum. The servers that will run your Magento 2 solution must be able to perform to these standards. The cost of the actual Magento 2 server solution will depend on which edition you decide to use.

Magento Hosting

The hosting cost of the actual Magento 2 server solution will depend on which edition you decide to use. Please, take into account that different hosting providers charge a specific price for the hosting solution. Simple hosting starts at $3,99, and for the advanced plan, you can pay from $200 per month.

Magento Website Development Costs

Developing a Magento website does require specific specialized skills. Developers that can perform this task have different costs. This cost is dependent on what kind of site you expect. A website with a simple checkout protocol will be cheaper to develop. A website that needs more functionality will be more expensive because it will require more development.

Additional Module Packages

The costs of developing your online store will increase if you decide to add functionality by means of using module packages. Some modules are free to download. But several of the most useful modules can only be purchased. The cost of your website will increase with each module package that you buy. To learn more about the prices for Magento 2 extensions, you can visit Magento Marketplace where you’ll find lots of useful modules for various needs.

Marketing Costs

Marketing is not directly related to developing a website. But once your website is created, you want to direct as much traffic as possible to it. The costs involved to market your website are counted as part of your development costs. This is because marketing is part of making your Magento store as successful as possible. Some marketing strategies include SEO, online marketing campaigns and content management. Marketing costs are usually counted as an optional cost. But realistically, marketing your Magento store is necessary. No matter how great your store is, people still need to be told about it.

Magento Development Cost

Total web development costs consist of developers’ hourly rates and the scope of work needed.

Magento Development Hourly Rates

Magento developer cost per hour can range from $20 to $100. The actual rate will depend on several factors. The development requirements of your Magento store is one such factor. A simple shop that requires little technical development will be cheaper and vice versa. Another factor is the developer(s) location. Different developers may charge different rates for the same job. Their rates depend on the country where the developers are from. Some regions, such as the USA, European countries can have higher rates than Ukraine or Poland, for instance. It depends on the world market and the tax system in the country.

Also, besides the rate, we recommend you to pay attention to the experience and skills of a web developer. There are specific skills that only experience can teach. And a professional developer is more likely to have these skills. You can check it by requesting the developer’s CV and portfolio, conducting the face-to-face interview, or taking several trial hours for free.

What Are the Other Important Elements That Can Affect the Pricing?

Every Magento online store has essential features that they must have to be operational. Let’s look at the necessary works that your online store will need:

• Requirements for brief creation (it usually takes nearly 40-80 hours).

It is a significant milestone that helps to clarify your exact needs and the functionality your online store will include.

• Project architecture creation (also 40-80 hours).

On this stage, the team thoughts out the whole project core and architecture it will have.

• Magento 2 installation (1-2 hours).

After that, you get Magento 2 out-of-box functionality that needs customizations.

• Backend implementations (needs at least 200 hours and depends on customizations you may need).

It usually includes modules set-up, custom module development, API development, and 3-d party integrations.

• Frontend implementations (starts from 200 hours).

It includes setting up a theme or designing a custom theme.

The approximate realistic total for a project of this scope will take around 1000-2000 hours.

Custom Magento Website Cost

What the customization means as an action. The customization is necessary if you want to rebuild or change specific default feature for your business needs. This requires additional developer’s work and could be counted as extra development hours.

You can customize the theme, modules, and any store features as products, orders, search, login, checkout, etc. Also, you can contact us so that we can customize any feature for your store and help to clarify the costs according to our estimation. A customized solution ensures that you do not waste money on paying for features and capabilities that you may not need.

What Is the Cost to Maintain My Magento Website?

You can calculate actual development costs as:

The number of development hours * web developer hourly rate

If we will calculate the approximate costs, it will look like the following:

This is not the final amount. All the factors mentioned in this article will contribute to your total. You should keep in mind that initial development costs may seem expensive. But your Magento online store will begin seeing more revenue, and you will start recovering your investments.

Best Websites to Outsource Web Development for the USA in 2019

Outsourcing is an efficient way to get work done for your business without needing to add these departments to your company structure. It can be intimidating when trying to find companies that outsource web development. Let’s look at a few risks involved.

The Main Risk of Outsourcing Web Development Projects

Risk 1: Quality Control

It can be challenging to be fully involved in the web development process. It can result in an end-product that is not exactly what you expected.

Risk 2: Security and Privacy Leaks

Outsourcing web development does involve handing over some access to sensitive information. If your developer does not assume responsibility for this security, you could end up with leaked private information.

Risk 3: Lack of Customer Focus

Sometimes, agencies take on too many clients. So, they tend to take a somewhat generic approach to development. Another reason could be that web development has a creative element which an “outsider” may not fully grasp.

How to Outsource Web Development Confidently

The good news is that some useful outsourcing websites can help you find the talent you seek. Here are 5 of the best outsourcing platforms in the USA and globally.

Clutch.co

About

Clutch is an independent research company. They maintain an in-depth database of service providers and vendors. Web development is one of their focus areas. It uses verified company reviews and a “leader matrix” to create relevant recommendations for clients. The leader matrix is composed of several evaluation metrics like quality, cost and client portfolios.

How it works

If you need a service provider, you would first need to select the domain that your requirements fall under (e.g., software development, web design, etc.). You will receive with leader matrices of possible company choices. You can check their profiles, rates and previous client reviews.

Benefits

• The potential service providers are based partly on positive customer reviews. Service providers who perform poorly are marked as such, so potential clients are fully aware of their performance.
• The process of assessing and choosing service providers can be a lengthy and expensive exercise. Clutch takes care of this by doing the legwork for you. You just need to determine the leaders.

