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What is Magento Marketplace EQP?

EQP, the Extension Quality Program, is Adobe’s optional certification tier for Magento Marketplace extensions. EQP-certified extensions pass an extra round of automated and manual checks: Magento Coding Standard (MCS), PSR-12, the MEQP phpcs ruleset, MFTF end-to-end tests, and a manual security audit. Listings get an “EQP Certified” badge and rise in default Marketplace search results. The program is opt-in (annual fee + audit) and most Marketplace extensions are not EQP-certified, only top vendors apply.

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  • Cost Annual program fee + audit (opt-in)
  • What it adds MCS + PSR-12 + MEQP + MFTF + security audit
  • Outcome “EQP Certified” badge + search prominence

Five steps from Marketplace listing to EQP badge

EQP is a layered certification on top of an existing Marketplace listing. Here is the end-to-end path from application to badge.

  1. 01Ship a live extension on Magento Marketplace first

    EQP is not an alternative path onto the Marketplace: it is a certification tier layered on top. The vendor must already have an extension live on commercemarketplace.adobe.com, which means it has already passed Adobe’s standard Tech Review (functional, marketing, and code-quality checks). Only after the listing is live can the vendor apply for EQP on that specific extension version.

  2. 02Apply via the developer portal with a test-coverage report

    Submit the EQP application from the Magento developer portal: extension SKU, target version, supported Adobe Commerce / Magento Open Source versions, and a test-coverage report (unit + integration + MFTF). Adobe wants to see meaningful coverage before they spend reviewer time: vendors with sub-40% coverage are usually pushed back to improve tests before the audit starts.

  3. 03Adobe runs automated MCS + PSR-12 + MEQP rule scans

    Adobe pulls the submitted version and runs phpcs against three rulesets in sequence: Magento Coding Standard (MCS), PSR-12, and the MEQP ruleset (Magento Extension Quality Program: stricter rules for marketplace extensions). Violations are returned as a report; the vendor fixes and re-submits. This stage is the most common fail point: extensions that haven’t been linted clean locally rarely pass first time.

  4. 04Manual security audit by an Adobe reviewer (~2 weeks)

    An Adobe reviewer manually inspects the codebase for: authentication bypasses, missing input sanitisation, unsafe file uploads, SQL injection risk, XSS in admin output, unauthenticated API endpoints, and credentials in source. They also run the MFTF (Magento Functional Testing Framework) end-to-end suite against the extension on a clean Magento install. Critical findings block certification; minor findings come back as required fixes.

  5. 05Get the “EQP Certified” badge: renew every 12 months

    On pass, the Marketplace listing gets the EQP Certified badge and rises in default search results on commercemarketplace.adobe.com. Certification is per-extension, per-version, and lasts 12 months. Every Magento minor release (2.4.6 → 2.4.7) requires a fresh re-test cycle, and the annual fee is reset on each renewal. Skipping a renewal silently drops the badge from the listing.

Four vendor scenarios where EQP pays back

EQP costs real money and engineering time. These four vendor situations are where the badge reliably earns back the fee.

  • Top-tier vendors selling $50k+/yr on the Marketplace

    Once a single extension is generating $50k+ in annual Marketplace revenue, the EQP fee pays back in weeks rather than months. Vendor reports put the post-badge click-through-rate lift around 30% on the Marketplace listing card: the badge sits next to the title and acts as a third-party trust signal. Below the $50k/yr threshold the math is tighter; above it EQP is close to a no-brainer.

  • Targeting Adobe Commerce + B2B + enterprise buyers

    Enterprise procurement teams routinely filter the Marketplace by “EQP Certified” when they spec a build. For B2B and Adobe Commerce buyers, who have legal + security review gates before installing third-party code, the EQP badge cuts the security questionnaire from a 40-page document down to a one-line “Adobe certified” tick. Vendors targeting that buyer segment cannot afford not to have it.

  • Security-sensitive extensions: auth, payments, B2B

    Extensions that touch authentication, payment gateways, B2B contract pricing, customer data export, or API endpoints are the strongest EQP candidates because Adobe’s manual security audit is the differentiator that wins the install. Adobe’s “blessed” status carries real weight for these use cases: it shifts liability perception away from the buyer and onto the vendor + Adobe certification.

  • Preparing for a Magento Marketplace exclusivity deal

    Adobe occasionally signs exclusivity deals with vendors, featured-extension placement, co-marketing, a slot in the Adobe Commerce reference architecture. EQP certification is almost always a prerequisite in those conversations; the Adobe partnership team uses it as a gating signal for vendor maturity. If a vendor is in talks for that kind of deal, getting the badge in place 6-12 months ahead is table stakes.

Three EQP application mistakes that burn the fee

Every failed EQP application I’ve seen reduces to one of these three mistakes. Audit your submission for them before you click submit.

