Drupal 9 | Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

General Questions

What are the benefits of Drupal 9 over Drupal 8 or even Drupal 7?
Is Drupal 9 hard to use?
What significant new features has Drupal just added, and what is coming soon?
What distinguishes Drupal 9 from other CMS platforms?
How do I know if Drupal is right for my digital needs?
What are the system requirements for running Drupal 9?
How has the COVID-19 crisis affected the rollout of Drupal 9?
How can Drupal 9 be used in a GDPR compliant environment?
How long will it take for the contributed module and theme ecosystem to be ready for Drupal 9?
How can we know when a module(like Webform) is ready for Drupal 9?
What happens to Drupal 7 when Drupal 9 is released? Will it still have security coverage?
What happens to Drupal 8 when Drupal 9 is released? Will it still have security coverage?
Drupal 10 is planned for 2022 - why so soon?
What kind of multilingual support does Drupal 9 offer?
I have more questions about Drupal in general

Advanced Questions

What's the best way to migrate from Drupal 7 to Drupal 9?
What's the best way to migrate from Drupal 8 to Drupal 9?
How has theming changed from Drupal 8 to Drupal 9?
Are there important security changes in Drupal 9?
What support does Drupal 9 have for API-first/headless/decoupled deployments?
Will Drupal move towards a microservices model?
Does a headless architecture prevent content creators from using the new Layout Builder features?
What solutions exist for managing content deployment?
Is it possible that Drupal 7 community support will be extended beyond November 2021, due to COVID-19?
How are security issues managed in Drupal 9, compared to Drupal 7 and 8?
How will Drupal 9 and beyond support emerging technologies (Voice, Visual Search, VR/AR)?

General Questions

What are the benefits of Drupal 9 over Drupal 8 or even Drupal 7?

Drupal 9 represents the culmination of all of the features developed over the course of Drupal 8, on a leaner, cleaner codebase. This updated technology positions Drupal 9 to continue Drupal 8's pattern of continuous innovation with significant features released every six months.

Upgrades on any type of software can be painful—what can we expect when we upgrade to Drupal 9?

The upgrade from Drupal 8 to Drupal 9 is the easiest major version upgrade in a decade, and many Drupal 8 modules are already compatible with Drupal 9. If you are already on the latest version of Drupal 8, your hosting provider meets the minimum requirements for Drupal 9, and the contributed modules and themes you use are ready for 9, the upgrade can take 30 minutes or less.

If you're on an older version of Drupal 8, or are using modules and themes that are not yet compatible, be aware it may take more time to complete the upgrade.
Is Drupal 9 hard to use?

The short answer? No. The long answer: Drupal becomes more and more user-friendly with every upgrade, so we’ve come a long way since we started nearly 20 years ago—and this newest version is no exception. Drupal 9 takes the tremendous technical power of Drupal and makes it even more accessible to regular users through improved ease of use.

Drupal 9 includes all of the usability improvements implemented over the course of Drupal 8, including features like editorial workflows, Layout Builder and media management, among others. Drupal is committed to creating an ideal user experience, so whether you’re a content creator, a website developer, or IT support, you can count on continuous innovation in usability from Drupal now and with all future releases.
What significant new features has Drupal just added, and what is coming soon?

New features that carry from Drupal 8 into Drupal 9 include: the Layout Builder, which allows content editors to design pages without engineering help; API-first architecture, including the JSON:API, which enables building robust decoupled and headless applications; and Media Library, which makes the management of images, video, and other assets easier than ever before.

Upcoming features are focused on ease of use, including a new admin interface, a new default theme, a focus on automatic updates, and much more.
What distinguishes Drupal 9 from other CMS platforms?

Drupal 9 is the platform for ambitious digital experiences. While some CMS platforms focus on pre-defined templates or industry-specific solutions, Drupal excels at empowering users to take advantage of the latest web technology to create robust digital experiences. While Drupal also offers themes that are ready-to-go out of the box, its true power is in its flexibility and richness.
How do I know if Drupal is right for my digital needs?

If you are seeking to build the very best digital experience for users with features like reusable content, multi-channel publishing, and personalization, Drupal is an ideal choice.
What are the system requirements for running Drupal 9?

You can find a complete description of Drupal 9's system requirements in the Drupal system requirements documentation guide.
How has the COVID-19 crisis affected the rollout of Drupal 9?

Despite the global pandemic, Drupal 9 was released on its planned launch day of June 3, 2020. This incredible accomplishment is a testament to the open source community that builds Drupal.
How can Drupal 9 be used in a GDPR compliant environment?

The European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a regulation on data protection and privacy within the European Union(EU) and the European Economic Area(EEA), but it applies to the data of any resident of the EU or EEA regardless of whether that resident or the service in question is presently located in the region.

Drupal is widely used in a GDPR-compliant manner. As a matter of fact, the European Commission itself runs much of its web presence on Drupal. Note that GDPR compliance is primarily a matter of organizational policy, rather than technology. GDPR does not specify a list of specific technical features, but rather policies that should be adhered to.

That said, there are a variety of community contributed tools to aid you in making your Drupal installation GDPR compliant.
How long will it take for the contributed module and theme ecosystem to be ready for Drupal 9?

The majority of the top 200 Drupal contributed modules are already compatible with Drupal 9 in preparation for the release, and the process of updating a module or theme to Drupal 9 is relatively simple. The contributed project maintainer needs to remove deprecated code from their module or theme and update their info.yml file to confirm compatibility with Drupal 9. Developers in the community can also contribute patches to make modules Drupal 9 compatible. A number of tools are available to help identify deprecated code.
How can we know when a contributed module (like Webform) is ready for Drupal 9?

