Which Umbraco version are you on?
Book 30 minutes with us. We’ll look at your version, integrations and Forms setup, and tell you plainly what an upgrade would involve.
Umbraco 13 end of life lands on 14 December 2026. Umbraco releases two new versions a year, so versions running out of support is part of the cycle. Upgrading isn’t a one-off rescue. It’s a normal part of owning a website, best planned and budgeted for every couple of years. We move you onto a properly supported version without starting from scratch.
Whether you’re the marketing lead who inherited a site nobody documented, the IT manager fielding security questions from above, or the owner who just wants the invoices to stop, an ageing Umbraco build is everyone’s problem the moment something breaks.
We handle the whole upgrade path in-house: version upgrades, Umbraco Forms, third-party integrations and the .NET underneath it all. You get one team accountable end to end, not a developer who disappears once the database migrates.
Our approach to successful projects
Before we talk versions, we talk to your team. What’s on the site now, who built it, what’s custom, what’s a bolted-on package, and what nobody’s touched since the last person left. We pull the current Umbraco version, the .NET version underneath it, every third-party integration and every Umbraco Forms setup into one clear picture. Most sites we take on have at least one piece of custom code nobody currently on the team fully understands, so we treat finding those as part of the job, not a nasty surprise for later. You end this phase with an honest account of what you’re actually running, not a guess.
This is where we plan the actual upgrade path, not just the destination. Recent Umbraco versions upgrade cleanly in a single step. Moving from Umbraco 13 to 17 is a good example of an LTS to LTS jump, and moving from Umbraco 16 to 17 covers the STS route, though 16 is already past its own end of life. Umbraco’s history splits into three eras: version 7 and earlier, version 8, which ran on the old .NET Framework, and version 9 onwards, which moved onto modern .NET. Moves within 9 to 17 are generally straightforward upgrades. Moving into 9 or later from 8 or earlier is closer to a migration than an upgrade, and we’ll tell you plainly if that’s what your site needs. We’ll tell you plainly whether your version’s still in its Support phase or has already moved into the Security phase, since that’s the detail that actually drives urgency, not just the version number. We’ll always recommend landing on the current Long-Term Supported release, which is Umbraco 17 right now, rather than a version that’s close to running out of support.
The upgrade itself happens in a staged environment first, never live on day one. We test your integrations, your custom templates and your Umbraco Forms thoroughly, rather than crossing our fingers at the end. If your build needs a .NET version update alongside the CMS upgrade, that gets planned in as part of the same project from the start. Nothing goes live until we’re confident it behaves exactly as it did before, just on infrastructure that’s actually supported.
Newer Umbraco versions change how your editors actually work day to day. The back office has changed, so your team may want a refresher on what’s different, and we’re happy to run one if that would help. We document what we’ve changed and why, so if someone new joins your team in a year, they’re not starting from the same blank page you were. The goal is a smoother user experience for your editors from day one, not a system they’re quietly afraid of clicking the wrong button in.
An upgrade isn’t a one-off fix if nobody plans the next one. We agree what “staying current” looks like for your site going forward, whether that’s ongoing support, a check-in ahead of the next Umbraco LTS release, or simply making sure you know who to call before a version quietly slips out of support again. Building upgrades into your roadmap now means this is the last panicked upgrade conversation you have. Whether that’s a formal Umbraco Support arrangement or simply an annual check-in, the choice is yours, not something we assume for you.
Moving between major Umbraco versions properly, not just installing the latest package and seeing what breaks. We plan the actual umbraco upgrade path for your site. A single step like an Umbraco 17 upgrade from 13 covers the LTS route, and moving from 16 to 17 covers the STS route. Umbraco’s Long-Term Support releases are built to upgrade into cleanly. For very old versions, see how we handle this in The Gecko Way above.
We test everything thoroughly before go-live, and we’ll give you a straight answer on which version you should land on, usually a current LTS release with a long support life ahead of it. We’ve taken sites through the full range, from versions 7 to 17, covering both the smaller minor upgrades within a single release line and full major version upgrades between them, always following Umbraco’s own upgrade guides as the starting point rather than reinventing the process.
For sites currently on Umbraco 13, moving straight to 17 is the direct next step, and doing it before Umbraco 13 reaches end of life in December 2026 avoids any gap in support.
Forms are often the part of a site nobody thinks about until they stop working. As part of your umbraco forms upgrade, we test every enquiry form, booking form and application form your site relies on, checking submissions still reach the right inbox, validation still behaves and any custom form logic still fires correctly.
