Drupal 7's End-of-Life: January 5th, 2025

The term end-of-life (or EOL) is used to indicate the end of official support on a particular piece of software or product. The software in question is no longer sold, promoted or supported. In the case of Drupal 7, this means that Drupal’s community and security team will no longer be releasing any security patches or functional updates as of D7’s official EOL-date in November 2023.

Organizations will be able to keep using their Drupal 7 website for the time being. Nevertheless, technical problems will inevitably arise past D7’s EOL date - think of deprecated modules that are no longer supported or security issues that will no longer be addressed. This, in turn, will decrease your website’s SEO score. 

1. Option 1: migrate to a newer version of Drupal 
   You can choose to upgrade your existing Drupal environment to a newer version of Drupal. These versions are equipped to start building a Digital Experience Platform (DXP) for your business. In addition, the extensive compatibility between D8 and D9 also ensures a smooth upgrade further down the road.
2. Option 2: delay your upgrade.
   1. Keep your existing Drupal 7 environment;
   2. Upgrade your PHP version;
   3. Get Drupal 7 Extended Security Support until you decide to upgrade your website to a newer version of Drupal. 

Regardless of your industry and the circumstances of your business, an investment in your digital transformation is imminent. The main question is one of timing: when is the right moment to accelerate your digitalization efforts? Are you launching a new brand, product or service in the near future? This is an excellent opportunity to start building a fully-fledged digital experience.

A Digital Experience Platform enables your teams to leverage the power of your data. Accurate statistics and monitoring allow you to discover new business insights and respond better to the needs of your visitors.

Are you planning to start catering to new target groups with your organization? Yet another use case that would benefit significantly from a Drupal upgrade. Using a newer version of Drupal, you can communicate in a highly personalized way with any target group.

There are two legitimate reasons why organizations decide to postpone their investment in a Drupal upgrade:

• Your strategic roadmap for digital transformation is not ready yet or needs adjusting.
  Some organizations have completely overhauled their business model in 2020 and are looking to drastically alter or expand their digital plans. That is absolutely fine. If your digitalization roadmap needs further refinement, you shouldn’t compromise on the careful definition of your vision, mission and business objectives. In this case, ourDrupal 7 Extended Security Support is the preferred alternative while you work on defining your strategy.
   
• Your business model will not change in the coming months, but your organization needs financial resources.
  Due to the current economic volatility and uncertain business climate, many companies suffer from irregular cash flow. If the digital investment you had planned for is at risk, you might be better off postponing this high-impact project and instead opt for a small recurring investment in support for Drupal 7.