An estimated 6,000 or more businesses still run Magento 1 today, even though the platform reached end of life in June 2020 and has received no security patches since. For any of those merchants that take card payments, the situation is blunt: a store running on an unsupported platform cannot meet the current Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, and that exposes the business to breaches, failed scans, and the loss of card processing.
This guide explains what Magento 1 end of life actually means for PCI compliance, why staying put is a standing liability under PCI DSS 4.0.1, and the concrete paths out: migrating to Magento 2 or Adobe Commerce, switching platforms, or hardening an interim setup while you plan the move.
🚀 Quick takeaway
Magento 1 stopped receiving security patches in June 2020. Because PCI DSS requires systems to be protected against known vulnerabilities, an unpatched Magento 1 store cannot pass a clean assessment under PCI DSS 4.0.1. The durable fix is migration. Any interim hardening only buys time.
Magento 1 end of life: what changed and why it matters
Adobe announced the retirement of Magento 1 in September 2018 and formally ended support on June 30, 2020. From that date, Adobe stopped issuing security patches, quality fixes, and official updates for the platform. New vulnerabilities discovered after that point are simply never closed by the vendor.
That matters for payments because PCI DSS treats unpatched software as an open door. The standard requires merchants to protect all systems against known vulnerabilities and to keep security patches current. A platform that no longer receives any patches at all fails that test by definition, regardless of how careful the merchant is in other areas.
The compliance bar has also moved. PCI DSS 4.0.1, released in June 2024, is now the active version of the standard, and the previous 3.2.1 was retired in March 2024. The future-dated requirements in the 4.x line became mandatory on March 31, 2025, and are now assessed in every PCI DSS evaluation, according to the MGT-Commerce PCI DSS 4.0 Magento checklist. Two of those requirements, 6.4.3 and 11.6.1, target client-side payment-page security directly: script authorization and integrity for payment pages, plus tamper and change-detection to catch card skimmers, as DataDome documents in its breakdown of the rules. Meeting those controls on a frozen Magento 1 codebase is not realistic.
🚀 Quick takeaway
PCI DSS 4.0.1 is the active version, and its client-side payment-page controls 6.4.3 and 11.6.1 have been mandatory since March 31, 2025. They require script authorization and tamper detection on the checkout, which a frozen Magento 1 codebase cannot deliver.
Is a Magento 1 store still PCI compliant?
In practical terms, no. A Magento 1 store cannot be considered PCI compliant in the way the current standard intends, because compliance is not a one-time certificate. It is an ongoing state that assumes the underlying software is supported and patched against newly discovered threats.
There is some nuance worth being precise about. A merchant can still complete a Self-Assessment Questionnaire, and using a fully hosted or redirect payment method that keeps cardholder data off the Magento server reduces the scope of what is assessed. But scope reduction is not the same as compliance. The store software itself still processes the customer session, renders the payment page, and runs extensions, all of which fall under the client-side requirements that became mandatory in March 2025. An unsupported platform cannot satisfy those controls, and most acquiring banks and assessors now treat a Magento 1 install as a flagged risk on that basis alone.
What are the risks of staying on Magento 1?
The exposure from an end-of-life platform is not theoretical. It compounds the longer a store stays on it.
Unpatched vulnerabilities. Every flaw found in Magento 1 since June 2020 remains open. Attackers actively scan for known end-of-life eCommerce platforms precisely because they know the holes will never be fixed.
Magecart and card skimming. The most common attack against Magento stores is client-side card skimming, where malicious JavaScript is injected to siphon card details at checkout. This is exactly the threat that PCI DSS 6.4.3 and 11.6.1 were written to counter, and an unsupported store has no vendor defense against it. If you suspect injected scripts or unusual checkout behavior, our guide on how to stop a carding attack walks through the response steps.
Failing a PCI scan. Approved scanning vendors flag end-of-life software automatically. A store on Magento 1 will not return a clean external scan, which means the merchant cannot attest to compliance honestly.
Losing card processing. Acquiring banks and payment providers can suspend or terminate a merchant account for sustained non-compliance. Visa and PayPal both contacted Magento 1 merchants directly about the platform reaching end of life, signaling how seriously the card networks view the risk.
Liability and fines. A breach on a non-compliant store carries financial penalties, forensic costs, and reputational damage. IBM put the global average cost of a data breach at $4.44 million in 2025, with a US average of $10.22 million and an average breach lifecycle of 241 days, as cited in the MGT-Commerce analysis. For most merchants, that exposure dwarfs the cost of migrating.
🚀 Quick takeaway
The real risk is not an abstract audit failure. It is card skimming on an undefended checkout, a failed scan that blocks attestation, and the prospect of losing the ability to take payments. Each risk grows the longer the store stays unsupported.
The situation across the board
Magento 1 is far from dead in install terms, which is part of the problem. BuiltWith tracks roughly 105,000 to 106,000 live Magento sites across the web, and a meaningful share of those still run Magento 1, recorded but unsupported. By scandiweb and Magecom estimates drawing on BuiltWith data, around 6,000 or more businesses, under 15 percent of active Magento stores, remain on version 1. We unpack the wider numbers in our look at whether Magento is dying.