Older Forms setups sometimes rely on workflows or field types that have changed between versions, and we’d rather catch and fix that in a staging environment than have you find out because a lead went missing. Some of that comes down to property editors changing between versions, which is exactly the kind of detail that’s easy to miss without testing properly.
There’s also a licensing change to know about. From Umbraco Forms 17 onwards, only the subscription licence works, though an existing one-off licence can be migrated across. One-off licences still work as they are on Umbraco 13 and 16. If your upgrade takes you to 17, we’ll flag this early, and the subscription cost sits separately from our fee.
Umbraco runs on .NET underneath, and each Umbraco version is tied to a specific .NET version, so whether your infrastructure needs updating too depends on where you’re starting. Umbraco 17 runs on the latest version of .NET, so sites coming from 13 or 16 will need a .NET update as part of the move.
We handle the .NET and hosting side alongside the CMS upgrade rather than treating it as a separate project, checking your hosting environment can actually support the target version before we start, not after something falls over. This is usually the part IT teams want the most reassurance on, so we’ll also review your hosting setup and check the database against what the target version expects.
Every plugin, package and integration your site relies on gets checked against your target version before we touch anything. That includes payment gateways, CRM connections and the smaller packages you might not remember installing.
Where a package doesn’t have a direct equivalent for the newer version, we’ll tell you honestly rather than quietly dropping the feature, and talk through whether it needs replacing, rebuilding, or simply isn’t worth carrying forward. This is usually where the real scope of an upgrade becomes clear, so we do it early.
This covers everything from simple third-party packages to more involved API integrations your developers may have built directly against Umbraco’s own APIs, and some of what we find are genuine community packages rather than commercially supported ones, which changes how we plan for their long-term upgrade path too.
Umbraco releases a new Long-Term Support version roughly every two years. It moves every release through the same lifecycle: Active, then a Support phase, then a Security phase, then end of life. For a Long-Term Support release, the Support phase lasts around 18 months and the Security phase around 12, giving an LTS release about three years of life in total.
Short-Term Support releases move faster, with roughly three months of Support and three months of Security, for about a year in total. That gives you a choice: stay on the LTS track and upgrade roughly every two to three years, or follow the STS track and plan to upgrade every year instead. Either way, building upgrades into your roadmap, rather than waiting for a version to lapse, is what keeps a site properly supported.
It matters for certification too. Cyber Essentials requires in-scope software to be supported and receiving security updates, so if your organisation holds it, or needs it for public sector or professional services work, an end-of-life Umbraco version could count against you.
Newer Umbraco versions change what your editors see day to day, and we make sure that transition doesn’t catch your team off guard. Where relevant, we’ll walk through how the editing screens and page-building tools have changed, and how that affects the templates your team actually uses. As with the back office itself, your team may want a refresher on these changes, and we’re happy to run one if that would help.
Throughout the upgrade, protecting your existing content is the priority: every page, image and content type gets checked against the upgraded site before go-live, so nothing gets silently lost or reformatted in the process. Any content structure changes happen behind the scenes, work your editors won’t need to think about, rather than anything they’ll be asked to redo.
Moving between major Umbraco versions properly, not just installing the latest package and seeing what breaks. We plan the actual umbraco upgrade path for your site. A single step like an Umbraco 17 upgrade from 13 covers the LTS route, and moving from 16 to 17 covers the STS route. Umbraco’s Long-Term Support releases are built to upgrade into cleanly. For very old versions, see how we handle this in The Gecko Way above.
We test everything thoroughly before go-live, and we’ll give you a straight answer on which version you should land on, usually a current LTS release with a long support life ahead of it. We’ve taken sites through the full range, from versions 7 to 17, covering both the smaller minor upgrades within a single release line and full major version upgrades between them, always following Umbraco’s own upgrade guides as the starting point rather than reinventing the process.
For sites currently on Umbraco 13, moving straight to 17 is the direct next step, and doing it before Umbraco 13 reaches end of life in December 2026 avoids any gap in support.
Forms are often the part of a site nobody thinks about until they stop working. As part of your umbraco forms upgrade, we test every enquiry form, booking form and application form your site relies on, checking submissions still reach the right inbox, validation still behaves and any custom form logic still fires correctly.
Older Forms setups sometimes rely on workflows or field types that have changed between versions, and we’d rather catch and fix that in a staging environment than have you find out because a lead went missing. Some of that comes down to property editors changing between versions, which is exactly the kind of detail that’s easy to miss without testing properly.
There’s also a licensing change to know about. From Umbraco Forms 17 onwards, only the subscription licence works, though an existing one-off licence can be migrated across. One-off licences still work as they are on Umbraco 13 and 16. If your upgrade takes you to 17, we’ll flag this early, and the subscription cost sits separately from our fee.
