Why you should not delay your Magento Store Upgrade any further?

First and foremost; End of Software Support (EOSS) for Magento 2.4.0 to 2.4.3:

Adobe has announced EOSS for Adobe Commerce / Magento 2.4.0 to 2.4.3 by 28th November 2022. Magento 2.3 has already reached EOSS by September 2022.

Reference: https://devdocs.magento.com/release/lifecycle-policy.html

This means that the security and feature patches will no longer be available for these versions, making it vulnerable and incompatible with few regulations including GDPR. Addressing these will entirely be your responsibility, as the patches and updates will be available only for newer versions.

Why did Adobe decide to announce EOSS?
One of the major contributors to this decision could be the version of PHP that these are built upon. PHP moving to 8.1 has a significant impact on this. That leads us to the next question.

So why PHP8.1?

PHP8.1 has a lot of features and stability to provide as a programming language and ecosystem that developers are all for it. On one side it is going to be a productivity booster for developers as less code and less debugging will be required. On the other hand site owners will get a faster, secure and stable platform to work with, providing better user experience and flexibility to adapt newer business models and scenarios.

A Quick look at the latest Versions of Dependencies

Before even we start with the actual upgrade into Adobe Commerce / Magento 2.4.4, let us take a look at the dependencies: The Updated Software dependencies for Magento 2.4.4 / 2.4.5 are

Supports Composer 2.2

Supports Elasticsearch 7.16

Supports OpenSearch 1.2 (and is default for websites using cloud hosting)

Jquery library updated to version 3.6

Jquery-UI library updated to version >=1.13

TinyMCE updated to version >5.10.2

RequireJS library version 2.3.6

PHPUnit updated to version 9.5

Compatibility with Pagebuilder 1.7

Compatibility with PWA 12.5

MariaDB 10.4 Support

MySQL 8.0 Support

Support for AWS Aurora (MySQL) 8.0

AWS MQ 3.9.13

How does >=2.4.4 offer better Security for my Magento Store?

Store Security is always on the thoughts of a store owner. Magento 2.4.4 / 2.4.5 offers the best in security. A lot of attention has been given to the security in these releases. Many of the issues with the previous versions like vulnerabilities related exploits to gain access customer information or take over administrator sessions, are fixed and new features and requirements are introduced to create a safer and more secure shopping experience and Magento administration.

Some of the points related to security are:

Requirements to define trustworthy plugins in the composer.json file

Security fix to protect customer information and the admin portal better.

Session IDs no longer saved in database

OAuth access tokens and passwords reset tokens are encrypted

reCaptcha for coupon codes

HTTPs enabled by default

Developers can set the size and number of API resources that users can request via Web API

reCAPTCHA support has been added to the Wish List Sharing, Create New Customer Account, and Gift Card forms.

ACL resources have been added to Inventory.

Inventory template security has been enhanced.

The MaliciousCode filter has been upgraded to use the HtmlPurifier library.

Lighter Core

Another common concern relating to Magento core is that it is heavy. Now with M 2.4.4, 3rd party bundled extensions like Amazon Pay, Dotdigital, Klarna, Vertex, Yotpo are no longer part of the core resulting in a more compact core version. It also enables these extensions to provide more frequent updates without relying on the update schedule.

Seamless building of Store pages with Page builder Enhancements

Page Builder has always been a Magento Component requiring improvements, and the pages playing an important role in SEO, it is highly welcomed that the enhanced Page Builder not only is catalog friendly, but also SEO friendly. With addition of ALT tags to the images, banners and slides in Magento 2.4.4’s page builder, merchants will now be able to optimize their store content for better SEO results.

GraphQL Improvements

Magento 2.4.4 has an updated core GraphQL library too. The webonyx library, which enables core GraphQL to function, has been upgraded to version 14.9.

The updated GraphQL library has fixed translation issues with multi-site and multi-language stores. The GraphQL resolver now returns translated strings based on store scope as expected.

Moving to the other major changes in GraphQL:

Reduced response time

Configuration settings for Zero Subtotal Checkout

Configuration settings for Money Order Payment method

New Relic is introduced, coming with descriptive transaction names to make debugging easier

Of course, the improved Performance!

Magento 2.4.4 / 2.4.5 are faster than previous versions. This is attributed to throughput optimized order processing and message queue.

The order processing is 6X better performance than its predecessor

Module list loads faster

Search terms loading speed is better

Speed of Category product indexer in multi-store setups is faster.

Faster in-memory cache for glob() systeme call

Faster asynchronous order grid re-indexing

Product export consumes less memory

Bug fixes in cart & checkout, catalog rule, GraphQL, RestAPI, which improve the store’s performance.

Accessibility

Adobe has made some great updates to improve accessibility on Magento 2.4.4. This may be a great concern for large businesses who are recently having to deal with the ADA legal requirements.

Issues with accessibility with cart navigation and checkout pages have been solved

Screen elements tagging

Better screen reader tools for people with low vision

Admin buttons and icons now have unique, descriptive, accessible names

The contrast of admin buttons is improved so it’s easier to read

With each new Magento release, Adobe brings in new features, security enhancements, fixes for issues with the previous releases and updates for a more resilient, robust ecommerce Magento store that enhances customer experience.
We highly recommend upgrading your store to Magento 2.4.5 for a smooth experience.

The new release gives Magento developers more freedom to customize their store for optimal performance with less hassle. The store owners who want to upgrade to the latest version of Magento, we welcome you to rely on our Magento development team to handle the task for you with ease.

ZakApps being an Adobe Certified Solution Partner has the experience and expertise to migrate into the newer versions of Magento seamlessly, without any business impact.