Umbraco Upgrade Guide v8 to v17 — Costs, Timeline & Process

Key Takeaways

• Umbraco 17 is the current LTS (released November 2025, supported until November 2028). It is the recommended upgrade target for businesses still running v8.
• This is effectively a rebuild, not a simple update. Umbraco 8 runs on .NET Framework 4.x; v17 runs on .NET 10. The data layer, templates, and packages all need rewriting.
• Typical timeline: 4–8 weeks depending on site size, content volume, and integrations. Complex multi-site setups can take 8–12 weeks.
• Costs range from £3,000 for simple sites to £10,000+ for complex builds with custom integrations.
• Use v13 as a stepping stone for complex migrations — the v8-to-v13 path is the best documented and gives you a working LTS site even if you don't go straight to v17.

We get asked about Umbraco migrations regularly. Businesses that built on Umbraco 8 four or five years ago are now facing end of life, and the question is always the same: how hard is this, how long will it take, and what is it going to cost?

This is our honest guide to upgrading from Umbraco 8 to v17 (the current LTS). No vague estimates, no hand-waving about complexity. We have shipped these migrations — we know where the time goes and where the surprises hide.

Why Umbraco 17 (and Why v13 as a Stepping Stone)?

There are several active Umbraco versions. Here is why v17 is the right target for most v8 migrations — and when v13 makes sense as an intermediate stop.

Umbraco 17 is the current LTS release (released November 2025). LTS means long-term support — it gets security patches and bug fixes on a predictable schedule. v17 is supported until November 2028.

Umbraco 13 (previous LTS) reaches end of life on 14 December 2026. It is still a valid stepping stone for complex v8 migrations. v8 → v13 is the best-documented path, with mature community tooling and a large body of real-world experience to draw on. From v13, the jump to v17 is comparatively small.

**v17 runs on .NET 10.** Microsoft's latest cross-platform LTS runtime, supported until November 2028. Moving from the legacy .NET Framework 4.8 (which underpins Umbraco 8) to .NET 10 is a meaningful security, performance, and maintainability upgrade.

v14 and v15 are end of life (May 2025 and November 2025 respectively). Don't plan a migration to either. v17 also introduces the new Web Components-based backoffice — Angular has been removed entirely — so editors and developers see a different, modernised admin interface.

Third-party package support is solid. Umbraco 8 sites often rely on packages from the Umbraco Marketplace. The actively maintained packages now have v13 and v17 versions. The ecosystem matured significantly through 2025.

What Actually Changes Between Versions

The vendor documentation lists every breaking change (it is genuinely exhaustive — the official version-specific upgrade notes run to about 18,500 words). Here are the changes that matter most for an Umbraco 8 site moving forward:

| From → To | Headline change | Practical impact | |---|---|---| | 8 → 9/10 | .NET Framework 4.x → .NET 6/8. SQL CE no longer supported. | Whole-platform rebuild. Different runtime, different packaging, different hosting story (Windows IIS → cross-platform Linux). | | 10 → 13 | NPoco v5, Examine v3, content finders made async. | Mostly internal. Custom code that touches the database or search may need updating. Content/template work usually carries through cleanly. | | 13 → 14 | AngularJS removed. Backoffice rewritten. Nested Content, Grid Layout, legacy Media Picker, Macros all removed. Newtonsoft.Json → System.Text.Json. | Major editor experience change. Property editors split into server + client implementations. Old content models that lean on Grid or Nested Content need rebuilding. | | 14 → 17 | TinyMCE removed (TipTap only). System dates UTC. HTTPS-by-default. | Mostly cleanup. The big break already happened at v14. |

The takeaway: the largest single jump for a v8 site is between v8 and v13. After v13, the road to v17 is much shorter. This is why we often recommend v13 as a stepping stone — particularly for sites with heavy Grid Editor or Nested Content usage.

The Step-by-Step Migration Process

This is how we approach every Umbraco v8 migration. The steps are consistent — the time spent on each one varies with site complexity.

Step 1: Full Audit of the Existing Site

Before a single line of code is written, we document everything.

• Document Types: every page type, every field
• Data Types: property editors and their configurations
• Content tree: page count, hierarchy, any unusual structures
• Media library: volume, file types, dependencies in templates
• Third-party packages: what is installed, what version, does it support v13/v17
• Custom code: surface controllers, event handlers, Razor components, API integrations
• Front-end: custom-built theme or starter kit with overrides

The audit output drives the project plan. It tells us where the complexity sits, which packages need replacing, and whether bespoke functionality needs rebuilding from scratch.

Time: 1–3 days.

Step 2: Scope and Plan

With the audit in hand, we produce a scoped project plan covering:

• What gets rebuilt vs. migrated
• Which packages need alternatives
• Front-end approach (migrate as-is, or modernise alongside)
• Content migration strategy — automated or manual
• Testing plan
• Go-live approach (DNS cutover, redirect mapping, rollback plan)

This is where we identify risks early rather than discovering them mid-project.

