Drupal 7 End of Life Security Risks and How Each Migration Path Protects You

A collage featuring an hourglass with the Drupal logo, symbolizing Drupal 7 reaching end of life and time running out.

As of January 5, 2025, Drupal 7 has reached its official end of life (EOL) and no longer receives security updates or bug fixes by the Drupal Association. By still running a Drupal 7 site, you’re vulnerable to risks like outdated code, data breaches, compliance violations and a growing backlog of maintenance issues that only get harder to contain.

The good news is that you’re not stuck with Drupal 7 and you’re certainly not out of options. You have multiple viable paths forward, each with different security implications, levels of effort and long-term benefits. 

That’s exactly what we’re going to tackle in this post.

Why you need to migrate from Drupal 7 now

Every site still running on Drupal 7 after its end of life is basically operating on unsupported software. Continuing to rely on it exposes your organization to escalating security, compliance and operational risks.

Any new vulnerability discovered in Drupal 7 will never be patched by the Drupal Association, leaving attackers with a list of weaknesses to exploit. This puts your site at higher risk for data breaches, malware infections, XSS and SQL injection attacks and ransomware. Using paid extended security support for Drupal 7 (which we’ll get into later in the article) can help with this.

Unsupported contributed modules make the situation even worse. While compliance frameworks like PCI DSS, HIPAA, GDPR, FedRAMP and SOC 2 may not explicitly prohibit EOL software, they do require organizations to maintain supported and secure systems. Relying on unsupported modules can create gaps that make it difficult to demonstrate compliance, especially as security vulnerabilities accumulate. Even if your site doesn’t outright fail compliance, the risks of using outdated, unsupported software can significantly complicate efforts to meet the requirements of these standards.

Beyond security, the platform is becoming harder to operate. Older integrations begin to break and maintenance becomes increasingly expensive as you rely on custom fixes and scarce expertise. The longer you stay, the more technical debt you accumulate, making future migration slower and more costly.

Migrating now means preventing your website from becoming a fragile, outdated system that limits your organization’s ability to move forward. An old system makes it harder to add new features, scale effectively or keep up with evolving market demands. By migrating, you’re setting your website up for greater flexibility and long-term success, ensuring it can meet the demands of today and tomorrow, instead of becoming a roadblock to your progress.

Your migration options

Option 1: Migrate to Drupal 11

Drupal 8 introduced a full architectural overhaul, making migration from Drupal 7 to newer versions of Drupal closer to rebuilding your site than performing a simple version update. 

Moving to Drupal 10 or Drupal 11 is the most forward-looking and secure path. Organizations will typically need to migrate content with the Migrate module, review every contributed module for replacements or deprecations, rebuild themes using Twig rather than PHPTemplate and perform thorough testing and QA.

While some teams consider a Drupal 7 → Drupal 8 → Drupal 11 progression, this is no longer recommended since Drupal 8 itself is unsupported. The modern standard is a direct migration into Drupal 10 or 11.

Drupal 11, the latest version, introduces several improvements that make long-term maintenance easier, which we’ll get into later in the article. Drupal CMS (formerly Starshot) further enhances the Drupal 11 experience with an out-of-the-box UI similar to WordPress – complete with drag-and-drop page building, automatic updates and bundled best-practice modules.

Option 2: Use extended security support

When an immediate migration isn’t possible, paid extended security support offers a temporary safety net. 

Extended security support works by shifting responsibility for vulnerability monitoring and patch creation from the Drupal Security Team to three vetted vendors: 

  • HeroDevs offers a “drop-in replacement” model that allows organizations to substitute their secure Drupal 7 distribution with minimal disruption. 
  • Tag1 maintains a proactive update cadence – including recent PHP 8.4 compatibility fixes – and publishes patches publicly after a short delay to uphold open-source transparency. For those using Pantheon, Tag1 Drupal 7 extended support is included free for Drupal 7 customers.
  • Dropsolid provides extended security support backed by ISO 27001 standards and ethical hacker bounty programs.