Umbraco runs on .NET underneath, and each Umbraco version is tied to a specific .NET version, so whether your infrastructure needs updating too depends on where you’re starting. Umbraco 17 runs on the latest version of .NET, so sites coming from 13 or 16 will need a .NET update as part of the move.
We handle the .NET and hosting side alongside the CMS upgrade rather than treating it as a separate project, checking your hosting environment can actually support the target version before we start, not after something falls over. This is usually the part IT teams want the most reassurance on, so we’ll also review your hosting setup and check the database against what the target version expects.
Every plugin, package and integration your site relies on gets checked against your target version before we touch anything. That includes payment gateways, CRM connections and the smaller packages you might not remember installing.
Where a package doesn’t have a direct equivalent for the newer version, we’ll tell you honestly rather than quietly dropping the feature, and talk through whether it needs replacing, rebuilding, or simply isn’t worth carrying forward. This is usually where the real scope of an upgrade becomes clear, so we do it early.
This covers everything from simple third-party packages to more involved API integrations your developers may have built directly against Umbraco’s own APIs, and some of what we find are genuine community packages rather than commercially supported ones, which changes how we plan for their long-term upgrade path too.
Umbraco releases a new Long-Term Support version roughly every two years. It moves every release through the same lifecycle: Active, then a Support phase, then a Security phase, then end of life. For a Long-Term Support release, the Support phase lasts around 18 months and the Security phase around 12, giving an LTS release about three years of life in total.
Short-Term Support releases move faster, with roughly three months of Support and three months of Security, for about a year in total. That gives you a choice: stay on the LTS track and upgrade roughly every two to three years, or follow the STS track and plan to upgrade every year instead. Either way, building upgrades into your roadmap, rather than waiting for a version to lapse, is what keeps a site properly supported.
It matters for certification too. Cyber Essentials requires in-scope software to be supported and receiving security updates, so if your organisation holds it, or needs it for public sector or professional services work, an end-of-life Umbraco version could count against you.
Newer Umbraco versions change what your editors see day to day, and we make sure that transition doesn’t catch your team off guard. Where relevant, we’ll walk through how the editing screens and page-building tools have changed, and how that affects the templates your team actually uses. As with the back office itself, your team may want a refresher on these changes, and we’re happy to run one if that would help.
Throughout the upgrade, protecting your existing content is the priority: every page, image and content type gets checked against the upgraded site before go-live, so nothing gets silently lost or reformatted in the process. Any content structure changes happen behind the scenes, work your editors won’t need to think about, rather than anything they’ll be asked to redo.
Michael Cox, Full Stack Developer at Gecko
[PLACEHOLDER: no confirmed Umbraco upgrade case study with verified metrics currently exists in the reference material. Draft paragraph below uses bracketed placeholders throughout and should not be published as-is.]
We recently took [CLIENT NAME], a [SECTOR] organisation running an unsupported version of Umbraco, through a full upgrade path onto a current Long-Term Support release. The project included [X] version steps, a full Umbraco Forms upgrade and compatibility checks across [X] third-party integrations, completed with zero content loss and no downtime to the live site.
Metric: [PLACEHOLDER METRIC, e.g. “Zero unplanned downtime across the upgrade” or a measured performance/security improvement once confirmed]
An Umbraco upgrade moves your site from an older version of the CMS onto a newer, supported one. It may also mean updating the .NET version your site runs on, though this depends on where you’re starting. It’s different from a full rebuild: your content, templates and structure carry across rather than being recreated from scratch. Depending on how far behind your current version is, this is usually a single step, though very old versions may need a migration instead. Alongside the core CMS, we also check Umbraco Forms, any custom code and every third-party integration your site depends on, since these are usually where problems actually surface if they’re not handled properly.
It’s a distinction worth understanding, because it changes how urgent an upgrade genuinely is. A version that’s reached end of support still receives security patches for a defined period, so there’s some breathing room. A version that’s end of life gets no maintenance at all, meaning any security vulnerability discovered from that point on simply never gets fixed. Sites running end of life Umbraco versions are running on software with known gaps that nobody’s patching. We’ll tell you plainly which category your current version falls into before recommending anything. Umbraco HQ formalises this with a Support phase followed by a Security phase for every release, so you can check exactly where any given version sits rather than relying on guesswork.
