Drupal 6 Migration Options

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Drupal 6 will be officially abandoned within the next year when Drupal 8 is released. At that point Drupal 6 will no longer be supported.  This means there will be no updates provided, including security and technical patches.  This is not a place anyone wants to be, because if your website comes up against any security or technical issues it is likely that you may not be able to get any assistance.

Migrating from Drupal 6 is not a small endeavor. Any platform upgrade will essentially be a rebuild of your website. The process of upgrading to a newer version of Drupal can vary in difficulty depending on the complexity of your website. It certainly will take some planning and budgeting, so this is not something that should wait. Start planning now.

There are pros and cons to any upgrade and these are options that may help you decide what is best for your website. You essentially have three paths to choose from, but only two of the options will ensure that your site receives support past the Drupal 8 release date:

Your current options are:

Options Pro Con
Upgrade to Drupal 7 (D7)
  • Pro
    • D7 is currently available and is fully supported.
    • Most of the bugs have been fixed.
    • There are thousands of themes and modules available.
    • Migrating to D7 will allow you to plan and budget the upgrade in the most predictable way, because we are very experienced migrating websites to Drupal 7.
  • Con
    • Costs associated with the move.
    • Additional Planning
Upgrade to Drupal 8 (D8)
  • Pro
    • D8 will be the most up to date version of Drupal.
    • D8 will be available as soon as August 2013.
    • Eventually, D8 will have many more mobile applications options then are available now.
  • Con
    • It will take time for the bugs to be worked out of D8.
    • It could take months for the developers to create modules for D8. This means there will not be as much flexibility in the beginning.
    • Added cost. Until developers have experience using D8 they will need additional time for learning.
    • Additional Planning
Don’t upgrade at all.
  • Pro
    • no additional cost or planning involved
  • Con
    • Your site will have no support
    • Drupal technical updates will be unavailable.
    • You will not be able to receive bug fixes or critical security updates.
    • Your site will have outdated modules
    • Your site may start to look outdated.

We recommend migrating to Drupal 7. This is the most predicable move with the least amount of risk. It will allow your site the most access to up to date modules and the support needed to look modern and stay protected.

In planning a move to a newer version of Drupal you should first review your website to identify what, if anything, you would like to see changed, and what updates are unnecessary. In addition to all new options you may want, try to identify old modules that you can safely let go of. You will also want to identify your financial budget for this move.

Regular updates are an important part of maintaining your website. This is an exciting time to make changes that can potentially provide functionality that will make your website exactly how you want it. Discuss your options with a professional developer and start putting your plan in motion early.

To get more information, about Drupal 8, visit our blog.