Drupal migration, upgrade or maintenance — how to choose

Many Drupal site owners know something needs to be done — but not exactly what. Maintenance, upgrade and migration solve different problems and cost differently.

Three main situations come up in the lifecycle of a Drupal site, each requiring a different kind of technical response. Choosing the wrong service does not fix the problem — it delays it.

Maintenance

Maintenance suits a site running on Drupal 9, 10 or 11 that is fundamentally healthy but needs ongoing technical attention.

Maintenance covers:

applying security updates to Drupal core and modules;
keeping PHP, server and dependencies current;
managing performance, backups and certificates;
fixing small bugs and making content changes;
monitoring and responding to issues.

Maintenance is not a one-time job — it is an ongoing process. A site that is maintained regularly does not accumulate technical debt or reach a state where an update becomes a migration-scale task.

Maintenance fits when: the site runs on a supported Drupal version, functionality is adequate and the main need is stability and security.

Version upgrade

Drupal version lifecycles are defined. Drupal 9 reached end of life in November 2023. Drupal 10 reaches end of support in January 2026 and Drupal 11 is the current active version.

A version upgrade means moving from one supported version to the next — for example from Drupal 10 to Drupal 11. This is planned technical work that includes:

checking contributed module and theme compatibility;
upgrading PHP version if required;
reviewing and adapting custom code;
testing and staged deployment.

An upgrade does not touch the site's appearance or content structure — it is an engine replacement that users may not notice.

An upgrade fits when: the site runs on an outdated but architecturally similar Drupal version, functionality is adequate and the plan is to stay on the same platform.

Migration

Migration means moving from one platform to another — either from an old Drupal version (6 or 7) to a new one, or from another CMS to Drupal.

Drupal 7 reached end of life in January 2025. Drupal 6 has been unsupported for years. These systems cannot be directly upgraded — the architectural gap is too large. Content, configuration and custom logic must be transferred to the new system through a separate migration process.

Migration is larger in scope and cost than an upgrade and requires a clear plan: what content moves across, what gets left behind, how URLs are handled and what happens during the migration period.

Migration fits when: the site runs on Drupal 6 or 7, the platform is no longer supported and a direct upgrade is not possible, or you want to change CMS.

How to decide

A short checklist:

Which Drupal version is the site running on?
Is that version supported?
Does the functionality meet current needs?
Has the site been updated regularly?

If the answers are "supported version, working well, updates applied" — maintenance fits. If the version is outdated but architecturally close to the current one — an upgrade fits. If the platform is Drupal 6 or 7 or another legacy system — migration fits.

The Drupal platform assessment gives a quick overview of the site's current technical state and helps decide what the right next step is. For a specific solution, the options are Drupal maintenance, version upgrade or migration.

Kaido Toomingas WebPro Company OÜ

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