We’ll usually recommend landing on the current Long-Term Supported release, Umbraco 17, as your long-term CMS version, rather than chasing the newest release for its own sake. The right umbraco upgrade path depends on where you’re starting from. If you’re on an older release like Umbraco 13, moving to 17 is the direct route, and it’s worth doing soon, since Umbraco 13 reaches end of life on 14 December 2026. Short-term releases, like the current Umbraco 18 STS, suit teams who want a specific feature early and are happy to upgrade annually. We map this out during the Evaluate phase and talk you through exactly why we’re recommending it, rather than just handing you a version number.
Yes, but it depends on the upgrade path, and we don’t just assume it and move on. As part of every Umbraco Forms upgrade, we test each form on your site individually, checking submissions still reach the right place, validation still works as expected, and any custom form logic still fires correctly. Older Forms setups occasionally rely on field types or workflows that have changed between versions, which is exactly the kind of thing we’d rather catch and fix in a staging environment than have you discover because an enquiry went missing. The licensing change only applies if you’re moving to Umbraco 17, where Forms needs a subscription licence. A one-off licence keeps working on 13 and 16.
For most sites, upgrading. A rebuild means recreating your content, structure and integrations from zero, and getting your editors used to a new system, which costs considerably more than moving your existing site onto a supported version. The exception is a site that’s been so heavily customised, or is running on a version so old it was fundamentally rewritten since, that a rebuild genuinely works out simpler, and we’ll tell you honestly if that’s what we find during the Evaluate phase rather than pushing an upgrade that isn’t the right call. Either way, you get a proper answer before you commit to either route, not a default sales pitch for the bigger project. It’s also where genuine technical debt shows up. Sites carrying legacy Umbraco code from three or four versions back tend to need more care, but that’s still rarely a reason to rebuild outright. Worth knowing too: an older site has often picked up dated CSS and UX along the way, even if the upgrade itself goes smoothly. That’s a separate decision from the upgrade, not something we’ll bundle in automatically, but if a refresh is something you’d find useful, our website redesign and UX audit services cover that.
Moving from Umbraco 16 to 17 usually takes about a day. A full Umbraco 17 upgrade from Umbraco 13 usually takes about a week. Either way, most of that time goes on testing, not the upgrade tooling itself. It depends on your custom code, your packages, your Umbraco Forms setup and how many templates your site has, and we’ll give you a realistic timeline once we’ve actually seen your build during the Gather phase, rather than a generic estimate before we’ve looked at anything.
That’s exactly what the Gather and Evaluate phases exist to prevent. Every piece of custom code, every third-party package and every integration your site relies on gets checked against your target version before we start work, not discovered as a problem partway through. Where something won’t carry across cleanly, we’ll tell you during scoping, along with what it’ll take to fix. If something unforeseen turns up once we’re underway, we’ll talk to you before it affects the cost. This also covers any API changes that might affect integrations built against Umbraco’s APIs. We check custom plugins, custom extensions and any front-end code or NuGet packages your team has added over the years, including community packages, since all of it is just as likely to need attention as the core CMS itself.
Once a version reaches end of life, it stops receiving security patches altogether, so every new vulnerability found after that point stays open. Umbraco 13 end of life lands on 14 December 2026, so this is worth planning for now rather than waiting until afterwards. Beyond security, staying on an old version tends to mean missing features your editors would genuinely benefit from, and it gets harder to find developers willing to work confidently in an outdated back office. The security issues that build up on an unpatched version don’t wait for a convenient time to surface, and the potential issues extend beyond the CMS itself once other parts of your stack fall out of step. Once you’re sitting in the Security phase rather than full support, that clock is already ticking, even if nothing’s visibly broken yet. If your site’s already struggling under the weight of all this, our Website Rescue service is built for exactly that.
It depends what “upgrade” means for that specific version, and we’ll be straight with you about it rather than stretching the word to fit. Our approach to older versions is explained above. In short, Umbraco 7 needs a different kind of project to reach a current version, not an incremental upgrade, and we’d call it a migration rather than an upgrade. We’re happy to take that project on, we just won’t call it something it isn’t, since that changes both the approach and the cost.
We don’t disappear the moment the new version is live. We keep a close eye on the site over the days that follow to catch anything that isn’t behaving exactly as it should, and we’ll talk you through what staying current looks like going forward, so this doesn’t become another unsupported version in a few years’ time. Some clients prefer a formal Umbraco Support arrangement from day one, others prefer to wait and see, and either way works for us. If you’d like to talk through what an upgrade would actually involve for your specific site, book a discovery call and we’ll take it from there.
Book 30 minutes with us. We’ll look at your version, integrations and Forms setup, and tell you plainly what an upgrade would involve.