As of January 5, 2025, Drupal 7 has officially reached its end-of-life. For midsize U.S. companies still operating on Drupal 7, the situation has shifted from planning ahead to catching up. With the official support window closed, organizations are now facing an urgent need to migrate to the latest version - Drupal 11 - or risk exposing themselves to serious vulnerabilities. The challenge now isn’t just whether to migrate, but how to do it right. This Drupal migration guide offers a strategic overview of the key steps and best practices necessary for a successful migration in 2025, tailored specifically to the needs of organizations navigating this transition after the deadline.
How Long Does a Drupal Migration Take?
One of the most common questions from stakeholders is how long the migration will take. Timelines vary significantly based on the site’s size and complexity. A basic brochure-style website might take about one month to migrate, while more complex platforms with custom modules, multilingual capabilities, and large databases can take three to six months or longer.
Adopting a phased approach can make this more manageable. This means migrating simpler content types first, such as pages or blog posts, and gradually working toward more structured or custom content. This approach helps reduce risk, improve testing accuracy, and limit downtime during the transition. Using tools like Jira or Trello can help development teams track progress, manage dependencies, and communicate effectively across departments.
Laying the Foundation: Pre-Migration Assessment
The starting point for any successful Drupal migration is a thorough assessment of the current site. This means taking stock of everything - from content types, taxonomies, and user roles to custom code, contributed modules, and SEO structures. Organizations must determine which elements should be carried forward, which can be optimized, and which can be retired altogether. A pre-migration audit will also reveal any technical debt or performance issues that can be resolved during the rebuild process. This assessment lays the foundation for a clean, modern Drupal 11 architecture rather than simply replicating outdated systems in a new environment.
Calculating Costs and Return on Investment
Budgeting for a Drupal migration requires a careful analysis of both direct and indirect costs. The cost of migration can range widely. For a basic site, companies might spend between $10,000 and $25,000. For a mid-tier site with some custom development, costs can fall between $25,000 and $60,000. Enterprise-level migrations that include complex integrations and redesigns may exceed $100,000. While the investment may seem significant, the long-term return justifies the effort. A successful Drupal migration positions your site for modern performance, security, and user experience improvements. With easier update paths in future Drupal versions, your team will also save time and cost on future upgrades.
Selecting the Right Migration Strategy
Because there is no direct upgrade path from Drupal 7 to Drupal 11, the best-practice approach involves creating a new Drupal 11 site and migrating content using Drupal’s Migrate API. This not only ensures greater control and flexibility during the migration process but also offers the opportunity to rebuild the site's architecture in alignment with current performance standards and user expectations. Starting with simpler content structures allows teams to refine their strategy before handling more complex data. Throughout the process, a staging environment should be used to validate content, test functionality, and troubleshoot issues before going live.
1. Set Up a New Drupal 11 Site
The first phase involves creating a fresh Drupal 11 environment where the migration will take place. This clean installation ensures a modern foundation, free from the technical debt and structural limitations of the old Drupal 7 system.
2. Define Architecture and Content Models
Rather than copying the old structure, use this opportunity to rethink and optimize the site’s architecture. Define new content types, fields, taxonomies, and user roles based on how your organization wants the site to function moving forward.
3. Identify and Audit Content
Referring to the audit from your pre-migration phase, decide what content will be carried forward. Outdated or unnecessary content should be left behind to streamline the migration and improve long-term performance.
4. Map Content Types and Fields
For every piece of content to be migrated, determine where it should land in the new site. This includes mapping body fields, metadata, files, relationships between content, and any custom attributes.
5. Develop and Test Migration Scripts
Using the Migrate and Migrate Plus modules, developers begin scripting the data migration. These scripts extract content from the Drupal 7 database, apply necessary transformations, and import it into the Drupal 11 site.
6. Migrate Simple Content First
Start by migrating basic content such as informational pages or blog entries. This provides an early opportunity to test and validate the migration process while minimizing complexity.