Upwork

About

Upwork is a platform for freelancers from all over the world. It is a virtual meeting place where businesses and freelancers can find each other. Upwork is one of the largest freelance marketplaces available. Clients can list jobs, along with specifications like project requirements, deadlines, budget, and required experience level.

How it works

Freelancers create profiles on Upwork with detailed information related to their skills and experience. You can search the Upwork database for freelancers that meet specified criteria. You can also list your job on the news feed. Freelancers will browse these jobs and submit proposals. You review the proposals and choose a freelancer. They are contractually obligated to do the work. Projects can be billed per milestone or when the service provider completes the entire project. It can also be charged per hour. For fixed-price jobs, you can use Upwork’s Escrow service to release funds automatically as milestones are met.

Benefits

• An entry-level freelancer can do a simple project. A sophisticated project should be done by an experienced professional. Upwork lets you find the right match for your project.
• Upwork has a host of online tests that they administer to freelancers. You can use this to help verify if freelancers are skilled in their advertised areas.

LinkedIn

About

LinkedIn is a cross-industry networking platform. It’s a great option if you’re looking to hire people or keep updated on business acquaintances. By joining LinkedIn, you become visible in professional communities. The emphasis is on networking for professionals.

How it works

All LinkedIn users have a professional profile that is linked to other professional profiles, like a “friend of a friend” approach. You can search for individuals or companies by location, the field of expertise and skill level. You can also keep the search restricted to people within your network or who are only one degree removed.

Benefits

• The community-based structure of LinkedIn makes it easier for you to connect with like-minded people. You can choose who you want in your “community.”
• LinkedIn is an excellent environment to build brand awareness for your business.

Meetup.com

About

Meetup.com is an environment for you to connect with others, based on similar interests. It is a great way to connect with users involved in web design that could potentially be a good employee for you. The Meetup groups are centered around specific fields. It helps narrow down your search for people involved in web design in your area quite efficiently.
How it works

When you sign up, you can request to join groups. You can also create a group if you don’t find a suitable one. By merely being in the same community as other like-minded people, you can easily find people that would be an asset to your business.

Benefits

Since Meetup.com has a robust location-based search option, you can easily find people based in your area.

Meetup.com is an interest-based platform. That means that the people who join have substantial interests in their fields. It will be easier to find talented employees who are genuinely passionate about their interests.

Outsourcing Company’s Website

About

There is a full portfolio of information available online. You can easily see what their strengths and specializations are. If you have any questions or would just like more information, you may contact them at any time. You can also keep updated with any special offers that are running.

How it works

When a company is visible in Google search results, it is a good indicator that they take care of their brand. It’s especially true if the potential customer uses generic keywords like “outsourcing company.” That means they have invested resources into their brand because they believe in the products they are selling. One should also evaluate the content quality of the website and how useful their information is. The website visitors should have easy ways to contact the company and have in-depth coverage of who they are. Portfolios, reviews, and company assurances are usually also should be visible on the corporate website.

Benefits

A website with good quality content shows customers that the business is established and is confident in their product. It inspires confidence in the customer and reassures them that the business can take care of their needs. Customers tend to assess businesses based on the quality and visibility of their online presence.

5 Magento 2 Extensions Useful for an Online Store

Magento® 2 is one of the best eCommerce platforms on the market. What makes it so great? It’s customizable. You can ultimately choose how your online store will be run through Magento by buying extensions and add-ons.

Here, we’ve picked 5 Magento extensions that can be useful for each online store!

What Tasks Magento 2 Modules Solve

Magento plugins solve a variety of problems on eCommerce platforms. Today we’ll talk about the customers’ journey. For one thing, M2 modules can make it easier for customers during checkout. They can also separate your page into different sections; for example, clothing stores can have a section called “Shop by Brand.” You can have product bundles added, as well as shipping calculators.

Essentially, extensions are used to make the customer experience better. When your customers are happy, they’re more likely to come back to your store! Today let’s talk about Magento Marketplace extensions that earn special attention.

5 Great Extensions for Magento 2

Store Locator by Amasty

Rating: 4.8/5 stars

Functionality

Store Locator is the perfect extension for any online store. Whether you’re running a small, medium, or large-sized business, your customers might want to find your location(s), which is why you should consider buying this extension.

Get technical support. At the very least, you have three months of free technical support. This is beneficial as you get used to using the extension, but it is especially useful if you’re going to install the extension on your own.

Display store location on your site. Store Locator connects Google Maps to your online store so that your customers can see where you are and how far away you are from them. You can also put information about each of your locations.

Organize your store locations. This extension allows you to assign specific brands and categories to your store locations so that your customers can see what each store has to offer.

Compatible with: Magento Community 2.1, 2.2; Enterprise 2.1, 2.2

Price

There are two different packages available for this extension.

The first is for Magento 2 Community Edition with the price of the extension itself is $200, and which has a technical support option:

• $129 for 12 months,
• $79 for 6 months,
• free for 3 months.

No matter which one you choose, you have the option of buying a $60 installation fee.

The second edition is the for Enterprise Edition. This package is $500 at its base and has a $60 installation fee that you can choose to buy. The technical support costs:

• $219 for 12 months,
• $149 for 6 months,
• free for 3 months.

Check out Suite by IWD Agency

Rating: 5/5 stars

Functionality

This extension puts everything on the same page. It’s customizable, so you can choose your layout and your colors to match that of your store. Overall, it makes your entire website function easier.

Enjoy user-friendly pages. Right when your customers go to checkout, they have the option of customizing their products. They don’t have to move backward or move through different tabs. It’s all on the same page!

