When should I upgrade to 9? Drupal 9 has been released and many customers have this question. In this article we'll explain the intended timeline, the reason behind the modified Drupal life cyle, and what you need to do to make the update to Drupal 9 as smooth as possible.
 

Key takeaways

To make it easy, these are the main things you need to know anyway:

1

Drupal 7 is End Of Life on November 28, 2022. Drupal 8 is End Of Life November 2021. At those times, these versions will no longer be supported by the security team.
 

2

Is your website well built and maintained? Upgrading from Drupal 8 to Drupal 9 is part of routine maintenance and therefore requires little or no extra attention.

3

New websites can still be launched in Drupal 8 and upgraded over the course of the year. The timing depends on the modules used on your website.

Do I need to take action today?

These moments may still be far away, but it's best to prepare all your planning. Calibrate is ready to work out a step-by-step plan to keep your Drupal environment safe and up to date. Upgrading from a Drupal 7 website also takes significantly more time.

Through our Caliwatch and Calislave tools we monitor your Drupal website in such a way that it is always up to date.
Jan Naessens
 / 
Support & SLA Manager
Jan Naessens

Some key questions answered immediately

Do I have to wait for Drupal 9 to build a new website?

No, your website can be built in Drupal 8 and later adapted to Drupal 9. Drupal 9 is equated to Drupal 8.9 by the Drupal community, so upgrading from 8.8 to 8.9 can be done without any problems.

Will my current Drupal website continue to work?

Drupal 9 will be launched in June 2020, Drupal 8 will remain supported until the end of 2021 while Drupal 7 owner can still count on security updates until November 2022. We will continue to proactively monitor your Drupal website and make sure it remains secure and stable.

Even after the EOL moments, the websites with these versions will still work, but without new security updates which will increase the risk of a security breach. 
 

Can my existing data be migrated?

The Drupal community has provided migration tools to support Drupal agents in an upgrade from Drupal 7 to a higher version. In this way, some settings and structures can be programmatically transferred to a new Drupal version. It is also possible to migrate content such as pages or news items. The cost of a migration process depends on the structure of the Drupal website.

If a new structure is chosen, in certain cases it is better to enter the data manually in the Drupal CMS.
 

Why are Drupal 7 and 8 both end-of-life?

Drupal 8 uses parts of the Symfony 3 PHP framework. Symfony has announced that this version will be 'end-of-life' in November 2021. This means that no security updates will be launched for Symfony 3. Drupal 9 will use a recent version of the Symfony PHP framework.

Drupal 7 was launched in 2011 and will be end-of-life after 10 years. Drupal 7 does not use the Symfony framework and makes little or no use of certain programming concepts in 2020.
 

Drupal 7 or 8 upgrading to Drupal 9

You have a Drupal 7 website?

The Drupal community has migration tools to support Drupal agents in an upgrade from Drupal 7 to 8 or 9. In this way, some settings and structures can be programmatically transferred to a new Drupal version. It is also possible to migrate content such as pages or news items. 

You have a Drupal 8 website

Drupal 9 is equated with Drupal 8.9 by the Drupal community, so upgrading from 8.8 to 8.9 can be done without any problems. Calibrate's security and safety team closely monitors this and identifies the updates that need to be made to switch to Drupal 9 in one-two-three. 

All you need to do is make sure your Drupal 8 installation is always up to date with the very latest version offered by the Drupal community.

 

Audit 3

A website that delivers results

The need for an upgrade is a good time to think about your digital strategy. Does your website live up to your expectations? We will start with a digital scan, and help you towards a digital strategy that delivers concrete results.

This strategy will then be translated into an optimal user experience and better online conversion.
 

drupal 9

Conclusion

So, what does this mean in a nutshell?

Well, Drupal is a very good choice today to start a new project, because you can be sure of the smooth upgrade possibilities. Choosing a good Drupal partner is even more important today than it used to be, because you need to be able to rely on a party that makes the best choice between Drupal modules, writes maintainable code and ensures your website is always up to date. In any case, there is a bright future ahead with Drupal 9!
 

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Would you like more information about upgrading to Drupal 9? Feel free to let us know and we'll give you expert advice.