There is no reason to wait until Drupal 9

Why?

Because instead of building a radically new version of Drupal in a separate codebase, Drupal 9 is being built in Drupal 8.

You might be thinking… “Huh?!”

Well, what this means is that the upgrade experience will be as smooth as a monkey’s bottom.

Drupal 9 will essentially be just like another minor core update in Drupal 8.

What is a minor core update? Quite simply, it’s the middle number in the version of Drupal you are running.

Core updates come out roughly every 6 months and keeping your site up-to-date with these is critical in making sure it’s well maintained.

Drupal 9 release date

So when is Drupal 9 expected to be released?

From the information we have so far, it’s scheduled for the second quarter of 2020.

So why was this date chosen in the first place?

Simple. A little thing called Symfony 3.

Drupal 8’s biggest dependency is Symfony 3, which has an end-of-life date of November 2021.

This means that after November 2021, developers will not resolve any security bugs in Symfony 3, and Drupal will be in the same situation.

Drupal 9 will be using Symfony 4 or 5 and won’t have to worry about this issue.

What does this mean for Drupal 6 or 7 sites?

Well, it means you’re missing out on a helluva lot of great new features, you have potential security risks, and are flat out hindering yourself from being able to deliver amazing user experiences that will help your business grow.

If you’re on Drupal 6, support ended as far back as February 2016 and you’ve got serious unmitigated security risks.

You’re on Drupal 7, support ends in 2021 and we all know how fast time goes.

If you haven’t started planning or budgeting for this, it’s time to start now.

The migration from either 6 or 7 to 8/9 is going to be painful and cost-intensive but it will be the last great migration Drupal will need to incur.

Does this resonate with you? Let’s chat!