magento VS magento clone - cost of ownership

Question

Its sexy, its frustrating, its expensive?

based on assumption that the primary cart features could be emulated (cart and catalog rules, etc...) --- what else is there about Magento that makes it excusive?

If it could in fact be emulated using another CMS and a skilled programmer, wouldn't it stand to reason that the long term cost of ownership would be far less with a clone?

Lets face it, Magento extensions are all typically $49-$299. Same Magento extensions are sure to be paid upgrades. Or Store Owner will have to pay devs to customize Magento extensions + pay again for upgrades.

Seems to me, almost every remedial feature that could be implemented, in Magento is paid and in "other" is free (or donation).

So i guess the question is, what is it in Magento that could not be emulated if another CMS was used as framework?

Answer 1

Congratulations. You've analyzed the market and discovered what you think is an opportunity. Let us know when your clone is ready for use.

Less snarkily, you can build anything. What Magento offers you is

1. A system that has identified, and successfully executed a solution for, many common Ecommerce problems not addressed by other carts/frameworks. Yeah, anything Magento has solved you can eventually solve with another CMS or Programming Framework, but Magento has already solved it.

2. A system that is extendable, allowing it to meet the future needs of Ecommerce, whatever they are and an ecosystem where third party developers are solving those problems for a fixed, flat rate.

It's not 1970 anymore. No software vendor is going to solve every problem you have, and any software vendor that promises to is either lying or extremely costly. Magento offers you a platform and an ecosystem that can help you solve these problems, and not be reliant on the existing cart vendors who aren't too invested in solving new problems.