The card networks did not stay quiet about it. Both PayPal and Visa emailed Magento 1 merchants ahead of the end-of-life date, warning that continuing on the platform would put their compliance and their ability to process payments at risk.
How do you fix Magento 1 PCI compliance?
There are three realistic responses, and only one of them is durable. The right choice depends on how much the current store has invested in Magento and how quickly the migration can be resourced.
Migrate to Magento 2 or Adobe Commerce
For most merchants with significant Magento investment, the durable fix is a migration to Magento 2 or Adobe Commerce, both of which are actively supported and receive regular security patches. A full migration is a rebuild rather than an update, since the architecture changed substantially between versions, so plan for a typical timeframe of two to five months depending on catalog size, custom extensions, and integrations. Once on Magento 2, the work does not stop: staying current on Magento 2 versions keeps the store inside support, and our breakdown of the Magento 2 version upgrade process covers what that maintenance looks like.
Switch to an alternative platform
Migration is also the right moment to ask whether Magento is still the best fit. Some merchants move to a different platform entirely if their catalog, team, or budget points elsewhere. Whatever the destination, the goal is the same: land on a supported, patched platform that can meet PCI DSS 4.0.1.
Harden an interim setup while you plan
If migration cannot start immediately, interim hardening reduces exposure but never removes it. Temporary fixes treat symptoms rather than the cause, so they only ever buy time. The practical steps are to reduce PCI scope by moving to a fully hosted or redirect payment method that keeps card data off the store, lock down server access, and put ongoing patching and monitoring in the hands of a dedicated support team that can watch for injected scripts and unusual checkout behavior. A short checklist for the interim period:
- Confirm your payment gateway’s current status and whether it still certifies the integration on Magento 1.
- Move cardholder data off the store with a hosted or redirect payment flow to shrink assessment scope.
- Run external vulnerability scans and treat any end-of-life flag as a hard deadline, not a warning.
- Set a migration start date and resource it, so the interim period stays short and planned.
🚀 Quick takeaway
Migration to a supported platform is the only response that ends the compliance problem. Switching platforms is the same move with a different destination. Hardening is a stopgap that lowers risk while a dated migration plan is put in motion.
How scandiweb handled this for a Magento 1 merchant
One merchant came to us running a busy Magento 1 store and facing exactly this dilemma: a working business on a platform that had quietly become a liability. The store was stable day to day, which made the underlying risk easy to defer, but the end-of-life status meant every passing month added unpatched exposure on a checkout that handled real card payments.
Rather than patch around the edges, scandiweb scoped a full Magento build and migration to a supported version, carrying across the catalog, customers, and custom logic while bringing the checkout back inside a platform that receives security patches. The lesson that generalized from that work is the one this guide opens with: on an end-of-life platform, a smoothly running store is not the same as a safe one, and the only fix that holds is moving to supported ground.
🚀 Quick takeaway
A stable Magento 1 store hides the risk rather than removing it. Every month on an unsupported platform adds unpatched exposure on a live checkout, and the durable answer is moving to a version that still receives security patches.
FAQ
Is Magento 1 still supported?
No. Magento 1 reached end of life on June 30, 2020, and Adobe has not issued security patches or official updates since. Any vulnerability found after that date stays open.
Can a Magento 1 store be PCI compliant?
Not in a meaningful sense. PCI compliance assumes the platform is supported and patched against known vulnerabilities. An unsupported store fails that requirement and will be flagged by scanning vendors and assessors, even if a Self-Assessment Questionnaire is technically completed.
What is the current PCI standard I need to meet?
PCI DSS 4.0.1, released in June 2024, is the active version. The future-dated 4.x requirements, including the client-side payment-page controls 6.4.3 and 11.6.1, became mandatory on March 31, 2025, and are now assessed in every evaluation.
What happens if my Magento 1 store fails a PCI scan?
You cannot attest to compliance, and sustained non-compliance can lead your acquiring bank or payment provider to apply fees, raise your risk tier, or suspend your ability to process card payments.
How long does it take to migrate from Magento 1?
A migration to Magento 2 or Adobe Commerce is a rebuild rather than a simple update, so a typical project runs two to five months depending on catalog size, custom extensions, and integrations.
Can I just keep Magento 1 if I use a hosted payment page?
A hosted or redirect payment method reduces PCI scope by keeping card data off your server, which helps in the interim. It does not make an end-of-life platform compliant, because the store software still runs the checkout session and extensions under the current client-side requirements.
What is the real cost of staying on an unsupported platform?
Beyond a failed scan, the exposure is a breach. The IBM figure cited above, a multi-million-dollar global average per breach, far exceeds the cost of migrating for most merchants.
PCI compliance on an unsupported Magento 1 store is a standing liability. Assess your compliance risk with our team before it costs you card processing.
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