I’m happy with my website. Can I keep my site on the current version even if it’s reached end of life?
Technically, yes - but we no longer recommend using an Umbraco version after it reaches the end of life (EOL) phase. If you decide to continue using an unsupported Umbraco version, you may run into some issues, for example:
- Risk of security issues - With a major out of the security phase, Umbraco no longer provides fixes for security issues that may pop up. While the software will still work, we can’t guarantee it will remain as secure as possible after the EOL date.
- Compliance - Your company may have a policy regarding end of life software. Not upgrading may mean you breach your internal policies.
- Lack of new features - if you don’t upgrade, you are missing out on the new features available on the later versions of Umbraco. For instance, Umbraco 12 has an awesome new editor that allows you to drag and drop page components and content. Allowing you to be as creative as you want for your marketing campaigns and saving you time when adding content.
When will my website’s version of Umbraco reach end-of-life?
Below are the current Umbraco version's end of life timelines:
V7 - End of life 30 September 2023
V8 - Support end February 2024. Security-only patches after that date until 24 February 2025.
V9 - Already end of life - 16 December 2022
V10 - End of life 16 June 2025
Our Umbraco site is reaching end of life soon. When should we start migrating to a newer version?
The earlier you start to plan a migration to a newer version, the better. Any major upgrades (i.e. Umbraco 7 to 12) often require a lot of time as technically speaking, it’s a re-platform. Most major upgrades are built on an updated framework.
Why is migrating from Umbraco 7 to Umbraco 12 a rebuild and not an upgrade?
Umbraco 7 is over 10 years old. Umbraco has made some fundamental changes to how the latest Umbraco CMS works. The key one is how document types (page templates) are created. Umbraco 7 CMS has very fixed document types. Umbraco 12 is founded on component-based design and is founded on .NET 7. Although a rebuild project can be daunting, you are making your website significantly more flexible. There are also significant changes to the code and database which means an upgrade is not possible.
How can you help me rebuild my site on Umbraco 12?
The starting point is an audit of your Umbraco 7 CMS. This will help us to understand your current website and provide an accurate estimate to move you to Umbraco 12. One of our Umbraco-certified developers will carry out an audit of the website. We will provide you with a report on our audit findings and, at this point, an estimate to migrate you to Umbraco 12.
