Note: This article was last updated on January 31, 2018 and may contain outdated information.
If your site is still running Craft 2, the short answer is yes, you absolutely need to upgrade. Not eventually, not when you get around to it, but soon.
Craft 2 reached end of life in January 2018. That’s over seven years without security patches, bug fixes, or any form of support from Pixel & Tonic. For context, that’s roughly equivalent to running Windows XP in 2025.
Why This Matters
Security vulnerabilities are discovered in software constantly. When Craft 3 was released, the development team didn’t just add new features, they also addressed security issues that had been found in Craft 2. Without updates, your site remains exposed to known vulnerabilities that malicious actors can exploit.
This isn’t hypothetical scaremongering. Sites running outdated CMS versions are actively targeted because they represent soft targets. Once a vulnerability becomes public knowledge, it’s only a matter of time before automated scanners start probing for it across the web.
The Upgrade Path
Moving from Craft 2 to a current version (Craft 4 or 5) isn’t a simple plugin update. It requires planning and careful migration. The content structure and templating approaches have evolved significantly. Custom plugins built for Craft 2 will need updating or replacing.
That said, the upgrade is worthwhile. Modern Craft versions offer substantial improvements: better performance, more flexible content modelling, GraphQL support, improved asset management, and a significantly enhanced control panel experience. Your content authors will appreciate the improvements as much as your developers.
What About Hosting?
Another consideration: hosting providers are increasingly dropping support for the PHP versions that Craft 2 requires. PHP 5.6 (which Craft 2 runs on) reached end of life in December 2018. Finding quality hosting for such outdated technology becomes progressively harder and more expensive.
Getting Help
Migrating from Craft 2 requires expertise in both legacy and modern Craft versions. We’ve helped numerous clients make this transition, navigating the technical challenges whilst ensuring content and functionality transfer correctly.
If you’re running Craft 2, reach out to us. We can assess your current setup, explain what the migration involves, and provide a clear plan for getting your site onto a supported, secure platform. It’s considerably easier to plan this migration on your own timeline than to scramble after a security incident.