Generally, these teams track security advisories, analyze potential threats in Drupal 7 core and widely used contrib modules and release patches directly to subscribed organizations.

Subscribers typically choose between self-service access to patches or premium tiers where the vendor assists with applying, testing and deploying updates. Enterprise plans support large portfolios or highly regulated environments.

Extended security support also preserves platform viability by keeping Drupal 7 compatible with evolving hosting environments, modern PHP versions and security requirements. This is especially important for compliance frameworks like PCI, HIPAA and GDPR, which forbid unpatched EOL software.

It’s important to understand that these offerings are bridge solutions. The Drupal Association’s official Vendor Extended Support Program has been suspended, so these providers operate independently. Extended support can buy time, but it does not replace the long-term security, ecosystem stability or maintainability of migrating to a supported platform.

Option 3: Migrate to WordPress

For organizations whose needs have changed – or whose sites are small enough to rebuild efficiently – moving to another CMS, especially WordPress, is a practical option. 

WordPress stands out as a compelling migration path for organizations that want a modern, easy-to-maintain site without the complexity of rebuilding in Drupal. It is a common destination for content-driven marketing sites due to its ease of use, extensive plugin ecosystem and broad developer availability. 

The typical migration flow includes backing up your Drupal database, spinning up a new WordPress install, importing content, configuring redirects and selecting a theme aligned with your brand. Tools like FG Drupal to WordPress make the migration process smoother by automatically importing content and taxonomy, media, users and metadata.

This path is particularly attractive for businesses with simple content models.

Which migration option is the most secure?

Let’s evaluate the security implications of each migration path.

For those not interested in another CMS, Drupal 11 and Drupal CMS stand clearly at the top. 

Drupal 11 benefits from a modern Symfony foundation, automatic security updates, granular role-based access controls, strong security headers, secure media handling and encryption support for compliance-heavy industries via the Encrypt module. Backed by a dedicated security team and adopted widely by government and enterprise institutions, it offers the strongest security posture of any dynamic CMS available today.

Extended Support for Drupal 7 is helpful as a bridge – never as a long-term plan. Its protection is narrower, rarely covers the full contrib ecosystem and cannot provide the architectural security improvements found in modern platforms. Over time, gaps widen, compliance issues appear and technical debt accumulates. 

Backdrop CMS sits between Drupal 7 Extended Support and Drupal 11 in terms of security. It retains the familiar structure of Drupal 7 but benefits from active, ongoing security maintenance from its own security team. Patches are typically released in coordination with Drupal when shared vulnerabilities arise. While its smaller community means fewer eyes on the code and slower discovery cycles, it remains significantly safer than running Drupal 7 without support and is suitable for many mid-range use cases. However, it lacks the enterprise-grade security infrastructure, audit rigor and compliance features that come standard in Drupal 11.

For those open to migrating to a new CMS, WordPress is secure and frequently updated. On top of that, enterprise hosting platforms such as Pantheon can provide hardened configurations, automatic updates and 24/7 monitoring. When implemented well, WordPress can approach Drupal’s security level, but it demands a bit more vigilance to achieve comparable results. It requires careful plugin selection, constant monitoring, disciplined update practices and strong hosting like Pantheon. These are general best practices for any website anyway – even Drupal.

Benefits of migrating to Drupal 11

The most immediate benefit is the return to a secure, actively maintained environment. As we mentioned previously, Drupal 11 introduces an upgraded security architecture, including contextual access control, the ability to disable the superuser account, stronger authentication, improved file handling and the security-first foundations of Symfony 7. Organizations in regulated industries gain peace of mind knowing that Drupal 11 provides tools and frameworks to support compliance efforts – protections that are impossible to attain on unsupported Drupal 7.

Drupal 11 also brings improvements in speed and performance. With PHP 8.3, Symfony 7 and modern caching layers, sites typically see reductions in load times and server resource usage. Editors benefit from a redesigned administrative experience, featuring the Claro interface, CKEditor 5’s collaborative tools, stable content staging via Workspaces and an enhanced Layout Builder for drag-and-drop page creation.

