Upgrade your Drupal.

Drupal 8 community support has ended.
Drupal 7 community support ends on 1 November 2023.

Drupal 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10

Drupal 10, the latest incarnation of one of the world's leading website development and content management systems, has arrived.  Drupal 8, 9 and 10 introduced a wide range of new features, including:

• Enhanced content creation and editing features
• Harnessing some of the latest web technologies
• More features, like Views, moved to Drupal core - less need for contributed modules
• Caching and CSS/JS aggregration 'out of the box' for faster page loading
• Responsive straight away - administer your site on mobile devices
• Integrations with a number of web services

What are the key dates?

As of 16 December 2022, the timeline is:

• Drupal 6 community support ended in February 2016
• Drupal 8 community support ended on 2 November 2021
• Drupal 7 community support ends on 1 November 2023^ (later than Drupal 8)
• Drupal 9 will be supported until November 2023
• Drupal 10 is the latest version

Community support means the official support of the development community in keeping Drupal and modules up to date. Once this has ended, paid-for 'extended support' is available for a further period.

^ Drupal 7 community support has already been extended and this will be reviewed annually, with the next review due by July 2023.

This means, for example, that there have been no more community-published software updates for Drupal 6 for around eight years, so security vulnerabilities and other issues won't be patched up unless you pay for a service which includes them being created and maintained. In turn, this is already the case for Drupal 8 and it will probably be the case for Drupal 7 from late 2023.  The potential security risk should be of significant concern to website owners and users but in any case it may well be time to move on from software launched many, many years ago.

What to do

If you're running Drupal 6, you need to upgrade your site immediately as your site is likely to have a number of security vulnerabilities.  Drupal 10 is the latest and greatest version, and is the best way to go for standard informational and e-commerce websites, but some add-on modules you're currently using might not have Drupal 10 equivalents, so a migration may need some extra-careful planning.

If you're running Drupal 7, you should consider an upgrade / migration now, although you have some time left.  At the time of writing (December 2022) there is less urgency than with Drupal 6 but a Drupal 7 to 10 migration can be challenging, so don't leave it until the last minute.

If you're running Drupal 8, you should upgrade your site as soon as possible because it is likely to develop security vulnerabilities as a result of the software no longer being updated.  Drupal 10 is the latest and greatest version, and is the best way to go for standard informational and e-commerce websites, but some add-on modules you're currently using might not have Drupal 10 equivalents, so a migration may need some extra-careful planning.

With upgrades from Drupal 6 or 7, your theme (design template) will need significant modifications to work with a newer version of Drupal, so we recommend taking this opportunity to select and install a brand new, modern and responsive design rather than trying to modify your current one. However, we have successfully converted old themes to Drupal 9 as a separately costed project.

Upgrade / migrate Drupal yourself

The Drupal team have provided a number of tools to advise you on how complex or otherwise a Drupal update could be.  In addition, they also provide some migration tools within Drupal itself.  You may wish to check whether these tools would allow you to upgrade / migrate Drupal by yourself.  It can still be quite a technical process even with these tools, but if you are confident and are happy to follow all of the steps, this may be an option for you.

How we can help

Having worked with a range of Drupal sites for well over a decade, we are pleased to offer a number of great value managed upgrade services for smaller, less complicated Drupal websites.

Drupal upgrade packages from Enbecom	Drupal 8 to Drupal 9 or 10	Drupal 7 to Drupal 9 or 10	Drupal 6 to Drupal 9 or 10
When this option is suitable	Your site was made using / upgraded to Drupal 8 and you need to help keep it secure	To keep your site running smoothly and securely beyond November 2023	In virtually all cases - Drupal 6 is now very out of date and probably insecure
Full audit of your current site, looking at Drupal core, add-on modules, libraries, theme and complexity
Checking your current web hosting to make sure it will be compatible with the new Drupal version
Detailed, personalised proposal for how your site will be upgraded
If an add-on module does not exist in the newer version of Drupal, we look for a similar module and make minor modifications
Keep your content - articles, pages, views, forum posts, etc
Keep your e-commerce content - products, customers, orders
Full backup of your existing site taken (where your hosting allows) and sent to you
All upgrade work carried out, from start to finish
New theme (design template) installed - your choice, as long as it is compatible (we will advise)
In-depth testing of your new site on a number of devices
Offers included with this service (all optional)
Want us to proactively look out for and install security and other software updates?  Get the first month of this service for £1
Want to move your web hosting?  We guarantee our hosting is compatible with Drupal 7, 9 and 10. We'll do all the work to transfer your website for FREE (ongoing web hosting charges apply).
Guide price if you have 10 or fewer add-on modules	£399 + VAT plus the cost of your chosen new design theme (usually £50-£75)	£549 + VAT plus the cost of your chosen new design theme (usually £50-£75)	£899 + VAT plus the cost of your chosen new design theme (usually £50-£75)
Guide price if you have 11 to 20 add-on modules	£499 + VAT plus the cost of your chosen new design theme (usually £50-£75)	£749 + VAT plus the cost of your chosen new design theme (usually £50-£75)	Get in touch plus the cost of your chosen new design theme (usually £50-£75)

Does your site qualify for these indicative prices?

Prices around the guide amounts are usually available to you if:

• None of your Drupal code (Drupal core, add-on modules, libraries) has been modified from the officially distributed versions
• You have no custom modules (this includes modules developed specifically for your website and modules which aren't available via drupal.org)
• Your current Drupal core and add-on modules are all up-to-date within their current Drupal version (if not, we can provide a quote for doing this)
• Data in all custom fields can be migrated
• Your modules have equivalents (same module or similar) in the newer version of Drupal, or you are happy for unavailable functionality to be removed
• Your chosen new theme (design template) does not require any layout or other code modifications from its 'off the shelf' state
• You can provide full, unrestricted access to your web hosting, Drupal site and underlying database
• Your current web hosting meets or exceeds the system requirements for the new version of Drupal you want to run, or you would like us to host your updated website

Don't worry if your site doesn't meet one or more of those requirements. Just
Contact us for a personalised quote today.

Provision of all services is subject to Enbecom Terms & Conditions. 

What about Drupal 8? Is it worth upgrading to that for now?

Drupal 8 support ended on 2 November 2021, so the simple answer is no. To help your site stay secure and reliable you should upgrade to Drupal 10, or Drupal 9 as a minimum.

What if you order one of our packages and your site can't be upgraded?

We guarantee that if you order a fixed price upgrade package and your site can't be upgraded as part of that package, we'll offer an alternative option where possible or you'll only pay for your website and hosting audit (£45+ VAT).

There are a few situations where the services or prices above cannot be offered, even if the above guideline specification is met, such as when there are very complex sets of access rules, views, blocks and other settings, or when the content itself is particularly complex.  Also, there are some sites which cannot be upgraded using our standard process or, exceptionally, not at all.  If any of this is the case, you will be given a quote for the additional work.  If you don't want the work carried out, we'll only charge you £45 + VAT for the work done on the audit and report for your site and web hosting.  If you've already paid for your Drupal upgrade package, we'll retain just the audit fee and will happily and quickly refund the balance.

If you're ordering one of our fixed-price upgrade packages, you should check that your site meets the requirements above, before ordering.

Get started on your Drupal upgrade right now.

Contact us to get started
Be sure to include 'Drupal Upgrade' and your current version as part of your message.