Step 3: New Project Setup

We build a clean Umbraco 17 (or 13) project. We do not attempt in-place upgrades through every intermediate version. That path is technically possible but accumulates legacy issues. A clean build on the new version, with content migrated in, produces a cleaner result.

This step includes:

• New project scaffold on the target version
• Environment setup (development, staging, production)
• Source control configuration
• CI/CD pipeline (automated builds and deployments)
• Hosting environment provisioned

Time: 2–4 days.

Step 4: Rebuild the Content Model

Document Types and Data Types are recreated. Most core property editors carry across — textstrings, rich text, image pickers. Some have changed or been replaced.

Specific things to plan for if you are coming from v8:

• Grid Editor: The legacy grid was overhauled and is removed entirely from v14+. Use Block List or Block Grid. Any grid-heavy v8 content models need rethinking.
• Nested Content: Removed in v14. Block List is the replacement. Heavy Nested Content usage is the single biggest content-modelling rebuild we see.
• Members: The Members section was rewritten in v13 and refined since. Custom member areas need careful planning.
• Macros: Removed. Template partials replace them.

Time: 1–5 days depending on model complexity.

Step 5: Content Migration

This is often the most variable step. For sites with dozens of pages, content can be migrated using Umbraco's Content Migration API and direct database tooling. For sites with hundreds or thousands of pages and complex nested structures, this requires more careful scripting and validation.

Tools that help:

• uSync — community package that serialises Document Types, Data Types and content as files. Useful for transferring config between environments and for content migration scripting.
• Unattended upgrades — Umbraco's built-in mechanism for running migrations without manual intervention, helpful for repeatable deploys.
• Practice runs on local first — every migration script gets dry-run on a developer machine before staging or production.

What we always do:

• Migrate all published content
• Validate field-by-field against the original
• Migrate media library (images, documents, files)
• Verify media references inside content
• Flag any content that could not be automatically migrated for manual review

Time: 2–10 days depending on content volume.

Step 6: Rebuild Templates and Components

Templates in Umbraco are Razor views. The structure in v17 is similar to v8, but not identical — and this is where most of the development hours go on complex sites.

• All template files are rebuilt (copy-pasting v8 templates into v17 causes issues)
• Partial views and components are rebuilt using current patterns
• Surface controllers are updated for the new MVC conventions
• Custom ViewModels are updated for the new package APIs
• Front-end assets (CSS, JS) are reviewed and updated where needed

If the project includes a front-end refresh, this is where it happens in parallel with the template rebuild.

Time: 3–15 days depending on template complexity.

Step 7: Integrations

Most Umbraco sites have at least one third-party integration — a CRM, analytics, email marketing tool, or payment gateway. These need testing in full against the new build.

Where a v8 package handled the integration, we check whether a v13/v17-compatible version exists. If not, we implement against the third-party API directly.

Time: 1–5 days.

Step 8: Testing

A migrated site needs thorough QA before go-live. We don't cut corners here.

• Every page type rendered and reviewed
• Every form tested (submission, validation, confirmation)
• All integrations tested end-to-end
• Redirect map validated (no broken links from old URLs)
• Performance testing — including Core Web Vitals and page speed
• Security scan (OWASP basics, exposed admin routes, headers)
• Cross-browser and device testing

Time: 3–5 days.

Step 9: Go Live

Going live is more than flipping DNS.

• Final content sync (any changes made on the live v8 site during the migration period)
• DNS cutover with TTL management to minimise downtime
• SSL certificate provisioned and verified
• Redirect map live and tested
• Analytics and tracking verified
• Monitoring and alerting configured
• Rollback plan documented and ready

Time: 1–2 days.

Cost Ranges

Vague ranges are frustrating, so here are real numbers from projects we have shipped.

| Site Type | Typical Cost | |---|---| | Small site (10–30 pages, minimal custom code) | £3,000 – £4,500 | | Medium site (30–100 pages, some custom components) | £4,500 – £6,500 | | Complex site (100+ pages, custom integrations, Grid/Nested Content heavy) | £6,500 – £10,000+ |

These ranges assume the migration includes content rebuild (not design refresh), hosting setup, and thorough testing.

A front-end redesign alongside the migration adds cost. A large media library with thousands of assets adds time. Custom integrations that need rebuilding from scratch add both. Multi-site setups (one Umbraco install serving several brand sites) sit at the top of the range.

A real example from our work: the most complex v8 migration we shipped was a 240-page multi-site install with three custom integrations and a heavy Nested Content content model. End-to-end it landed in 7 weeks against an 8-week scope, with the redirect map covering 312 legacy URLs. The smallest was a 14-page brochure site that we turned around in 3 weeks. Both used the same nine-step process — the time variance came almost entirely from the audit and content migration steps.

We scope every project individually and give a fixed-price quote where we can. For genuinely complex sites we sometimes propose time-and-materials with a cap.