  • Applying before the MCS scan is clean

    The single most expensive EQP mistake: submitting an extension that hasn’t been linted clean against Magento Coding Standard locally. Adobe’s automated stage runs phpcs --standard=Magento2 and --standard=MEQP, and a fail on either kicks the application back immediately, wasting the audit slot and, on some plan tiers, the annual fee on a re-submit. Always run MCS and PSR-12 phpcs locally and get to zero errors before clicking submit.

  • Skimping on MFTF test coverage

    EQP requires meaningful end-to-end test coverage via MFTF (Magento Functional Testing Framework), not just unit tests. Vendors often submit a happy-path checkout test and call it done: Adobe reviewers fail this consistently. Expect to need MFTF tests for: every admin config screen, every storefront-facing block, every API endpoint the extension exposes, and at least one negative test per action (auth-required endpoints called unauthenticated, invalid input rejected).

  • Treating EQP as one-time: skipping the annual re-test

    EQP certification is per-version, per-12-months. Magento minor releases (2.4.6 → 2.4.7) regularly break certified extensions when an interface signature changes or a di.xml preference moves. Vendors who treat EQP as a one-and-done lose the badge silently on renewal and lose the search prominence that paid for it. Plan a re-test cycle into every Adobe-supported minor release and budget the renewal fee annually.

Where EQP sits in the wider Marketplace ecosystem

Five neighbour concepts most readers want to look at next. Click through for the full deep-dive.

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Magento Marketplace EQP: frequently asked questions

Is EQP mandatory for selling on Magento Marketplace?
No, EQP is strictly opt-in. The default path to selling on the Marketplace is Adobe’s standard Tech Review (functional, marketing, and code-quality checks), and the vast majority of extensions on commercemarketplace.adobe.com are non-EQP. EQP is a paid, optional certification tier on top of an already-listed extension: typically pursued by top-tier vendors who want the search-prominence lift and the enterprise-buyer trust signal. If you’re just shipping your first extension, focus on passing Tech Review first; EQP is a year-two decision once you have revenue to justify the fee and time to invest in MFTF coverage.
What does EQP cost?
Adobe charges an annual program fee that varies by extension tier and edition support (Adobe Commerce + Magento Open Source, vs Open Source only). Exact pricing is published on the developer portal and updated yearly: at time of writing it sits in the “low four figures USD per year” range for a single mid-tier extension, with discounts for vendors certifying multiple extensions. The real cost, however, is the engineering time to get to MCS / PSR-12 / MEQP clean and to write meaningful MFTF coverage: typically 2-6 weeks of senior developer time for a first-time submission. Budget the engineering effort, not just the fee.
How long does the EQP audit take?
Plan on roughly 2-4 weeks from submission to badge on a clean first-pass run. The automated MCS + PSR-12 + MEQP scan returns within days. The manual security audit by an Adobe reviewer takes about 2 weeks: they inspect authentication paths, input sanitisation, file uploads, API endpoints, and run the MFTF suite against a clean Magento install. If findings come back, each remediation round adds another 1-2 weeks because the reviewer has to re-validate. Most vendors over-budget the timeline to 6-8 weeks on first submission and tighten that to 3-4 weeks on the annual renewal.
Why bother with EQP if it’s optional?
Three concrete reasons. First, the “EQP Certified” badge sits next to your title on Marketplace listing cards and lifts click-through-rate around 30% (vendor-reported figures). Second, Adobe’s default Marketplace search promotes EQP-certified results above non-EQP for the same query, so you get more impressions for free. Third, enterprise procurement and Adobe Commerce buyers filter for EQP when they spec a build; without the badge you’re invisible to that segment. For a vendor doing $50k+/yr on a single extension, the lift typically pays back the annual fee in the first quarter.
Does EQP cover security, or just code style?
Yes, security is a major part of EQP, and it’s what makes the badge actually mean something to buyers. The automated stage covers code style (MCS + PSR-12 + MEQP rules), but the manual stage is a security audit by an Adobe reviewer: authentication bypasses, missing input sanitisation, unsafe file uploads, SQL injection risk, XSS in admin output, unauthenticated API endpoints, and credentials in source. Critical security findings block the badge entirely; minor findings come back as required fixes. That manual audit is the reason enterprise buyers trust EQP: it’s not just a linter pass.
EQP vs Adobe Commerce-only vs Open Source: any compatibility differences?
EQP testing explicitly covers both editions. When you submit, you declare which editions and minor versions you support (e.g. Adobe Commerce 2.4.6, 2.4.7 + Magento Open Source 2.4.6, 2.4.7), and Adobe runs the MFTF suite against each declared edition / version pair. If you claim Adobe Commerce support but your extension breaks on a B2B-module-only API, the audit fails for that pair. The badge on the Marketplace listing shows which editions you’re certified against, so buyers can filter accordingly. Vendors typically start with Open Source only and add Adobe Commerce certification once they have B2B / staging / page-builder compatibility verified.

Prepping a Marketplace extension for EQP submission?

Send the extension repo, I will run a pre-submission audit (MCS + PSR-12 + MEQP scan, MFTF coverage gap report, security checklist) and reply with a written remediation plan, fixed-price quote, and earliest start date. 24-business-hour turnaround.

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