Complete Drupal 7 to Drupal 10/11 Migration Guide: Essential Steps for 2025 Website Transition

Why Drupal 7 to Drupal 10/11 Migration Matters More Than You Think

The security angle is obvious – no more patches means your site becomes a target. But the real opportunity lies in what you gain with modern Drupal.

Drupal 10 and 11 offer significant improvements:

• Performance that actually matters: Sites load faster and handle traffic better
• Content editing that doesn't frustrate: The admin experience is light-years ahead of Drupal 7
• Future-proof architecture: Upgrades between major versions are now incremental, not massive rebuilds
• Modern development practices: Object-oriented PHP, Twig templating, and proper dependency management

The catch? There's no direct upgrade path. You're rebuilding your site and migrating your content. Think of it as moving to a new house rather than renovating your current one.

Step 1: Complete Drupal 7 Site Audit and Content Migration Planning

Before you touch any code, you need a complete inventory of your current site. This step determines your entire migration strategy.

Start with content structure:

• List every content type and its fields
• Document all taxonomies and their relationships
• Catalog views, menus, and blocks
• Identify custom content workflows

Then move to functionality:

• Custom modules and their purposes
• Contributed modules and their usage
• Theme customizations
• Third-party integrations

Use the Upgrade Status module to scan for compatibility issues. Install it on your Drupal 7 site and run the analysis. You'll get a clear picture of which modules have Drupal 10/11 versions and which need alternatives.

Here's what this analysis typically reveals:

• About 70% of contributed modules are available for Drupal 10/11
• Custom modules need complete rewrites
• Theme code requires significant updates

Pro tip: Use this audit to clean house. That old event content type you created in 2018 but never used? Leave it behind. Migrate only what adds value to your future site.

Step 2: Modern Drupal 10/11 Environment Setup and Requirements

Your hosting environment needs to support modern requirements:

• PHP 8.1 (Drupal 11 recommends PHP 8.3 )
• MySQL 8.0 or PostgreSQL 12
• Composer 2.7

Install a fresh Drupal 10 or 11 site in a development environment. Don't try to work on your live server – you need a safe space to experiment and test.

Install the essential migration modules:

• Migrate (included in core)
• Migrate Drupal and Migrate Drupal UI (included in core)
• Migrate Plus
• Migrate Tools
• Migrate Upgrade

These modules provide the foundation for moving your content and configuration from Drupal 7 to your new site.

Step 3: Content Architecture Optimization for Drupal 10/11

This is where you improve on your original design. Don't just recreate your old content types – optimize them using modern Drupal practices.

For example, if your old site had separate "News" and "Press Release" content types that were essentially identical, combine them into a single "Article" type with a taxonomy to differentiate them.

Take advantage of new field types and display options. Drupal 10/11 includes better media handling, improved responsive images, and Layout Builder for flexible page layouts.

Configure your content types, fields, and taxonomies first. Then set up views, menus, and blocks. This gives you a solid foundation for content migration.

Step 4: Drupal Content and User Data Migration Process

Now comes the actual data migration. You have two main approaches depending on your site's complexity.

For Simple Sites: Using the Drupal Migration UI

Navigate to

/upgrade

This works well for straightforward sites with standard content types and minimal customization.

For Complex Sites: Drush Commands and Custom Migration Scripts

Most sites need more control over the migration process. Use Drush commands to generate migration configurations:

drush migrate:upgrade \
  --legacy-db-url=mysql://user:pass@localhost/drupal7db \
  --legacy-root=/path/to/drupal7 \
  --configure-only

This creates migration configuration files you can customize. For complex data mapping, write custom migration YAML files:

id: migrate_articles
label: 'Migrate Articles'
migration_group: custom
source:
  plugin: d7_node
  node_type: article
process:
  title: title
  body: body/0/value
  field_tags:
    plugin: sub_process
    source: field_tags
    process:
      target_id: tid
destination:
  plugin: entity:node
  default_bundle: article

Run migrations in phases. Start with basic content like pages and articles, then handle more complex structures with entity references and media files.

