Outgrowing WordPress's content model, or needing capabilities another CMS offers natively, sometimes justifies a full platform migration. This guide covers the general process and key pitfalls.
Before Migrating: Confirm It's Genuinely Necessary
WordPress's vast plugin ecosystem can often solve problems that seem to require switching platforms — thoroughly explore whether your specific need can be met within WordPress before committing to the significant effort of a full migration.
Step 1 — Audit Your Current Content Structure
Document every content type, custom field, taxonomy, and relationship in your current WordPress site — this becomes your blueprint for recreating equivalent structures in the new CMS.
Step 2 — Export Content from WordPress
wp export --dir=/tmp/wp-export/WordPress's native export produces XML; depending on your target CMS, you may need a more structured export (via a dedicated migration plugin, or a custom script querying the WordPress database directly for more control).
Step 3 — Map Content Types to the New CMS's Structure
Different CMS platforms model content differently (WordPress's posts/pages vs Drupal's content types, or Craft's fully custom sections) — carefully map each WordPress content type to its equivalent structure in the destination platform.
Step 4 — Handle Media Files
rsync -avz wp-content/uploads/ /path/to/new/cms/media/Plan for updating internal references to media URLs, since the new CMS likely uses a different media storage/URL structure.
Step 5 — Preserve SEO Value with Redirects
URL structures almost always change between platforms — build a complete redirect map from old WordPress URLs to their new equivalents, preserving search engine rankings and preventing broken inbound links. See the Redirect Mapping concepts covered in general SEO migration guidance.
Step 6 — Migrate Users and Authentication
Decide how existing user accounts (if applicable) will transition — often requiring a password reset flow for all users post-migration, since password hashes typically aren't portable between different CMS platforms.
Step 7 — Rebuild Theme/Design
Templates and themes are rarely portable between CMS platforms — budget significant time for rebuilding the site's design and templates in the new platform's templating system.
Step 8 — Test Extensively on Staging First
Never perform a CMS migration directly on a production domain — fully build and test the new site on a staging subdomain, verifying all content, functionality, and redirects work correctly before cutover.
Step 9 — Plan the Cutover Carefully
See How to Migrate an E-commerce Store to a New VPS Without Downtime for general low-downtime migration principles, applicable to any CMS migration, not just e-commerce specifically.
Common Pitfalls
See Common CMS Migration Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them for a dedicated breakdown of the most frequent mistakes in this process.
Common Errors
SEO rankings drop significantly after migration — almost always caused by missing or incorrect redirects; verify every previously-indexed URL has a correct redirect to its new equivalent.
Continue Reading
- Common CMS Migration Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them
- Choosing the Right CMS for Your Project: WordPress vs Drupal vs Joomla vs Craft
- How to Migrate an E-commerce Store to a New VPS Without Downtime
Browse more articles in CMS Platforms Beyond WordPress.
