Since this has been a frequent concern among our merchants, this post aims to clarify any questions you may have on the subject and put our customers at ease.
First of all, it’s worth noting that there is currently no communication from VTEX on our official channels regarding the discontinuation of stores with front-ends built on the Legacy CMS, nor any timeline for this to happen.
Discontinuation of Legacy Payment Connectors
As announced on October 13, 2023, what is actually happening is the discontinuation of Legacy Payment Connectors. If you have questions about this, I recommend reading the following topic:
It’s important to note that the discontinuation of Legacy Payment Connectors does not mean the discontinuation of stores that use Legacy Portal CMS as their front-end.
Legacy Portal CMS:
The Legacy Portal CMS is a Storefront system designed to simplify the customization of VTEX stores, and it is based on HTML, CSS, and JavaScript — the technologies found in every website we use on a daily basis. A VTEX store can work perfectly through the Legacy Portal CMS, and although the VTEX IO platform is the most current option, the Legacy CMS continues to be supported and is considered an official VTEX technology with no estimated discontinuation date.
VTEX IO & Store Framework:
The main difference with VTEX IO is that it uses more modern front-end development approaches. VTEX IO is a cloud development platform that employs a more up-to-date methodology than the CMS, known as PWA (Progressive Web App), with a hybrid development model, and it unifies all VTEX store development into a single Store Framework: one application, automatically tested and scaled. This allows for a wider range of customizations and, in certain cases, better website performance. At the same time, however, it requires a higher level of expertise from the development team responsible for building the store theme.
Additionally, due to technological limitations, some apps and features are only available on VTEX IO.
About the Legacy CMS → VTEX IO migration:
First, I’d like to emphasize that this migration is completely optional for merchants who wish to pursue it.
However, if you’re interested in carrying out this migration now or in the future, I recommend reading some existing topics here in our community, which will be referenced in the “Possible Questions” section below.
A very useful piece of documentation on this topic is available in our Help Center, which covers the CMS and how it offers a set of tools that vary depending on the technology you use in your store: Store Framework - Site Editor, Legacy Portal - Layout, or FastStore - VTEX Headless CMS:
Possible Questions:
I’d like to migrate, but what are the costs of this migration?
A: We have a topic here in the community that addresses this common question, and I recommend reading it: How much does it cost to migrate a CMS store to IO?
How does the Legacy CMS → VTEX IO migration work?
A: We also have a comprehensive topic on this subject here in our community: VTEX IO - What is it? | Benefits and Step-by-Step Migration Guide
If you still have any questions on the subject, feel free to ask right here! 
Karina Mota
Field Software Engineer | VTEX