Magento hosting requirements: technical specifications 2025

Magento is a powerful but demanding e-commerce platform. Not every hosting meets the requirements. In this guide we explain exactly which technical specifications you need for a well-running Magento 2.4.x webshop.

Whether you're going to configure a server yourself or compare hosting: these requirements are your checklist for a successful Magento installation.

Minimum server requirements Magento 2.4.x

These are the absolute minimum specifications as defined by Adobe. Note: minimum does not mean optimal. For production use we recommend the recommended specifications.

Operating system

Supported:

• Linux distribution (Ubuntu 20.04/22.04 LTS, Debian 10/11, RHEL 8/9, CentOS Stream 8/9)

Not supported:

• Windows Server (Magento doesn't run natively on Windows)
• macOS (only for local development, not production)

Linux is the standard for Magento hosting. Ubuntu 22.04 LTS and Debian 11 are popular choices.

Web server

You have a choice of two options:

Apache 2.4

• With mod_rewrite enabled
• With mod_version enabled
• Support for .htaccess files
• Most popular choice, lots of documentation available

NGINX 1.x

• Faster than Apache at high traffic
• Uses fewer resources
• Requires more configuration knowledge
• Recommended for performance

Most Magento specialists choose NGINX for production because it scales better.

PHP version and extensions

PHP version:

• Magento 2.4.6: PHP 8.1 or 8.2
• Magento 2.4.5: PHP 8.1
• Magento 2.4.4 and older: PHP 7.4, 8.0 or 8.1

Always use the latest supported PHP version for best performance and security.

Required PHP extensions:

• bcmath
• ctype
• curl
• dom
• gd
• hash
• iconv
• intl
• mbstring
• openssl
• pdo_mysql
• simplexml
• soap
• spl
• xsl
• zip
• json

Recommended PHP settings:

memory_limit = 2G (minimum, 4G+ recommended)
max_execution_time = 1800
zlib.output_compression = On

Database

MySQL:

• MySQL 8.0 (recommended)
• MySQL 5.7 (deprecated, update as soon as possible)

MariaDB:

• MariaDB 10.4, 10.5, 10.6
• MariaDB 10.3 (deprecated)

MySQL 8.0 or MariaDB 10.6 are the best choices for new installations.

Database configuration:

• InnoDB storage engine (required)
• UTF-8 character set
• Minimum 256MB innodb_buffer_pool_size (recommended: 25% of total RAM)

Elasticsearch

From Magento 2.4.0, Elasticsearch is required for product search functionality.

Supported versions:

• Elasticsearch 8.4 (recommended for Magento 2.4.6)
• Elasticsearch 7.17
• OpenSearch 1.x or 2.x (open-source alternative)

Minimum configuration:

• 1GB RAM dedicated for Elasticsearch
• 2GB+ recommended for production

Elasticsearch runs as a separate service, often on the same server but can also be on a dedicated server.

Composer

Magento uses Composer for dependency management.

Required:

• Composer 2.x (Composer 1 is deprecated)

Install via:

curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer | php
mv composer.phar /usr/local/bin/composer

SSL certificate

Required for production:

• SSL/TLS certificate (Let's Encrypt free or commercial)
• HTTPS on all pages (not just checkout)

Browsers mark sites without HTTPS as unsafe, which negatively affects conversion.

Recommended specifications for production

Minimum requirements are sufficient to install Magento, but not for good performance. For production webshops we recommend:

RAM (memory)

Small webshop (< 1000 products, < 100 orders/day):

• Minimum: 4GB RAM
• Recommended: 8GB RAM

Medium webshop (1000-5000 products, 100-500 orders/day):

• Minimum: 8GB RAM
• Recommended: 16GB RAM

Large webshop (5000+ products, 500+ orders/day):

• Minimum: 16GB RAM
• Recommended: 32GB+ RAM

RAM is crucial for Magento. Too little RAM leads to slow queries, timeouts and crashes.

CPU (processor)

Small webshop:

• Minimum: 2 vCPU cores
• Recommended: 4 vCPU cores

Medium webshop:

• Minimum: 4 vCPU cores
• Recommended: 6-8 vCPU cores

Large webshop:

• Minimum: 8 vCPU cores
• Recommended: 12+ vCPU cores

More cores help with concurrent traffic (multiple visitors at once).

Storage

Type:

• SSD required (no HDD)
• NVMe SSD even better for high I/O

Space:

• Minimum: 50GB
• Recommended: 100GB+ (depending on number of products and images)

Distribution:

• OS and software: ~10GB
• Magento application: ~5GB
• Database: 5-50GB (grows with orders/customers)
• Media (product images): 10-100GB+
• Backups: 2x total of above

Plan for growth. A webshop that now uses 20GB may need 80GB in a year.

Bandwidth

Traffic estimation:

• 1000 visitors/day @ 2MB/visitor = ~2GB/day = ~60GB/month
• 5000 visitors/day @ 2MB/visitor = ~10GB/day = ~300GB/month

Most VPS providers offer 1-10TB/month, which is more than enough.

Performance optimization software

Besides the basic requirements, these tools are essential for good Magento performance:

Redis

Redis is used for:

• Session storage (instead of database or files)
• Backend cache
• Full page cache (or use Varnish)

Configuration:

• Minimum 512MB RAM for Redis
• 1GB+ recommended
• Configure via app/etc/env.php

Redis drastically reduces database load and speeds up page loads.

Varnish Cache

Varnish is an HTTP accelerator for full page caching.

Specifications:

• Varnish 7.x (recommended)
• Varnish 6.x (still supported)
• Minimum 256MB RAM, preferably 1GB+

Varnish can reduce page load times from 2-3 seconds to 200-300ms. Essential for high traffic webshops.