Customize it. With this Magento 2 module, you have complete control over your website. That means you can edit your layout, the fields that appear during checkout, colors, and much more!

Work with advanced options. That is what will set you apart from other companies. Checkout Suite allows your customers to tell you when they need their product delivered for so that you can try your best to respect their needs. Not only this, but you can give them the option to gift wrap products with a special message to the recipient.

Compatible with: Magento Community 2.2, Enterprise 2.2

Price

The version for Community Edition is free, and it comes with the option to have it installed for $85.

The Enterprise Edition base fee is $689 in comparison, with a $60 installation fee. You can choose to have customer service for:

• $551 for 12 months
• $413 for 6 months.

Product Bundled Discount by Krish TechnoLabs

Functionality

The reason this product works is that it promotes your business through marketing. Some people scoff at it because they aren’t gaining as much money as they usually would, but this extension could be the thing that makes your customers keep coming back.

Increase sales. Everyone loves a deal. This extension allows you to provide your customers with more products at a discounted price! Instead of buying one or two items, they’ll buy bundles of products!

Save time. Customers will be able to buy your products with only one click!

Sell dead inventory. Every store owner knows that there are some products which do not sell out completely. There are always extras that hang around in your warehouse, and this can be annoying. Instead, you can offer the product for a bulk price, so customers are more inclined to buy those extra products.

Compatible with: Magento Community 2.1, Enterprise 2.1

Price

Just like the previous two options, this extension has two packages.

The first is a Magento 2 Community Version, which costs $299, has the prospect of a $99 activation fee, and service agreement:

• $180 for 9 months,
• free for 6 months.

The next package is for Magento 2 Enterprise Edition for $600. The installation fee is the same, and it only comes with a free six-month service agreement.

Shop By Brand by Aheadworks

Functionality

This Magento 2 brand extension allows you to create brand pages. That will enable merchants and customers to go to your site and look at specific brands you’re offering; subsequently making shopping time faster and easier. And it is one of the best Aheadworks Magento 2 extensions.

Increase your sales. When customers choose their brand, the extension also shows the products they might like based on their choice, which will gradually bring you more sales.

Get loyalty from brands. Brands appreciate being shown off. Using Shop by Brand will likely get you loyalty from brands because they’ll be represented more.

Provide a faster shopping experience. A lot of people hate shopping for hours on end. With this, they can click on the brand they want and add it to their cart.

Compatible with: Magento Community 2.1, Enterprise 2.1

Price

The Community Edition is $79. It has a $55 option installation fee, as well as service agreements:

• $149 for 12 months,
• $99 for 6 months,
• free for 3 months.

The Enterprise Edition Version comes for $349. The installation fee is the same, but the service agreements are:

• $399 for 12 months,
• free for six months.

SimiCart Mobile App Builder by SimiCart

Functionality

Not everyone knows how to build the perfect mobile app for their site. That’s what makes SimiCart Mobile App Builder especially handy! Almost everyone has a smartphone, which is why you might want to make your company mobile-friendly!

Turn your website into an app. The app configures for your site.

Increase your sales. People are on their phones more and more. When they’re out at work or running errands, they can’t go onto their computer. By going mobile, you can sell items at any moment, from any smartphone.

Interact on social media. This extension will allow your customers to connect with you through social media like Facebook Connect and push notifications.

Compatible with: Magento Community 2.0, Community 2.1

Price

There is only a community edition available, and it’s free for trial! Then you’ll need to buy the monthly subscription which starts at $49/month.

Choose the Best Blog Extension for Magento Store

Do you own an eCommerce website? If so, then you know that one of the most valuable things that you can add to your eCommerce website is a blog, but it can be hard to know which extension you should add. That’s why we are here to provide you with a list of the best blog extensions available!

Top Great Magento® Blog Extensions

If you already have an online store and know blog extensions for Magento 2 requirements to the technical side, take up our list and choose the best one.

Better Blog by MagePlaza

Rating: 4.8/5 stars

Functionality

What does this blog extension do? It allows you to add a blog to your eCommerce site without having to add a third-party. Examples of third parties include WordPress, Blogger, etc. You can keep your customers or clients up to date with what’s going on in your store, about upcoming products, and more.

3 Main Advantages

• Responsive design. People are more likely to return to your site if it looks good.
• SEO friendliness. It’s becoming more and more important for websites to be SEO friendly. This is because your online site is more likely to be found in search engines if your content is optimized for it.
• Related posts. The blog extension allows your website to be more interactive by showing your customers related posts!

Price

It is one of the most important factors when choosing the blog extension.
It’s free! It also has a thirty-day money back guarantee, offers a lifetime of updates, and technical support for up to one year.

Compatible with: Magento Community 2.0, 2.1, 2.2

Blog MX for Magento 2 by Mirasvit

Rating: 5/5 stars

Functionality

Like the last option, this blog extension allows you to include a blog on your online store. You can interact with your customers by adding images, graphs, videos, articles, and more! You can preview your posts before you post them so that you know it’s exactly what you want! It’s also mobile-friendly.

3 Main Advantages

• Tags. You can add tags to your post so that your customers can find them more quickly!
• Images. You can add featured images to your posts to attract more people to your site. No matter what, they’re more likely to buy from you if your site is aesthetically pleasing.
• Pinned posts. You can pin your favorite posts so that they’re the first one your customers see! If there’s one that especially optimized for search engines or another that’s brought in a lot of customers; you can pin them!

Price

It’s free!

Compatible with: Magento Community 2.0, 2.1, 2.2; Magento Enterprise 2.0, 2.1, 2.2.

