The verdict in three sentences
A Drupal 7 site with no security support since 2025 and 900 pages in 3 languages can move to a headless CMS for EUR 18,000 to 35,000 excluding VAT in 2026, in 3 to 4 months. The budget depends mostly on content migration, about 80% automatable, and on a 301 redirect plan covering 100% of URLs. Done well, the project keeps the traffic dip under 10% for the first six weeks, after which the site recovers and exceeds its previous level thanks to better performance.
Why leave Drupal 7 now, and for what
Drupal 7 reached official end of life in January 2025. Since then, no community security patches are published and modules are no longer maintained. For an equipment maker publishing product sheets, technical documentation and job offers, the risk is twofold: exploitable vulnerabilities and a site that can no longer evolve. IT directors usually weigh three options.
| Option | Project cost (excl. VAT) | Monthly cost | Advantages | Limitations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drupal 7 extended support (third party) | EUR 0 | EUR 300 to 900 | No immediate migration | Problem postponed, no evolution |
| Migration to Drupal 10/11 | EUR 20,000 to 40,000 | EUR 100 to 300 | Familiar logic for teams | Modules rewritten, theme rebuilt |
| Headless Strapi (self-hosted) | EUR 18,000 to 30,000 | EUR 0 licence + EUR 60 to 150 hosting | Full control, no licence | Server maintenance required |
| Headless Sanity (SaaS) | EUR 20,000 to 35,000 | EUR 0 to 400 depending on users | Collaborative editing, no CMS server | Cost rises beyond 20 editors |
| Static site + Next.js front end | Included in headless options | EUR 20 to 100 hosting | Load time under 1.5 s | Preview needs configuring |
For 900 pages, 3 languages and 5 to 10 contributors, headless offers the best cost and performance ratio over five years. The decoupled front end clearly improves Core Web Vitals and lets you reuse content in a distributor portal or an app.
Detailed budget, content migration and redirects
| Item | 2026 range (excl. VAT) | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Audit and URL mapping | EUR 1,500 to 3,000 | Inventory of 900 pages, dead content, backlinks |
| Headless content modelling | EUR 2,000 to 4,000 | Products, documents, news, jobs |
| Automated migration scripts | EUR 3,500 to 7,000 | Drupal database extraction, HTML cleanup, 80% import |
| Manual migration of the remaining 20% | EUR 2,000 to 5,000 | Complex pages, tables, poorly structured content |
| Front end and templates | EUR 6,000 to 11,000 | 12 to 18 templates, multilingual, search |
| 301 redirect plan | EUR 1,000 to 2,500 | 100% of URLs, automated tests |
| QA, training, launch | EUR 2,000 to 2,500 | Tests in 3 languages, Search Console monitoring |
Automated migration handles homogeneous content: product sheets, news, job offers. The remaining 20% (rich range pages, compatibility tables, content hard-coded in HTML) needs manual work, often a chance to delete 15 to 25% of obsolete pages. Every removed URL must 301 to the closest page. Without that, ten years of backlinks are lost and traffic can drop 30 to 50%.
Typical plan: month 1 for audit, modelling and mockups, month 2 for migration scripts and front end, month 3 for manual migration and redirects, then 2 to 4 weeks of QA and cutover.
Mini case study
Pieter, IT director of an industrial equipment maker in Amsterdam, runs a 900-page Drupal 7 site in Dutch, German and English generating 11,000 organic visits a month. He pays EUR 650 a month for extended support, EUR 7,800 a year with no evolution. He chooses a Sanity migration with a Next.js front end at EUR 27,000, plus EUR 200 a month for licence and hosting. Over five years, total cost is EUR 39,000, the same as extended support alone, but with a modern, scalable site. Automated migration handles 720 pages, the team migrates 180 by hand and deletes 140. Six weeks after cutover, traffic is at 93% of the original level, then 112% by month six thanks to LCP falling from 4.1 s to 1.6 s.
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FAQ
How long can the site stay on Drupal 7?
Technically for years, but with no public security patches since January 2025. For a company facing supplier audits or NIS2 obligations, an unsupported CMS quickly becomes a blocker.
Does migration lose traffic?
A temporary 5 to 10% dip is common for 4 to 8 weeks. With 100% of URLs redirected and correct hreflang tags, traffic usually returns to its original level within three months.
Strapi or Sanity for an industrial company?
Strapi suits teams able to maintain a server who want no licence. Sanity is better for multilingual collaborative editing without infrastructure, at EUR 0 to 400 a month.
Can we keep our current URLs?
Yes for most pages, which limits redirects. We often keep 70 to 80% of existing paths and only redirect renamed or deleted pages.
Will our editors need training?
Yes, one or two 2-hour sessions are usually enough. Modern headless interfaces are simpler than the Drupal 7 back office.
Let's scope your project. Send us your Drupal site URL and page count per language: we price the headless migration between EUR 18,000 and 35,000 with a 3 to 4 month plan. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
