Drupal 10 End of Life: What It Means and How to Upgrade

The short answer

Drupal 10 reaches end of life on December 9, 2026. After that date the Drupal project makes no new Drupal 10 releases, so security holes found in 2027 and later stay open on your site. Drupal 12 is scheduled to come out the same week.

The good news is that this is nothing like the end of Drupal 7. Moving from Drupal 10 to Drupal 11 is an upgrade, not a rebuild. Your content, users and URLs stay where they are. The work is in checking your custom code and modules, fixing what breaks, and making sure your server meets the new requirements.

What Drupal 10 end of life actually means

Your site will not switch off on December 9. It will keep loading and your team can keep editing it. What stops is the safety net: no more security releases, bug fixes or updates from the Drupal project.

Some sites are already past that point. Only the Drupal 10.6 line still gets security releases. Drupal 10.5 lost security support in the week of June 29, 2026, and older Drupal 10 versions lost it before that. If your site is on 10.5 or earlier, it is already unsupported, whatever the end-of-life date says.

Not sure which version you run? Our free Drupal version checker tells you in seconds.

Should you go to Drupal 11 or wait for Drupal 12?

Go to Drupal 11. Drupal 12 is scheduled for the week of December 7, 2026, but a brand-new major version takes time to settle, and many contributed modules need time to support it. Drupal 11 is current, supported and has the module support most sites need today.

Drupal has used the same upgrade approach since Drupal 8: each major version removes code that was marked as outdated in the one before. Getting to Drupal 11 now puts you in the best position for the move to Drupal 12 later.

How the upgrade from Drupal 10 to 11 works

1. Update to the latest Drupal 10. You need to be on Drupal 10.3 or later before moving to 11, and the latest 10.6 release is the safest starting point.
2. Scan the site on a copy. The Upgrade Status module checks your custom code, contributed modules and themes against Drupal 11 and lists everything that needs work. Run it on a development copy, never on the live site.
3. Fix custom code. Drupal Rector fixes many outdated code calls automatically. The rest are fixed by hand.
4. Update or replace contributed modules. Most popular modules support Drupal 11. A few never will, and those need a replacement or a small custom solution.
5. Check the server. Drupal 11 needs PHP 8.3, MySQL 8.0 or MariaDB 10.6 or later, Apache 2.4.7 or later, and Drush 13 if you use it. It no longer supports Windows IIS servers.
6. Upgrade, test and launch. The upgrade runs on the copy first. Once forms, logins, search and key pages are tested, the same steps run on the live site.

What makes a Drupal 10 upgrade bigger

Most of the effort comes from a few places:

• Custom modules and themes written years ago with code Drupal 11 removed.
• Contributed modules that are abandoned or have no Drupal 11 version.
• Old hosting that cannot run PHP 8.3 or a current database.
• Sites that skipped Drupal 10 updates for a long time and need several catch-up steps first.

A scan with Upgrade Status answers most of these questions in an afternoon, which is why we start every upgrade with one.

Is this the moment to leave Drupal?

Sometimes. Drupal is excellent for sites with complex content, many editors and detailed permissions, and for those sites the upgrade to Drupal 11 is usually the right call. A small business or nonprofit with two or three editors may be better off on WordPress or a headless setup, which are cheaper to run and easier to hire for.

If you are weighing that choice, our Drupal migration services page explains each option and what a move involves. We are happy to tell you if staying on Drupal is the right answer.

Still on Drupal 7?

Drupal 7 reached end of life on January 5, 2025, and there is no upgrade path from 7 to 11. It is a rebuild. Our Drupal 7 end of life guide covers your options.

Next step

With the deadline close, the best first step is a scan of your site so you know how big the job is. Book a free migration review and we will look at your Drupal 10 site, tell you what needs to change, and give you a fixed quote.