Move to Drupal 8 Or Fast Forward To Drupal 9? Ought To Know Facts To Decide Your Move

Drupal has been all over the web ever since the launch of Drupal 8 (it has been 16+ months already!!) and with repeated updates being rolled out time and again.

Though the buzz is very much alive, the fact that it has been almost a year and a half since Drupal 8 has hit the market is making websites that are yet to make a move think twice. Now the question that’s hindering websites using Drupal 6 and 7 is, “Should I move to Drupal 8 or directly skyrocket to Drupal 9”.

Being a very common thought that could confuse any website owner, let’s discuss on how Drupal has planned its transition and would it be advisable for websites in Drupal 7 or below (Drupal 6) to migrate to Drupal 8 or directly fast forward to Drupal 9.

Before that, we’ll have an outlook of Drupal 6 and why it is high time for them to consider successive versions of Drupal immediately.

Factors That Websites In Drupal 6 Should Be Concerned About

The word from Drupal prior to Drupal 8 release was ‘Unsupported status’ which means that Drupal will not be rendering support or innovating or provide patches for Drupal 6 due to time and resource constraints that piled up due to consecutive release plans of successive versions of Drupal.

Drupal 6 Websites Will Be Missing Major Improvements Like:

• Multilingual support - 100 languages
• Integration tools
• 200+ new features
• Enhanced security
• Continuous innovation (Drupal 8.4 is already out)
• Regular updates for every 6 months

Now, let’s get into the key points of our discussion which are ‘Drupal transition plans’ and ‘Whether websites can migrate to Drupal 8 or directly to Drupal 9’.

Drupal 8 Version Release Plans

The main focus is on providing innovation quickly without delays but not at the cost of making migration process difficult for Drupal users.

Abiding to this focus, Drupal has planned for a series of releases in Drupal 8. Official blog from Dries says that there will be significant advancements made every six months. Upgrades connected to modules, themes and distributions for imbibing the new changes provided by released once in every six months will also be smooth.

Here Is A Quick Excerpt Of Drupal Version Transition Plans

• Series of releases within Drupal 8
• Updates once in every six months
• Smooth upgrade for themes, modules and distributions

As a matter of fact, Drupal has kept up its promise and is actively rolling out minor upgrades to Drupal 8 and organizing Drupal events on a regular basis to keep the Drupal community informed about the improvements.

Migrate To Drupal 8 Or Directly To Drupal 9

For Drupal 7 Websites

The decision whether to migrate to Drupal 8 or 9 purely depends on how easy will it be to migrate from 7 to 9 and how long will it take for Drupal 9 to be released.

The Ease Factor:

Considering the ease of migration part first, it’s surely not going to be a cakewalk as Drupal is more focused on reimagining Drupal in Drupal 8 version which clearly hints that the transition has to be done one step at a time.

The Time Factor:

When it comes to the waiting period, Drupal 9 release is not likely to happen anytime soon. As Drupal 8 is all set to undergo continuous innovation Drupal 9 will not be into the scene in the near future.

Why Migrate To Drupal 8 Before 9

Migrating to Drupal 8 is the best way to ensure that all the future updates are hassle free. Drupal 8, as of now, is the hub of next-gen innovations in Drupal. It has already become a milestone version for Drupal users and developers as well.

Deciding to avoid Drupal 8 might be a wrong decision as from this stage upgrading to future versions of Drupal (starting from 9) is going to be smooth and effortless.

Drupal 8 To 9 Version Release Plan - Flowchart

In short, Drupal 9 will almost be the refined version of Drupal 8 which has ditched the codes that have gone redundant in the latter.

Concluding Note:

Modules that make the most of the currently available Drupal 8 APIs won’t be having a problem updating to Drupal 9. The same applies to websites as well.

Drupal 7 websites might think of having to migrate twice to reach Drupal 9 but that’s not the case. For Drupal 7 version users, there is just one major migration left which is Drupal 8. Once your website starts evolving along with Drupal 8’s upgrades, moving to Drupal 9 is just a matter of another minor upgrade.

If you are looking for technical expertise for Drupal migration to move from Drupal 7 to 8, our Drupal 8 developers and migration experts can help.