7. Migrate Complex Content Structures
Once confidence is built with simple types, progress to more complex entities like custom blocks, referenced nodes, and contributed module configurations. Thorough testing at this stage is critical.
8. Conduct QA in a Staging Environment
Quality assurance takes place in a dedicated staging site. This environment allows the team to verify that all content is correctly placed, design elements are intact, and the site is functioning as expected before launch.
9. Perform Final Migration and Cutover
A final sync ensures any new or updated content created during the migration window is brought over. This step is typically scheduled during off-peak hours to reduce disruption.
10. Launch and Post-Go-Live Monitoring
Once live, the new site should be closely monitored for broken links, missing content, or performance issues. Teams should remain on standby to fix any issues quickly and ensure a seamless user experience.
Mitigating Downtime and Risks
Downtime is a legitimate concern, especially for businesses that depend on their websites for daily operations. Fortunately, several strategies can help minimize this risk. Running backups before every migration phase is essential, as is maintaining a fully functional staging site. Data should be validated in batches, allowing for testing and correction before the final push to production. Launches should be scheduled during periods of low site traffic, and internal communication plans should be in place to keep stakeholders informed at every stage. A well-executed migration should feel seamless to users and preserve - if not enhance - their experience on the site.
Building the Right Team for Success
Drupal migration is a team effort. While developers lead the technical implementation, other roles are equally critical. Content managers ensure that data is properly mapped and validated, while project managers maintain schedules and coordinate across departments. UX and design experts contribute to frontend modernization, ensuring that the site not only functions well but also provides a polished, intuitive experience. For many midsize organizations, bringing in a Drupal agency with proven migration expertise can accelerate the process and reduce the risk of costly errors. These partners often bring tried-and-tested processes, along with insights that help avoid common pitfalls.
Post-Migration Assessment: What Happens After Migration?
Once your site is live on Drupal 11, the journey doesn’t end — but it does get easier. One of the major benefits of migrating to the latest version is that future updates are far less disruptive. Thanks to semantic versioning and backward compatibility in minor releases, your site can now evolve without the need for large-scale overhauls. Long-term success depends on staying proactive. Regular audits, core updates, and module reviews should become part of your maintenance routine. Training internal teams on content governance and editorial workflows will also ensure that the site remains a powerful asset for years to come.
Drupal Migration Best Practices
1. Always Maintain Backups
Ensure you have reliable, versioned backups before starting the migration, during development, and post-launch. This protects you from data loss and allows you to roll back quickly if needed.
2. Test Early and Often
Embed testing into every phase of your migration. Start by validating small content batches, then run full QA in a staging environment before going live. Don’t leave testing to the end.
3. Document Everything
Keep detailed documentation of your migration scripts, content mappings, module choices, and configuration changes. This ensures clarity for your current team and future developers.
4. Involve All Stakeholders Early
Bring in developers, content managers, designers, and project leads from the start. Cross-functional input ensures better planning and reduces late-stage surprises.
5. Clean Up Legacy Content
Don’t migrate everything. Use this opportunity to archive or remove outdated, irrelevant, or redundant content. A streamlined site is easier to maintain and more performant.
6. Use a Staging Environment for QA
A dedicated staging environment helps you safely test content migrations, designs, and configurations without impacting your live site.
7. Consider Expert Support
If your team lacks Drupal-specific migration experience, partnering with a Drupal agency can help you avoid common pitfalls and accelerate timelines.
8. Focus on Long-Term Maintainability
Avoid hard-coding solutions or duplicating technical debt. Build for the future by using best-practice content architecture, reusable components, and clean configurations.
Final Thoughts
A successful Drupal migration isn’t simply about moving from one platform version to another. It’s a strategic opportunity to modernize your digital infrastructure, enhance performance, and future-proof your organization’s online presence. With the end of Drupal 7 support now behind us, companies must act not just with urgency, but with intention. By following a structured process grounded in proven Drupal migration steps and best practices, decision-makers can turn a critical transition into a long-term advantage.