Blog by AheadWorks

Rating: 5/5 stars

Functionality

This extension is used worldwide by some of the best enterprises in eCommerce. Manage your content with a complete blog. You won’t have to add a third party framework to your site!

3 main advantages

• Customization features. You can decide how your posts look, as well as how your entire blog looks. You can choose how many posts to add per page, what your sidebar looks like, and more!
• Editor included. Your blog posts will immediately be edited by What You See is What You Get. You can add videos to your blog posts, as well as images and charts.
• Easy migration. If you’ve been working out of Magento 1, there’s no need to worry. This blog extension has a migration tool to move between Magento 1 and Magento 2.

Price

The price for Community Edition of this extension is $349.
And it comes with a service agreement:

• free for 3 months
• $99 for 6 months
• $149 for 12 months.

The package for Magento 2 Enterprise Edition is $949 as a base fee, and it comes with a free, 12 month service agreement.

Compatible with: Magento Community 2.1, 2.2; Magento Enterprise 2.1, 2.2.

Blog Pro by Amasty

Rating: 4.8/5 stars

Functionality

Blog Pro is the upgrade you’re looking for to enhance your eCommerce website. Blogs are great for your website because they attract traffic and customers to your site through SEO optimization.

3 Main Advantages

• Customizable layout. You can make your blog reflect your website by choosing how it looks. The aesthetics of your site tells your customers what your brand is all about.
• Adjusted posts. With this extension, you can decide how your posts are added and configured. Choose the color for specific tags, the number of posts per tag, whether or not you use a 3D cloud, etc.
• Security. Everyone worries about cyber attacks. If websites like Paypal can be hacked, then yours can too! Luckily, the extension has been included with your website’s security in mind, and cyber attacks are unlikely.

Price

The price for Community Edition of Blog Pro is a minimum of $299. You can choose to add a $60 installation, as well as support services:

• free for 3 months
• $79 for 6 months
• $129 for 12 months.

The Blog Pro for Enterprise Edition is a minimum of $599. You can choose to have a $59 installation service, as well as support:

• free for 3 months
• $149 for 6 months
• $219 for 12 months.

Compatible with: Magento Community 2.1, 2.2; Magento Enterprise 2.1, 2.2.

Blog Extension for Magento 2 by CMS Smart

Rating: 5/5 stars

Functionality

This blog extension, like the previous ones, will allow you to add an utterly customizable blog to your eCommerce website without the use of a third-party framework.

3 Main Advantages

• No limit. Some blog extensions have a limit on the number of blogs posts you can add to your page, but this one does not! As long as your website is up and running, you can add an unlimited number of blog posts blog posts!
• Comments moderation. You can manage every comment posted to your blog posts. If you want, you can allow or delete comments!
• Social media support. Every blog post does better when you share it on social media! You can share it on facebook, twitter, google plus, etc.

Price

This extension only costs $80, so it’s one of the more affordable options we have. The domain license lasts for one year, and you can download updates. You can add domain licenses if you want to, and each addition will cost around $30.

Compatible with: Magento Community 2.0, 2.1

Awesome Blog by Magefan

Rating: 5/5 stars

Functionality

It’s one more great blog extension for Magento 2 that allows you to add a blog to your online store without setting up WordPress. It comes up with all you need to manage an awesome blog!

3 Main Advantages

• All blog features and blog search. Everything you need for the blog, all essential elements, such as posts, categories, tags, archives, lazy load, comments included! Also, a convenient blog search will help your visitors find what they are looking for. Even more! You can add related products to any blog post and motivate your customers to buy more at your store!
• SEO friendliness. SEO features are great, and they help you to build user-friendly permalinks, generate XML sitemap, and integrate your blog with the other third-party marketing services.
• Multi-language and multi-website support. That means if your online store is multilingual, your blog can also be like that! English, Dutch, French, Romania, and Ukrainian languages come right out-of-box.

Price

It’s free and available only for Magento 2 Community Edition. Also, you can have it installed for $40. If you need the support package, there are two options available:

• $50 for 6 months
• $100 for 12 months.

Compatible with: Magento Community 2.0

PrestaShop vs Magento: Choosing the Best Platform for Your Online Store in 2019

Anyone who works in the world of eCommerce knows that at some point, they have to choose a platform from which to run their online store. When you’ve come to this point, it can be difficult to know what is best for you; after all, both Magento® and PrestaShop platforms have different characteristics and specialties. But we want to make eCommerce platforms comparison to understand which platform will serve your business needs.

PrestaShop vs Magento

PrestaShop was first released in 2007, a full six years after Magento (2001). Then Magento 2 version came up in 2015. In 2013, a poll showed that nearly 30% of e-commerce market shares took place on Magento platforms; meanwhile, just over ten percent used PrestaShop.

In recent research, Magento has been shown to power 13% of the top million online sites. PrestaShop, on the other hand, runs around 5% of the top million websites. While Magento is a leader in the field, PrestaShop is close on the list.

Usage Prospects

According to builtwith.com:

• 214 K live websites are using the Magento.
• 39 K live sites are using Magento 2.
• 247 live websites are using PrestaShop.

Market Share

Magento 2: 49% market share lies in the United States, 9% – in Great Britain, 6% – in the Netherlands.

PrestaShop: 41% of its market share lies in the United States, 11% in France, and 7% – in Spain.

To determine which platform is better, let’s take a look at what Magento 2 and PrestaShop have to offer.

Difference Between PrestaShop and Magento 2

Both platforms use open source technology, so can customize your store pretty much however you wish.