For developers, Drupal 11 offers Recipes for rapid feature assembly, Single-Directory Components for cleaner theming, improved Composer workflows and a refined API-first framework ideal for headless builds. Combined with built-in accessibility enhancements, AI-assisted content features via contributed modules and a predictable upgrade path, Drupal 11 becomes not just a replacement for Drupal 7 but a long-term strategic upgrade that improves security, performance and innovation across the entire digital stack.

With community support through 2028, Drupal 11 offers long-term stability, reduced maintenance overhead and a strategic foundation for future upgrades – making it the most forward-looking, cost-efficient Drupal version to migrate to today.

When migrating to a different CMS is the best option

Migrating to a different CMS, like WordPress, may serve you well, especially if your site is relatively simple, like a blog, brochure site, small business presence or portfolio. That’s not to say that WordPress isn’t capable of powering enterprise-level sites. 

The critical insight here is that there is no universally “best” CMS – only the right CMS for your specific circumstances. Take time to thoroughly evaluate your needs, involve key stakeholders, test platforms through trials or proof-of-concept projects and choose based on alignment with your organizational capabilities and goals.

If you’re considering this move, it’s worth asking whether your requirements have evolved since you first chose Drupal 7. Many organizations discover they’re using only a fraction of Drupal’s power and are effectively over-engineered. 

This is the perfect opportunity to reset your digital strategy and match the platform to what you actually need today, not what you thought you needed a decade ago. For instance, you might find that you’re more focused on omnichannel delivery and modern front-end frameworks. In this scenario, a headless or decoupled CMS may be a better foundation than a traditional Drupal or WordPress rebuild.

The Pantheon advantage for Drupal, WordPress and Next.js sites

For a Drupal 7 site owner, Pantheon stands out as one of the few platforms that support every viable migration path. 

Pantheon’s partnership with Tag1 Consulting provides free extended security support for Drupal 7 through January 2027. This includes ongoing Drupal 7 core security updates through the Pantheon upstream, security coverage for widely used contributed modules and compatibility updates such as PHP 8.4 support. That way, organizations gain two additional years of safe operation beyond Drupal 7’s original EOL, allowing migrations to happen on a realistic schedule rather than in a rush under crisis pressure.

Beyond that, Pantheon natively supports Drupal, WordPress and Next.js. Teams benefit from:

  • Dev, Test, Live environments for an optimal WebOps workflow.
  • Multidev environments for parallel development.
  • Support for Next.js (in beta) for a headless setup, enabling Drupal or WordPress backends to power fast, secure, decoupled front-ends.
  • An infrastructure designed to accelerate development and ensure stability via isolated containers for every site with built-in Git workflows, automated caching layers, global CDN delivery and optional Redis and Varnish acceleration. 
  • Features like Autopilot automate core and module updates with visual regression testing, significantly reducing maintenance effort. 
  • Meeting enterprise security requirements through SOC 2 Type II compliance, DDoS protection, strict environment immutability and integrated SSO and MFA.
  • Upstreams that allow centralized code governance without the risks of traditional Drupal multisite, letting updates roll out across many sites consistently and safely.

As you can see, whether you remain on Drupal 7 temporarily, migrate to Drupal 11 or WordPress or move into a headless future with Next.js, Pantheon provides a stable, secure and flexible foundation that supports every step of the journey – allowing you to modernize on your own timeline without compromising performance or security.

Migrate your Drupal 7 site today

Every month you remain on Drupal 7, the security risk, compliance exposure and technical debt increase. Whether you choose Drupal 11, WordPress, a headless architecture or temporary extended support for Drupal 7 as a bridge, Pantheon uniquely supports every path.

With Pantheon, you get free Drupal 7 extended security support through 2027, world-class WebOps tooling and the performance and security infrastructure enterprises rely on.

Don’t wait for a breach or a failed audit to force your hand. Start your Drupal 7 migration on Pantheon today and build your next generation of digital experiences on a platform designed for speed, security and long-term success!

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