Magento was founded in 2008 by Roy Rubin and Yoav Kutner.
Magento was developed by Varien, a web-development company, as an open-source platform for online retailers. The first public release arrived in March 2008. Its architecture emphasized flexibility, allowing merchants and developers to customize catalogs, pricing, checkout flows, themes, and integrations.
The platform became influential among larger and more technically demanding online stores. In 2011, eBay acquired a majority stake in Magento, and eBay Enterprise later owned the business. Adobe announced its acquisition of Magento in 2018, bringing the platform into Adobe’s commerce product portfolio.
Magento is now commonly associated with Adobe Commerce, the commercial version and broader product offering. It should not be confused with Shopify, which is primarily a hosted software service, or WooCommerce, which operates as a WordPress plugin. Magento’s history is especially tied to open-source, developer-led customization.