What is Open Source? Glad you asked! Technology and software that is open source use source code that can be edited and modifies frequently. That is what allows you to customize your website. From colors to plugins, it’s all up to you. Some of the platforms are open source but may vary with functionality, price and overall performance.

Plenty of “big name” companies are currently using Magento 2: from Land Rover to Huawei, the platform has proven its versatility. In comparison, PrestaShop doesn’t have as many large brands or corporations on its side.

The problem with PrestaShop is that it lacks the experience that Magento 2 has. Magento has had an extra six years to perfect its services, while PrestaShop still has issues with payment, bugs, and templates that are entirely out of date. Let’s compare these two platforms.

Packages and Pricing

One of the most important aspects of deciding on a certain platform is cost. Here we will consider how much is Magento store costs and what is the PrestaShop sale price?

PrestaShop is free for use. While expanding with the website will result in additional costs, you can efficiently use this platform at no added costs to you.

If you have a small to medium-sized business and more prone to Magento 2, Community Edition is a good choice. You can use Magento’s Community Edition for free. It’s a quick download, and then ready for use with out-of-the-box features.

Magento 2 is known for being an expensive platform to run if you have a larger company. For the extra security and experience, you can expect to pay a higher price. For extensive business, you can buy the Magento 2 Enterprise Edition. Here, you’ll be spending a fee of at least $22,000 per year. Apparently, this version is better for larger businesses.

Admin Management

PrestaShop has everything related to the content of your store at the back office (i.e. admin panel).

Magento 2 has a pretty simple admin panel and you can find all the sections of your store and settings right at the backend. You need to log in and start exploring it.

Dashboard

The PrestaShop dashboard allows you to check the statistics of your shop’s daily activities, different graphs (sales, orders, visitors, etc.).

The same with Magento: all the important analytics regarding your sales, orders, customers and daily activities you can find on the dashboard.

Payment Methods

Magento 2 offers you Braintree and PayPal as a default payment gateways. For the rest, you need some extensions or add-ons. However, you have plenty of options on the market, and you can choose various payment gateways according to your business needs. Additionally, you can set a price rule, or use zero subtotal feature for certificates and vouchers.

For PrestaShop, you have Visa, MasterCard, and PayPal by default and you can let your customers choose the option that will suit them best. In addition to it, you can offer an electronic wallet or card payment, payment on delivery, in-store payment and prepayment.

Shipping Methods

Magento 2 has plenty of carriers by default, so you can choose among UPS, USPS, Royal Mail, DHL, and FedEx. You also have the option between free shipping, flat rate, and table tax rates for your store.

As for shipping options, you can integrate standard delivery firms and carriers for your PrestaShop store, set and edit carrier information due to your store location and your client orientation. As well as that, free shipping is available according to the carrier rules, handling costs, and out-of-range behavior. That means if your carrier has no shipping costs you can indicate how your store should react.

Prestashop vs Magento Performance

Magento 2 has the following tech stack to use it:

PrestaShop has almost the same technology stack to run it successfully:

The downside to using Magento is that you need a server that performs well and that it does not work as quickly as its competitors. If you look at PrestaShop, you’ll see Magento requires a bit more technical resources and that’s why sometimes has performance issues.

eCommerce Functionality

PrestaShop is also known for being easier to install than Magento is. If you aren’t incredibly tech-savvy, then this might be the better platform for you. You’ll be able to set up your store without any extra skills.

When you’re using Magento 2, you could find yourself contacting the expert team pretty often. Still, any Magento version comes with a support team and several developers, while PrestaShop does not.

Themes and Plugins

Magento 2 has a lot to offer to the eCommerce world. First of all, customers and clients will find that there are additional 1,500 add-ons that they can choose from on Magento Marketplace. And regarding themes and modules, Magento 2 is hugely customizable.

While PrestaShop has an overwhelming 25,000 plugins, not all of them will benefit you, and PrestaShop customization could be a bit complicated. Magento might have plugins of better quality. The large world community of web developers works on it.

Community Support

Magento has a big community of developers, so you always can count on stable updates and quick reaction to solve some issues. Regarding functionality, you can find answers through Stack Overflow and Magento Stack Exchange. For some simple questions, find a solution with Magento Technical Support and look through different sections. However, to fix some problems programmatically, you need to have your in-house or outsourcing team of developers.

Regarding PrestaShop, you have a couple of options to find the solution to your questions. PrestaShop technical support offers various Support Plans on the main website as well as Community Help and Support to answer common questions on installation, updates, and development.

Installation and Usage

PrestaShop provides you with Store Demo and the complete Installation guide.

Magento has Demo that can be requested from the official website. If you want to explore all the features from the backend admin, check our Demo overview. To install Magento get a developer help as it requires 1 to 2 hours of work. Nevertheless, Magento has you covered with notifications of each release, you can update the security or the whole store.

After we have observed the features and overall information about both platforms, let’s conclude them with the pros and cons of each solution.

Prestashop vs Magento: Who Is the Winner?

Let’s summarize both platform results!

5 Best Magento 2 Cloud Backup Extensions and CDN Solutions

The only thing more important than running an excellent online store on eCommerce leader Magento® 2 is having robust data protection measures in place. Let’s take a look at a few cloud backup extensions and CDN solutions for Magento 2 to see why your business needs them.

What is Cloud Backup?

Cloud backup is a way of preventing data loss. It is a method used to store a copy of your data in a virtual storage facility. This strategy uses the power of cloud technology to keep a backup of your data on your service provider’s servers. This measure does not prevent you from continuing on-premise backups too. In the event of any unfortunate data loss like hardware failure, damage or cyber-attacks, there is still a safe copy stored in the cloud. Your service provider’s servers are kept in totally secure locations with all kinds of loss protection measures in place. A good safety measure of backing up your data is using the qualitative Magento 2 modules for your online store. Let’s talk about the market leaders.