Note: Varnish requires extra configuration. Managed Magento hosts like Hypernode often have this already set up.

PHP OPcache

PHP OPcache stores compiled PHP code in memory.

Recommended settings:

opcache.enable=1
opcache.memory_consumption=512
opcache.max_accelerated_files=60000
opcache.validate_timestamps=0 (production)
opcache.save_comments=1

OPcache can improve PHP performance by 30-50%.

CDN (Content Delivery Network)

For international webshops or high traffic:

• CloudFlare (free tier available)
• Fastly (used by Adobe Commerce Cloud)
• AWS CloudFront
• KeyCDN

CDN stores static content (images, CSS, JS) worldwide. Visitors get content from nearest server, which drastically improves load times.

Development vs production requirements

Development/staging server:

• Can use lower specs (2GB RAM, 2 vCPU)
• Not suitable for real traffic
• Use for testing updates/changes

Production server:

• Follow recommended specs above
• Setup monitoring (uptime, performance)
• Daily backups
• Firewall and security hardening

Always use a staging server to test updates before going to production.

Comparing hosting options

With these requirements you can now compare hosting:

Shared hosting:

• Almost never meets Magento requirements
• No Elasticsearch support
• Too little RAM/CPU
• ❌ Not recommended for Magento

VPS (Virtual Private Server):

• Can meet Magento requirements
• From €15-50/month
• Configure and manage yourself
• ✅ Suitable if you have technical knowledge

Managed Magento hosting:

• Pre-configured for Magento
• Elasticsearch, Redis, Varnish included
• €50-200/month
• ✅ Best option for most webshops

Dedicated server:

• Complete server for you only
• From €100+/month
• ✅ For very large webshops

Cloud (AWS/Google Cloud/Azure):

• Unlimited scalability
• Complex to set up
• From €150/month
• ✅ For enterprise webshops

Check our complete Magento hosting provider comparison for detailed reviews and prices.

Security requirements

Besides performance, these security aspects are important:

Firewall

• UFW (Ubuntu) or Firewalld (CentOS/RHEL)
• Allow only ports 80 (HTTP), 443 (HTTPS), 22 (SSH)
• Block direct database access (port 3306) from internet

SSH configuration

• Disable password login, use SSH keys
• Change default SSH port (22 → something else)
• Install fail2ban against brute force attacks

Magento specific

• Change admin URL (don't use /admin)
• Two-factor authentication for admin users
• Install regular security patches
• Set file permissions correctly (folders 755, files 644)

Malware scanning

Tools like:

• ClamAV (open-source)
• MageReport.com (free Magento security scan)
• Sucuri or Wordfence

Monitoring and maintenance

Performance monitoring

• New Relic (paid, very extensive)
• Blackfire.io (PHP profiling)
• Google PageSpeed Insights (free)
• GTmetrix (free)

Uptime monitoring

• UptimeRobot (free)
• Pingdom (paid)
• StatusCake (freemium)

Backup strategy

What to backup:

• Database (daily)
• Magento code and configuration (weekly)
• Media folder (weekly)

Where to store:

• Off-site (not on the same server)
• Cloud storage (AWS S3, BackBlaze, Google Cloud Storage)
• Minimum 7 days retention, preferably 30 days

Test your backups! A backup you can't restore is worthless.

Checklist for new Magento hosting

Use this checklist when choosing or setting up hosting:

Server specs:

• 8GB+ RAM
• 4+ vCPU cores
• 100GB+ SSD storage
• Linux OS (Ubuntu 22.04 or Debian 11)

Software stack:

• NGINX 1.x or Apache 2.4
• PHP 8.1 or 8.2 with all required extensions
• MySQL 8.0 or MariaDB 10.6
• Elasticsearch 8.x or OpenSearch 2.x
• Composer 2.x
• Redis for cache and sessions
• Varnish 7.x for full page cache (optional but recommended)

Security:

• SSL certificate (Let's Encrypt or commercial)
• Firewall configured
• SSH hardened (keys only, custom port)
• Regular security updates
• Malware scanning setup

Backup & monitoring:

• Daily database backups
• Weekly code backups
• Off-site backup storage
• Uptime monitoring
• Performance monitoring

Support:

• 24/7 support available
• Magento knowledge in support team
• SLA for uptime (99.9%+ minimum)

If your hosting meets all these points, you're ready for a successful Magento installation.

Practical tips

1. Oversize your specs by 30-50% Plan for growth. Mid-project upgrade is annoying and can cause downtime.

2. Test before you buy Many hosts offer trial periods. Test performance with your products and extensions before committing.

3. Read reviews from other Magento users Generic hosting reviews don't help. Look specifically for Magento experiences.

4. Check upgrade path Make sure you can easily scale up without migration. Managed hosts like Hypernode make this easy.

5. Measure current performance If you're migrating, measure load times/response times before and after. This helps with troubleshooting.

6. Budget for hosting Count €50-200/month for good Magento hosting. Cheaper is often too slow or unreliable.

7. Use staging environment Test everything on staging first before going to production. This prevents downtime.

8. Automate what you can Updates, backups, monitoring - automate as much as possible via cron jobs and scripts.

Need help?

Setting up Magento hosting is complex. If you're not sure, consider:

• Managed Magento hosting like Hypernode or Savvii (do the work for you)
• Magento developer/agency hire for one-time setup
• DevOps specialist for server configuration

The investment in good hosting and setup pays for itself through better performance, less downtime and higher conversion.

Want to know which hosting providers are best? Check our Magento hosting comparison. More info about Magento itself? Read our article about what Magento is.