Introduction
The timer above shows the time left until Drupal 7 end-of-life (EOL). Drupal 8 was EOL in November, 2021, and Drupal 9 was EOL in November, 2023. Drupal 10 will be EOL mid to late 2026. Drupal 11 is available now, and you should consider migrating or upgrading immediately if you're on any version of Drupal 9 or below.
If your website is running Drupal 6 or 7, it's a very good time to consider upgrading to Drupal 11 now because upgrading to Drupal 11 onward will be more seamless and far easier than previous upgrades. If you'd like to learn about the new features in Drupal 11, our blog post provides 16 reasons to upgrade to Drupal 11.
Download our Comprehensive 12-Point Migration Planning Checklist
Regardless of the version of Drupal your site is running now, we can help you plan and execute a migration with zero downtime. We understand that planning can take time and due diligence, depending on the size and complexity of your website. Our experts at Webdrips provide a complimentary consultation to help you set expectations for timing and cost. If you haven't worked with Drupal 11, our Drupal 11 demo site allows you test drive the authoring environment with click-through tours of powerful new built-in features.
Drupal 11 was released August, 2024, Drupal 12 will be released by the end of 2026.
What to Expect From Drupal 11
Drupal 11 is Drupal 10 without the depreciated code that builds up over time. Drupal 11 is backward-compatible with Drupal 10 contributed modules for the most part, a trend that started with Drupal 8. Because of this compatibility, a Drupal 11 upgrade from Drupal 10 will be simple and painless. If your website runs on Drupal 6/7 or older, we recommend about one year to properly plan and execute an upgrade to Drupal 11, depending on the complexity of the site.
Drupal 11 will be an Easy Upgrade from Drupal 10
As mentioned above, Drupal 10 users will have about a 1.5 window to upgrade to Drupal 11 after its recent release, and before the Drupal 10 EOL.
Learn more about how easy Drupal will be to upgrade in the future by reading Making Drupal upgrades easy forever.
What about Drupal 11 Contributed Modules?
There's no guarantee that contributed modules will be made available in time to upgrade Drupal, however the module maintainers will only need to rework depreciated code. This is a major step forward from any previous version of Drupal. As long as the Drupal 10 module doesn't use depreciated API functions, they will work with Drupal 11 out-of-box. For the Drupal community, this is a significant improvement over all previous versions of Drupal.
Drupal 7 will be EOL Status January, 2025
It's not a simple process to upgrade Drupal 7 or Drupal 6 to Drupal 11. Instead, those sites must be migrated. Although this process has been drastically improved with with the releases of Drupal 8, we highly recommend you work with us to plan and execute your site's migration now, given how easy it will be to upgrade moving forward. The more complex your site, the more planning and time will be needed. Contact us to get a free estimate.
Notes on PHP Version Compatibility with Drupal 11 Going Forward
Drupal 11 requires PHP 8.3 or higher to run. If you're running an older version of PHP, it's recommended to first upgrade and test PHP prior to upgrading Drupal to 11 or later.
Conclusion
If your site is using Drupal 10, continue to maintain your Drupal 10 updates, and you'll be ready for Drupal 11 when it and your site's contributed modules are updated. If you currently don't have a trusted Drupal agency maintaining your Drupal 11 (or earlier version) site, we're happy to help with one of our maintenance options.
If you are still using Drupal 7 or earlier, consider planning a migration today. Webdrips offers a complimentary migration consultation. Schedule a call using the button below, or contact us using the form below that.
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