Common Gotchas

The things that cause the most delays — in our experience:

Nested Content and Grid Editor. Both removed in v14. Sites that lean heavily on these need the most rebuild work. If your editors built complex pages using Nested Content, factor an extra week minimum.

Bespoke member functionality. The Members area was rewritten — custom login, profile, or gating logic needs full review.

Abandoned packages. Some Umbraco 8 packages were never updated for v13/v17. The functionality they provided has to be rebuilt in code.

Editor drift during migration. If editors keep publishing on the live v8 site, a final content sync is needed before go-live. The longer the migration, the more drift you accumulate. We schedule a content freeze in the final 2-3 days.

Hosting assumptions. v8 sites almost always run on Windows/IIS. We move v13/v17 sites to Linux hosting where possible. That means changes to hosting environment, deploy pipeline, and configuration.

URL structure. A migration is a tempting moment to clean up messy URLs. Do that work — but build the redirect map carefully. Miss one and you lose rankings or break bookmarked links. SEO impact can take weeks to recover from.

Should You Just Switch CMS Instead?

Worth asking honestly. If your team has .NET skills and your site genuinely uses Umbraco's strengths — complex content workflows, multi-site management, structured content modelling — upgrading to v17 makes sense.

If you are a smaller business that does not use those features, this migration is a natural moment to consider WordPress or a modern headless CMS. The migration cost is similar; the long-term hosting and maintenance cost may be lower depending on your stack.

We build on Umbraco, WordPress, and headless setups, and we will tell you honestly which is the right fit. There is no point upgrading to v17 if a different platform serves the business better for the next five years.

After Go-Live: Hosting and Ongoing Maintenance

A migrated Umbraco site needs proper ongoing care. We recommend:

• Managed hosting appropriate for a .NET 10 application
• Regular minor version updates (these are straightforward but should not be skipped — Umbraco patches monthly)
• Package updates on a regular schedule
• Security monitoring
• Regular backups with tested restore capability

Our SiteCare plans cover all of this — hosting, security, updates, backups, and a monthly allocation of support minutes for content and technical queries. We build the support into the project from day one rather than treating it as an afterthought.

How Long Does It Take in Total?

For most sites: 4–8 weeks from kick-off to go-live.

The range comes from audit complexity at the start and content volume in the middle. A small site with straightforward Document Types and clean content can move through the process in four weeks. A complex site with heavy Grid Editor usage, custom integrations, and several hundred pages takes eight weeks or longer.

We set realistic timelines at the scoping stage and flag any risks to those timelines early. If a project will run hot, we want to know in week one — not week six.

Getting Started

If you are on Umbraco 8, the conversation starts with an audit. We review your existing site, document what is there, and give you a fixed-price quote for the migration.

We handle the whole project — audit, rebuild, content migration, testing, go-live. Our custom website development service covers Umbraco migrations end-to-end.

Ready to start your Umbraco migration?

Send us the details of your current site and we will come back with a scoped quote. No obligation, no estimate padding — just a clear number based on what your site actually involves.

Start the conversation — or take a look at our custom development service to understand the full scope of what we do.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does an Umbraco 8 to 17 migration take?

Most migrations take 4–8 weeks from project start to go-live. Simple sites under 50 pages with standard templates can be faster. Complex sites with custom integrations, multiple content types, or multi-site setups typically take 8–12 weeks. We provide a fixed timeline during scoping based on the audit.

Should I upgrade to v17 directly or stop at v13 first?

For most v8 sites, v17 is the right end target — it is the current LTS and supported until November 2028. v13 makes sense as a stepping stone for complex sites because the v8-to-v13 path is the best-documented and most-supported by community tooling. From v13, the jump to v17 is comparatively small.

Is it really an upgrade or a rebuild?

In practice, it is closer to a rebuild. Umbraco 8 runs on .NET Framework 4.x. Umbraco 17 runs on .NET 10. The data layer, templates, and configuration all need rewriting. Your content can be migrated, but the codebase cannot simply be patched forward.

Should I upgrade to Umbraco 17 or switch to a different CMS entirely?

If your team has .NET skills and your site uses Umbraco's structured-content strengths, upgrading to v17 makes sense. If you are a smaller business that does not need those features, the migration moment is a natural opportunity to consider WordPress or a modern headless CMS. We will give you an honest recommendation based on your situation.

What about hosting? My v8 site runs on Windows IIS.

v13 and v17 run on .NET 10, which is cross-platform. We typically move sites to Linux hosting during the migration. This usually means lower running costs, faster deploys, and better tooling support. We include the hosting transition in the project scope.

Related Reading

• Umbraco 8 End of Life: What UK Businesses Need to Do Now
• Umbraco vs WordPress: Which CMS Should Your Business Use?
• Should You Upgrade Your Umbraco Website?
• Umbraco Development Costs in the UK
• CMS Comparison Guide