When looking for compatible modules, you can filter by compatibility with Drupal 9. You will also see a compatibility message next to the module releases when viewing a Drupal project page.
What happens to Drupal 7 when Drupal 9 is released?

Drupal 7 will receive continued community support—including security coverage—until November 2021. After November 2021, end-users unable to upgrade to Drupal 9 will have the option to participate in the Drupal 7 Extended Support program through 2024. This program is available for an additional fee through select partners.
What happens to Drupal 8 when Drupal 9 is released?

Drupal 8 will receive continued community support—including security coverage—until November 2021. After November 2021 users on Drupal 8 must upgrade to Drupal 9 to continue receiving support. Drupal 8 (and beyond) depends on third-party libraries like Symfony, and Drupal's support cycle is aligned to theirs.

Fortunately, the upgrade from Drupal 8 to Drupal 9 is the easiest in a decade, since they share the same fundamental architecture.
Drupal 10 is planned for 2022 - why so soon?

Drupal 10 is planned for 2022 in order to align with the life cycle of third-party projects that are closely integrated with Drupal, like Symfony and Twig.

The Drupal 10 upgrade will be an easy upgrade for Drupal 9 users, requiring only a bit of extra attention to deprecated code and updated libraries.
What kind of multilingual support does Drupal 9 offer?

Drupal 9 offers all of the robust multilingual features of Drupal 8 and should not require any re-architecture when updating. Future enhancements to Drupal's multilingual functionality will only be available in Drupal 9 and beyond, so board the innovation train now!
I have more questions about Drupal in general.

For additional questions, please consult the Drupal General FAQ, or join the Drupal community on Slack.

Advanced Questions

What's the best way to migrate from Drupal 7 to Drupal 9?

The process of upgrading from Drupal 7 to Drupal 9 can be thought of as a migration or re-platforming, although not as severe as moving to a complete different platform. Though there are major differences under the hood, the fundamental approach to managing structured data is quite similar. Significant work was also put into the Migration APIs over the course of the Drupal 8 life cycle, so the upgrade to Drupal 9 is easier than upgrading to 8 was a few years ago.

We encourage you to review the upgrade documentation for more detail.
What's the best way to migrate from Drupal 8 to Drupal 9?

It's better to think of the upgrade from Drupal 8 to Drupal 9 like a regular update, rather than as a full migration. If you've kept your Drupal 8 site up to date, and have experience with updating your site to the latest minor version (e.g: 8.9.0) then you know everything you need in order to successfully upgrade to Drupal 9.

Keep in mind is that deprecated APIs have been removed, and contributed modules and themes may need updating as well.

Some tools you can use to check if your site is ready include:
- Deprecation checking and correction tools to prepare for Drupal 9
- Upgrade Status
- Drupal Rector
How has theming changed from Drupal 8 to Drupal 9?

Drupal 9 upgrades the Twig templating engine from version 1 to version 2. This means that much of the work you've already done to theme your site using Twig is completely reusable. For more information about using Twig 2 with Drupal, consult our documentation.
Are there important security changes in Drupal 9?

Yes. The primary security changes in Drupal 9 are the upgrade of the system requirements and third party libraries to supported versions. If you continue to use Drupal 8 with the older system requirements or libraries, you may find that you are using an unsupported version of PHP or MySQL without security coverage. See the Drupal system requirements documentation guide.
What support does Drupal 9 have for API-first/headless/decoupled deployments?

Drupal 9 continues building on Drupal 8's API-first architecture, and continues to be a leader in headless and decoupled solutions in the CMS market.

Headless/decoupled solutions can very widely depending on the front-end technology chosen. For a good orientation on the ins-and-outs of decoupled Drupal, you can review this blog post from Drupal project founder Dries Buytaert in 2019.
Will Drupal move towards a microservices model?

Drupal does not have an explicit initiative to move towards a microservices model. That said, Drupal still has a commitment to an API-first architecture, which is compatible with many of the underlying principles that make a microservices model appealing.
Does a headless architecture prevent content creators from using the new Layout Builder features?

Right now, the focus of the Layout Builder feature has been on providing layout tools for non-decoupled Drupal installations. In most cases, an installation using a decoupled front-end wants to control the presentation layer entirely in that front-end application.

There has been discussion about exposing Layout Builder components through Drupal's API, so a hybrid approach could be used in decoupled implementations, see #2942975: Expose Layout Builder data to REST and JSON:API.
What solutions exist for managing content deployment?

The Workflows module in Drupal core is an ideal tool for managing content deployment and editorial workflows in Drupal, and is leveraged by major media organizations throughout the world. Content Moderation and Workspaces enhance this capability allowing you to define content publication states at stage content in different workspaces.
Is it possible that Drupal 7 community support will be extended beyond November 2021, due to COVID-19?

Given the impact of COVID-19 on budgets and businesses, we will be extending the end of life until November 28, 2022. The extended support will now run from November 2022 until November 2025.

More details are at Extending Drupal 7's End-of-Life - PSA-2020-06-24.
How are security issues managed in Drupal 9, compared to Drupal 7 and 8?

The Drupal Security Team is managing security issues for Drupal 9 in the same way that they have for prior major versions of Drupal, with some procedural updates based on lessons over the years.

For detailed information about Drupal's security team and their policies, please consult drupal.org/security.
How will Drupal 9 and beyond support emerging technologies (Voice, Visual Search, VR/AR)?

Voice and visual search, AR and VR displays - all of these are effectively new interaction and presentation models for dealing with existing data. Drupal's fundamental content modeling prowess, as well as its API-first design makes it ideally suited to prototype these new interactions, or to build production applications.