Magento 1 end-of-life: stabilise, patch or migrate?
How to decide whether a Magento 1 store should be stabilised short term, patched with community fixes or migrated to Magento 2.
Magento 1 risk is commercial, not just technical
Magento 1 has been end-of-life since 2020. The risk is not only security. Payment modules get harder to maintain, PHP support narrows, extension vendors disappear and PCI conversations get more painful every year.
When stabilising still makes sense
If the store is profitable but a full migration is not commercially sensible this quarter, stabilising can be the right move. That means community patches, hardened admin access, clean backups and a migration plan with dates.
When migration becomes unavoidable
If checkout, payment provider support, hosting compatibility or PCI requirements are now blocked by Magento 1, it is time to move. Magento 2 migration is effectively a rebuild with data carried over, so scope it properly.