5 Best Magento Backup and Restore Extensions for 2.x Version

S3 Cloud Backup by Schogini Systems P Ltd

Functionality

Losing precious business data for any reason is enough to bring a company to its knees. The best safety measure to protect your data is to arm yourself with a cloud backup solution. This Magento cloud backup extension is one such solution. It gives you tools to send database and media file backups to Amazon S3 Cloud Storage. It automatically sets up your site in maintenance mode while backing up your complete shop database in a stable working state. In case of a data loss, you only need to reinstall Magento 2, copy your backup files and perform a rollback. That’s it.

3 Main Advantages

• S3 Cloud Backup enables you to create a backup copy of your entire shop database to Amazon S3 Cloud. You do not need any other separate plug-ins, extensions or apps.
• You can store all the bucket credentials for your S3 backup in one file.
• Your shop’s media, database and code backup only needs one command to be sent to your S3 bucket.

Price

S3 Cloud Backup is available in the Community edition for $247.

Backup to Dropbox by Mageside

Functionality

Backup to DropBox helps keep data loss to an absolute minimum. It maintains regular backups of your store information and helps cut recovery time in the event of a disaster. That means you can get back to business as soon as possible. The Magento Backup to Dropbox module lets you select the frequency and time of your backups. Then you can schedule it to run during off-peak times or as you see fit. A copy of your data is created and stored in Dropbox (free Dropbox account is required).

3 Main Advantages

• Your data is completely safe on Dropbox’s servers. Your backups will be kept across multiple servers on the Dropbox network. All your data is always accessible and always protected.
• You don’t need to be a technical programmer to use this module. It only requires some simple installs and configures. The configuration mainly consists of selecting what features you do and do not want.
• The backing up process does not require an IT administrator. Once you set the backup frequency, the process will begin and end without any human assistance.

Price

Backup to Dropbox is available in the Community edition for $69, that includes a 3-month support service agreement.

There are additional 6 and 12-month support services available for $40 and $50 extra, respectively.

Magento 2 Database Backup

Functionality

The beauty of this Magento database backup extension is that your backup can be stored in the cloud of your choice. The process happens in the background. That means your site is never down while your data is being backed up.

3 Main Advantages

• You decide where you want to store your backup. This place can be your email, internal or external servers or external cloud services.
• There is support for several different languages.
• Once you define your backup settings, your Magento automatic backup will be carried out. Your site availability will be unaffected.

Price

The starting price of this extension is $99 for 90 months. This package includes three months of free support and a 30-day money back guarantee.
Other pricing options are $149 for 180 months and $100 for 360 days.

When it comes to website performance, CDN solutions (or content delivery networks) help improve the speed of your website by storing your data on a cloud server. They harness the power of cloud technology to do this. Let’s look at the following two useful solutions developed for use with Magento 2.

Fastly CDN by Fastly Inc

Functionality

Fastly CDN is designed to improve your users’ store experience. It gives you faster page load times. It can remove old content automatically to ensure your customer always the most updated information. Another great feature is that Fastly uses Origin Shield to regulate traffic spikes.

3 Main Advantages

• Your customers’ user experience will be fast, pleasant and dependable thanks to innovative features like personalized content, cacheable ESI blocks, and location-based redirection.
• Your customers will always be viewing the most recent version of information because Fastly CDN updates content instantly.
• All your store’s content is instantly updated, according to stock availability and other factors.

Price

Fastly CDN is available in the Enterprise and Community editions. Both editions are entirely free for download.

Cloudinary Image & Video Management by Cloudinary

Functionality

Cloudinary enables you to manipulate images and videos to optimize them for your store. You can have these files delivered in the most efficient format and resolution for whatever device you are using.

3 Main Advantages

You can load all media files through multiple CDNs. You can even switch between CDNs to ensure you’re using the best performing network at that time.
These media files are dynamically tracked to give you invaluable insights regarding performance, bandwidth usage, and error monitoring.
Integrating into your store is effortless. The install process is painless. Migrating your media library to Cloudinary takes only a tiny bit of coding.

Price

Cloudinary Image & Video Management is available in the Community edition. It is entirely free for download.

If you are looking for other useful extensions that are necessary for any kind of Magento 2 store, you can check them below.

Five Common Fears About Offshore Outsourcing

Whether you are starting your company of you already have one, you might be considering offshore outsourcing to handle things that you don’t want to put up with, or because you’re looking to save money.

Well, you’re in luck! Below, you can read all about offshore outsourcing, what it is, the pros and cons, and whether or not it’s for you.

What Is Outsourcing?

To get started, let’s begin with what precisely offshore outsourcing is. Offshore outsourcing is the collaboration of two organizations; wherein, one of them hires the other as an external organization to perform tasks that the first does not want to.

There are three basic kinds of outsourcing:

• Firstly, there’s business process outsourcing; which is, when a business hires others for specific jobs. Phone companies, for example, will sometimes outsource customer support or payroll processing because it is less expensive than hiring people.
• Next, we have infrastructure and technology outsourcing. As the name suggests, technical parts of the company are outsourced, such as networking.
• Lastly, we have software outsourcing. In this category, software development is often outsourced to the other countries or organizations from other countries. India and China are examples of these countries.

What Are Outsourcing Pros and Cons?

Now that you know what outsourcing is, we can talk about the pros and cons of it because this will help you determine whether or not it’s right for you.