Critical point about files: Make sure all your uploaded files transfer correctly. The migration process should handle this, but verify that file paths work and permissions are correct on your new server.

Step 5: Custom Code and Theme Development for Modern Drupal

All custom modules need complete rewrites. Drupal 10/11 uses modern PHP practices, dependency injection, and different APIs than Drupal 7.

If you had a custom module that added a block with recent news, you'll need to rewrite it using Drupal's current plugin system:

// Old Drupal 7 approach
function mymodule_block_info() {
  $blocks['recent_news'] = array(
    'info' => t('Recent News'),
  );
  return $blocks;
}

// New Drupal 10/11 approach
namespace Drupal\mymodule\Plugin\Block;

use Drupal\Core\Block\BlockBase;

/**
 * @Block(
 *   id = "recent_news",
 *   admin_label = @Translation("Recent News")
 * )
 */
class RecentNewsBlock extends BlockBase {
  public function build() {
    // Modern implementation
  }
}

For themes, Drupal 10/11 uses Twig instead of PHPTemplate. You can't port your old theme directly – you need to rebuild it or start with a new base theme like Olivero (Drupal's default theme) or use the StarterKit theme generator in Drupal 11.

Step 6: Comprehensive Drupal Migration Testing and Quality Assurance

Create a testing checklist that covers:

Content validation: Verify all content types migrated correctly with proper field mappings and formatting.

Functionality testing: Test every workflow, form submission, and user interaction.

Performance benchmarking: Use tools like GTmetrix or Lighthouse to compare performance with your old site.

SEO preservation: Check that URL aliases transferred correctly and set up 301 redirects for any changed URLs.

Run your tests on multiple devices and browsers. The responsive features in modern Drupal are excellent, but you need to verify everything works as expected.

Step 7: Drupal 10/11 Site Launch and Post-Migration Monitoring

When you're ready to launch, plan your cutover carefully:

• Do a final content sync to capture any changes made during migration
• Set up your DNS to point to the new site
• Monitor error logs closely for the first few days
• Have your backup and rollback plan ready

Keep both sites running initially if possible. This gives you a safety net if issues arise.

Common Drupal Migration Challenges and Proven Solutions

Module compatibility issues: When a Drupal 7 module doesn't exist for Drupal 10/11, look for alternatives or rebuild the functionality. The Views module is now in core, which eliminates many contrib module dependencies.

Complex data relationships: Entity references work differently in modern Drupal. Test these migrations thoroughly and be prepared to write custom migration scripts for complex relationships.

Password compatibility: User passwords need rehashing for the new system. Use contributed modules like Password Policy to handle this smoothly.

File and media handling: Media management is much better in Drupal 10/11, but the migration process can be tricky. Verify all images and files work correctly after migration.

Drupal Migration Timeline Planning and Budget Considerations

Simple sites with standard content types and minimal customization typically take 1-2 months to migrate. Complex sites with custom functionality, integrations, and large content volumes can take 3-6 months or longer.

Budget considerations vary widely:

• Basic migrations: $10,000-$25,000
• Complex enterprise sites: $50,000-$100,000

The investment pays off through improved security, performance, and maintainability. Plus, future Drupal upgrades will be incremental rather than complete rebuilds.

Next Steps for Your Drupal 7 to Drupal 10/11 Migration Journey

Start with the audit – you can't plan effectively without knowing exactly what you're working with. Use the Upgrade Status module to get a clear picture of compatibility issues.

If your site is complex or mission-critical, consider hiring experienced Drupal migration specialists. The cost of expert help is usually less than the cost of migration problems.

Set up a development environment and start experimenting with the migration tools. Even if you plan to hire help, understanding the process helps you make better decisions and set realistic expectations.

The clock is ticking on Drupal 7, but this migration is an opportunity to modernize your web presence significantly. Modern Drupal offers capabilities that simply weren't available when you built your current site.

Take advantage of this forced migration to build something better than what you're leaving behind. Your future self will thank you for making the investment now.