Drupal migrations without the drama
Whether you're on end-of-life Drupal 7, a lapsed Drupal 9, or a different CMS entirely, we move your content, users, SEO equity and integrations to Drupal 11 — with a fixed-price discovery phase so there are no surprise invoices.
Migrations we handle
Drupal 7 → Drupal 11
The big one. D7 is end of life: no official security support, a shrinking module ecosystem. A D7 migration is a rebuild, not an upgrade — content models redesigned, custom modules rewritten or replaced with modern contrib. We treat it as the opportunity it is.
Drupal 9 / 10 → Drupal 11
Far gentler. Mostly dependency and deprecated-code work. If your site is well-built, this can be quick; if it isn't, our audit tells you before you spend.
Other CMS → Drupal
WordPress, Umbraco, Sitecore and beyond — for organisations that have outgrown their platform on permissions, workflows, multilingual or multisite needs. We map your content to a proper Drupal architecture rather than transplanting a mess.
Drupal → Drupal consolidation
Multiple ageing sites into one multisite platform. Fewer codebases to patch, consistent branding, lower total cost.
How a migration runs
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Fixed-price discovery (1–2 weeks)
We audit the existing site: content inventory, custom code review, integration mapping, SEO baseline. You get a written report, a firm quote and a timeline. This is a standalone deliverable — you can take it to any agency.
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Architecture & content modelling
New content types, taxonomies, roles and workflows designed for how you work now, not how the old site forced you to work.
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Automated migration build
We script the content migration (Drupal's Migrate API) so it's repeatable — we can re-run it against fresh content right up to launch day, meaning no weeks-long content freeze.
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Theme & feature build
From your designs, or a customised professional theme.
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Parallel-run QA & SEO safeguarding
Redirect mapping for every URL, metadata preserved, staging tested against the live site.
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Launch + hypercare
Go-live with a rollback plan, then two weeks of priority monitoring included — after which most clients roll onto a care plan.
The four classic failure modes — and how we avoid them
Underscoped custom code. D7 sites hide custom modules everywhere. Our discovery includes a full code inventory, so the quote reflects reality.
Content freeze fatigue. Manual migrations force editors to stop for weeks. Scripted, re-runnable migrations mean your team keeps publishing until launch week.
SEO carnage. Changed URLs without redirects can erase years of search equity overnight. Redirect mapping is a formal deliverable, not an afterthought.
The "while we're at it" spiral. Scope creep kills budgets. We split "migrate what exists" from "improve what exists" into separately priced phases, so you choose what to spend.
What actually determines a migration quote
Two Drupal 7 sites can look identical in a browser and differ by a factor of five in migration cost. The discovery phase exists to find out which one you have, and it examines four things. Custom code volume: D7-era sites accumulated custom modules the way lofts accumulate boxes — discovery inventories every one, and sorts them into "replaced by modern core", "replaced by contrib", "genuinely custom, needs rewriting" and the quietly liberating "nobody has used this since 2019, delete it". That last category is bigger than anyone expects.
Content model health comes second: how many content types, how consistently used, how much field sprawl. Migrating a clean model is scripting; migrating fifteen years of "just add another field" involves modelling decisions your editors should be part of. Integrations third: every CRM connector, payment gateway, SSO hookup and feed import must be rebuilt or replaced, and undocumented ones are the classic quote-buster — which is why we find them in discovery rather than in month three. Data volume and media last: half a million nodes and a decade of images don't change the approach, but they change rehearsal time, and rehearsals are what make launch day boring.
Discovery ends with a written report: inventory, mapping decisions, redirect strategy, a firm quote and a timeline. It's a standalone deliverable you could hand to any competent Drupal agency — deliberately, because a quote you can't take elsewhere isn't a quote, it's a hostage note. Typical end-to-end timelines: a straightforward D7 site lands in two to four months; complex multisites and heavy-integration builds run six or more, and we say which you are before the build phase is signed.
Common questions
Is Drupal 7 really unsafe to keep running?
It no longer receives official security support. Some commercial extended-support vendors exist, but they're a paid stopgap, not a plan. Every month of delay increases both risk and eventual migration cost.
Will we lose our Google rankings?
Not if redirects and metadata are handled properly — that's a formal part of our process, with a URL-by-URL redirect map signed off before launch.
Can you migrate just the content and let our team build the theme?
Yes. We're happy doing the migration engineering while your team (or another agency) handles the frontend. We play well with others.
What does discovery cost?
Typically £1,500–£3,500 depending on site size — and it's deducted from the build cost if you proceed with us.
Can the site's design stay the same after migration?
Yes — "migrate what exists" can include a faithful rebuild of the current theme on modern foundations. Most clients take the opportunity to refresh, but it's genuinely optional, and keeping the design is cheaper. The phase split means you decide with prices in front of you.
How long can we safely stay on Drupal 7 while we plan?
Every month adds risk — no official security patches — and slowly raises migration cost as module maintainers move on. If a migration is scheduled, sensible interim mitigations (hardening, monitoring, a web application firewall) buy planning time; we can put those in place as part of discovery. What we won't do is pretend indefinite D7 life support is a strategy.
Find out what your migration actually involves
Thirty minutes with a developer, no obligation. Bring your URL; we'll bring honest first impressions.
Book a free migration consultation