Pros

• Cutting costs. Outsourcing helps to cut costs; therefore, your company will make a profit. You can invest this money back into your business to expand it.
• Diversity. By outsourcing, you’ll have a diverse range of people on your payroll and people from different educational backgrounds to bring new perspectives. When you have this diversity within a company, you can learn to tailor to the needs of a broader spectrum of people.
• Performance. Tasks are performed more quickly because most of the time, companies will outsource to people or organizations who are experts in the given field. Since they’re experts, fewer mistakes will be made, and they’ll have the most up-to-date software to perform whatever tasks you need.

Cons

• Data security can be violated. In the age of technology, you can never be too careful. When you outsource to other companies, you must be aware of the security risks. Confidential data and information may be accessible to the company you’re working with. Of course, it is the outsourcing company’s responsibility to keep any customer information private and to create an NDA for involved parties.
• Outsourcing to the wrong people. You always have the possibility of hiring someone who doesn’t deliver with the quality you want, or within the timeframe you want. In some cases, you’re better off staying within your company.
• It can be more expensive than you think. While generally, outsourcing is believed to be less costly than having people within your company do these tasks, you have to be careful about hidden costs that can render a job much more expensive than you’re prepared to pay. You can always ask the person you hire to make a report about the additional costs that may accumulate, as well as risks.
• Services won’t be performed FOR the clients. The person or company you hire might have other clients; so, they might not have your company’s mission at heart and the quality of the work may not cater to your clients as much, or may not have the excellent quality it could. Sometimes, though, you’ll find that investing in more is needed to find the perfect partner!

Why Offshore Outsourcing Is Good

Most would agree that when you own a company, delegating is a key to success and productivity. Outsourcing is significant because you can have people from all over the world working for you. If you’re looking for organizations that charge less for the same quality, the power of the internet allows you to find this balance.

There are parts of your business that are crucial if you’re planning to expand, but these are also things that you may not be knowledgeable about or things that take up unnecessary time. While it can be time-consuming to figure out which people or organizations you should be delegating to, you’ll be saving money that you can invest in your company later on. From all perspectives, outsourcing can only lead to growth.

5 Main Fears about Outsourcing Web Development

Here, we’re going to discuss five fears and risks that are associated with outsourcing web development.

• Language barriers. If you’re outsourcing to people and organizations from other countries, you might encounter some language barriers. To prevent this, you could stick to countries that your primary language as their own or speak the international language at a high proficiency level.
• You can’t control everything. Within the walls of your own business, you can control everything that goes on, but when you outsource, you can ease up. Find someone who shares the same goals as you, and you’ll be fine.
• Time zone struggles. Because you might be from different time zones, communication can be challenging. One of you might have to wake up earlier or go to bed later to keep the conversation going.
• Quality. Of course, different countries and companies have different levels of expectations and the quality of work might be different than you’re expecting. Try having the person or company go through a “trial period” to find out if they’re right for you. It will be perfect for you if the trial period is free.
• Security problems. We’ve mentioned security before, but we can’t stress enough that when you’re outsourcing web development, you should improve your company’s safety. Is offshore outsourcing a viable business strategy for companies?

Offshore outsourcing is a good idea for any company. It allows you to maintain diversity. Not only this but the people and companies you hire most likely specialize in the field you’re hiring them for; therefore, they have access to the most recent technology. Your business will always be innovative!

In general, companies should try to save money where they can do so that later on, they can invest this money back into the business. If you do this as well, you can expand your company in no time!

Like anything, offshore outsourcing has its cons and its risks, but there are ways for you to prevent all of these things from happening! In the long-run, you’ll find that offshore outsourcing has more benefits than complications.

Top Differences Between Magento 2 Community vs Enterprise Editions

You might think about what are the Magento® 2 packages difference. In this article, we want to highlight the key features and difference between the Open Source and Community (Enterprise) edition.

Magento 2 Packages

Magento 2 solutions are a clear choice in the world of eCommerce. In fact, the hardest decision should be which edition would best suit your needs. And the answer lies in what each version specializes in. Let’s look at the Magento 2 Enterprise and Community editions to see what our options are.

Magento 2 Community Edition

The Magento 2 Community edition will meet the necessary commerce needs of any business today. It is your best option if your company has only begun to incorporate eCommerce functionalities. The community edition is helpful here because it can take you time to figure out what your actual needs are. It offers all the essential features that one would need from an eCommerce solution. The documentation is extensive. The marketplace offers a wide variety of extensions and themes for you to choose from. Even though this edition is considered entry level, the available support and features are top class.

Magento 2 Enterprise Edition

The Magento 2 Enterprise edition is built on superior power and security. It is the premier eCommerce solution from Magento. Every feature operates at its most significant capacity. There are no restrictions, and none of its components are disabled. There is no need to install extra extensions because it already includes everything. You can find a complete breakdown in the Magento 2 Enterprise user guide.

Comparing Magento 2 Enterprise vs Community

According to builtwith.com:

• 17 172 live websites are using Magento 2 Community edition.
• 2007 live sites are running Magento 2 Enterprise edition.

It is understandable, considering most eCommerce websites don’t need the full power of the Enterprise edition.

• Almost 45% of Magento 2 Community edition’s market share is in the United States.
• The United Kingdom follows in second place with 14%.
• Germany earns the third place with 9 %.

• With Magento 2 Enterprise edition, 65% of the market share is in the United States.
• The rest is scattered all across the rest of the world. The United Kingdom is in the second place (9%).
• Australia country holds the third place with 5%.

When deciding between the Magento 2 Enterprise and Community editions, there are three critical aspects to consider:

• How much will it cost me?
• What features will I get?
• Which edition will suit my business?

Price

Price is usually one of the critical deciding factors when choosing a solution.

The actual Magento 2 Community edition price is free. But you would have to pay for the extensions needed to add more functionality.

The initial Magento 2 Enterprise edition price costs more than the Community edition. But this is understandable, considering the scope of all its included benefits.

Magento 2 Enterprise edition pricing is based on a revenue model. The licensing price is fixed within a particular earning bracket. Your costs depend on how much money your eCommerce system has brought in. You can expect the following cost options:

First, examine your needs, when deciding which edition to choose. Going with the free Community edition may be frugal. But be aware that the costs of extra extensions can add up fast. You may find yourself paying more than if you invested in the Enterprise edition instead.

Features

Magento 2 Enterprise features are scalable, extensive and robust. The following features are just some of the functionality you can expect:

• Your customers can expect personalized content. This feature is based on a variety of criteria that you or your customer can specify. There are great merchandising features. Checking out is a quick and hassle-free experience.
• Elasticsearch will handle misspelled search words and search word synonyms quite easily. It gives customers more intuitive shopping experience.
• The design themes are stylish and comfortable to customize.
• Multiple Master Databases allow you to scale individual data aspects, as required.
• Varnish Page Caching gives your customers faster response times. This gets done while still reducing the server workload.
• Magento Mobile Software Development Kit (SDK) is included in the Enterprise edition only.
• You can handle your loyalty programs with absolute ease. You can implement rewards points, wish lists and gift registries.

You’ll find more information about the features in the latest article.

Magento 2 Community edition is a “base-level” system. But it still has impressive functionality. The Magento 2 Community feature list includes the following:

• Its basic functionalities can be further developed and customized with extensions and themes. These extensions and themes cover all popular industries, including customer support, marketing, sales, shipping site optimization. Several of them are free downloads, but some are downloadable at a reasonable cost.
• Magento 2 Community edition includes a sample store. This sample store is ready to deploy immediately, so you hit the ground running from day one. You can always add further functionalities from the Magento Marketplace.
• All your checkout, payment and shipping needs are taken care of. You can expect features like real-time rates, gift message management, and shipment management.
• The versatility of Magento 2 Community edition is thanks to its diverse community of developers around the world. Innovation through collaboration is one of the chief cornerstones of this version.

For Whom

If you are a small business site or if you are only starting to embrace eCommerce capabilities, Magento 2 Community edition is for you. eCommerce can be a daunting field to navigate, and no one wants to risk resources on something they are new to. Starting off with the Community edition gives your company room to experiment. You can figure out exactly what your business eCommerce needs are without significant risks.

The Ultimate Guide to Upgrade Magento 2.1 to 2.2 Community Edition: Problems and Solutions

Upgrading a Magento® 2 core is simple. All it takes is writing a new version in the composer.json file and executing a command composer update from the console, which updates the core. Then, you must apply the updates using the bin/magento setup: upgrade command. Nevertheless, you may encounter some issues after upgrading the core, and you will learn about those issues in this article. Let’s take a look at how to solve them and perform the upgrade Magento 2.1 to 2.2.

How to Upgrade Magento Version Without Problems

Below is a list of common issues which arise during switching from Magento 2.1 to Magento 2.2 Community Edition. Let’s fix them out!

‘Area Code is Not Set’ Error in Magento 2

This error is thrown when running bin/magento setup: upgrade after upgrading the core. After this error, subsequent modules cannot be upgraded, and the site enters maintenance mode. This error has been observed when upgrading the Magento_Theme module.

Reason: When upgrading the Magento_Theme module, Magento re-registers all existing themes. This calls the getAreaCode() method of the Magento\Framework\App\State class, which returns this error. This method returns an error because when executing module upgrades using Magento 2 setup upgrade console command, area codes (‘adminhtml’ or ‘frontend’) are not specified.

Solution: Implement a plugin in Magento\Theme\Setup\UpgradeData in a custom module. The plugin will look as follows:

class Theme {

    public function __construct(
        \Magento\Framework\App\State $state
    ) {
        try{
	$code = $state->getAreaCode();
       }catch(\Exception $e){
	$state->setAreaCode('adminhtml'); 
      }
    }

    public function beforeUpgrade($model,$setup,$context){
        return array($setup,$context);
    }
}

This is a shortcoming of Magento.

‘Code Already Exists’ Error in Magento 2

This error is related to the Magento_Tax module. Magento in and of itself is not at fault here. The issue is that the upgrade script re-saves all tax rates.

Reason: The error occurs when the “code” field in a re-saved record matches a field in another record. In other words, the condition of uniqueness is violated. This is possible if the rates were imported, for example, from Magento 1, during migration.

Solution: Go through the tax_calculation_rate and delete duplicates. Afterward, Magento upgrade script can rerun, and the problem will be solved.

After updating, you might find that some third-party extensions have stopped working. Below, we will examine potential problems that arise in the process of Magento 2 update.

Magento 2 Modules Are Not Working

1. The getMessage() method was added to the interface Magento\Framework\Mail\TransposrtInterface.

Reason: Consequently, if some class in the module implements this interface and doesn’t have this method, it will return an error. This will happen if, for example, you use the Amasty_Smtp module in a project.

Solution: Upgrade the module to a version compatible with Magento 2.2.

2. You will also have to upgrade all modules in which classes are defined that implement Magento\Framework\Api\Search\SearchResultInterface (collections for UI Grids).

Reason: In version 2.2 mandatory parameters were added that are passed to the constructor of such classes. This outcome was observed in some modules from MageWorx.

Solution: You can correct this issue by updating the modules to the latest version.