Kentico to Drupal Migration

MIGRATION RISK ASSESSMENT

Every migration risk, already solved

Migration between platforms is full of edge cases. Our engineers have identified every risk from Kentico to Drupal and built proven solutions for each one.

High complexity

Pages (CMS_Tree / CMS_Document)

Every page requires a multi-table JOIN across at least three SQL Server tables, and the hierarchical tree structure must be manually reconstructed as flat Drupal nodes with separate menu or taxonomy relationships.

Solved
Coupled Page Type Fields

Each custom Kentico page type stores its fields in a uniquely named coupled data table, requiring individual schema analysis and a separate Migrate API YAML configuration per content type.

Solved
Page Builder Layouts

The Page Builder widget payload stored in DocumentPageBuilderWidgets is a proprietary JSON structure with no Drupal equivalent, meaning layout content cannot be automatically migrated and must be manually redesigned.

Solved

Custom engineering

Media Files and Attachments

Attachments stored in CMS_Attachment require individual fetches by GUID, and files stored in Azure Blob Storage or the filesystem add a separate binary transfer step that the REST API cannot handle in bulk.

Handled
Multilingual Content

Kentico stores one CMS_Document row per language per node, so multilingual sites require language-aware SQL extraction and Drupal's content translation system must be configured before migration runs execute.

Handled
URL Aliases and Redirects

Kentico's NodeAliasPath defines URL structure through the content tree, but Drupal does not inherit this automatically, requiring explicit mapping of alias patterns and a redirect import to preserve inbound links and SEO equity.

Handled
Users and Roles

Kentico's role and membership model differs from Drupal's permission system, requiring manual role mapping and password hashing translation since Kentico's password hashes are incompatible with Drupal's authentication layer.

Handled
Workflow and Publishing States

Kentico's workflow steps and document publishing states do not have a direct schema equivalent in Drupal's Content Moderation module, requiring manual state mapping and validation before go-live to avoid unintended public content exposure.

Handled

Clean transfer

Taxonomy Terms

Kentico categories and taxonomy can be extracted as flat SQL records and loaded into Drupal taxonomy vocabularies using a straightforward Migrate API configuration, but must be migrated before any dependent node migrations run.

Clean
Metadata Fields (SEO)

DocumentPageTitle and DocumentPageDescription are discrete columns in CMS_Document and map cleanly to Drupal's Metatag module fields via simple Migrate API process plugin assignments.

Clean

Feature / Criteria	ClonePartner	Automated Tools	CSV Import	In-house migration
Custom Scripting for complex data	✓ Engineers build & maintain	✗ No	⚠ Manual	✓ Yes – but costly
Sandbox & Pilot Migrations	✓ Full sandbox + pilot plans	⚠ Limited	✗ No	⚠ Often Informal
Manual validation & reconciliation	✓ Automated + manual QA	✗ No	✓ Yes (Manual)	✓ Heavy manual effort
Backup & rollback plan	✓ Robust procedures	✗ No	✗ No	⚠ Often incomplete
Handles automation and integrations	✓ Full support	⚠ Partial	✗ No	⚠ Possible but fragmented
Post-migration engineer support	✓ Dedicated engineers	✗ No	✗ No	⚠ Limited support
Adaptable to API changes	✓ Proactive adaptation	✗ No	⚠ Manual fixes	⚠ Slower response
Turnaround / timeline predictability	✓ Predictable timelines	⚠ Fast but brittle	⚠ Slow and manual	⚠ Often slower
Data Security & Compliance	✓ High – enterprise grade	⚠ Medium (depends)	⚠ Low (manual)	⚠ Hidden gaps common
Pricing predictability	✓ Transparent & fixed	⚠ Low (per-job)	⚠ Low (manual hours)	⚠ High/variable OPEX
End-to-end project management	✓ Full E2E delivery & PM	✗ No	✗ No	⚠ Often partial
Business impact & opportunity cost	✓ No diversion of staff	✗ No	✗ No	⚠ Diverts engineering

What does an Engineer-led migration mean anyway?

Speed & Accuracy: Our Blended Method

We blend automation (smart scripts, bulk APIs) with human expertise for speed without risk. Our engineers manually check every mapping, validation, and exception.

You get:

Speed of automation for bulk record migration
Precision of engineers verifying integrity and business logic
Pilot migrations and sandbox testing to catch issues early
Real-time validation reports and rollback readiness

Result: 50x faster migrations than manual imports — with near-zero error rates.

Handling the Tricky Tech and API Details

The Kentico and Drupal APIs each behave differently, which is where our engineers shine. We build custom logic to handle the data quirks where generic tools typically break.

We handcraft API logic for:

Field mapping and transformation
Pagination, rate-limit handling, and throttling
Preserving content relationships, media, and revision history
Syncing custom fields, taxonomies, and templates without breaking structure

Our scripts: Natively retry failed calls, re-queue large attachments, and ensure data parity.

No Guesswork

We don't just promise smooth migrations—we measure and prove them. Every client receives a Migration Validation Report with all metrics.

Typical results across projects:

100% record-count parity between your Kentico data and Drupal
Zero downtime during staged cutovers
99.9% attachment integrity (verified via checksum)
Full automation and preservation of all business rules

Our standard: Includes full SEO and redirect preservation and 30 days of engineer-assigned support post go-live.

We Adapt to Your Setup (Not the Other Way Around)

No two teams configure Kentico or Drupal exactly the same way—with unique content models and data. We customize every migration script to fit your exact workflow, taxonomies, and templates.

Our engineers adapt for:

Custom fields, content types, and workflows
Multi-site or multi-language setups
Historical imports and partial (date-based) migrations
Integration re-mapping for search, analytics, or forms tools

The promise: If your data doesn't fit a standard template, we build one just for you.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Everything you need to know about migrating from Kentico to Drupal. Can't find what you're looking for? Talk to our team.

Kentico → Drupal 4 Before you start 4 Data & mapping 7 Timeline & downtime 2 Security & access 1 Pricing 1 After go-live 5

Still have questions?

Book a free 30-minute consultation with our team.

Contact our team

Kentico → Drupal

4 questions

Which Kentico entities don't migrate cleanly to Drupal, and what do we need to do about them?

Four entity types land in Drupal through workarounds rather than direct equivalents. URL redirects and aliases map to Drupal's Path Alias, but redirect rules map better to the Redirect contributed module, which must be installed before migration. Page attachments are stored as Drupal File entities and linked via a field, so the field must exist on the target content type first. Kentico headless Content Items have no native counterpart in Drupal and are mapped to standard Nodes, meaning any headless-specific delivery logic must be rebuilt separately. Web parts and widgets are partially replicated as Drupal Custom Blocks, but because widget configuration is tightly coupled to .NET code it cannot be ported. Layout and behavior must be reconfigured by hand in Drupal after the data lands.

Does the Kentico version matter, and which API does ClonePartner use to read the source data?

Yes, the API surface differs significantly across versions. Xperience by Kentico (the current SaaS-first product) has the most complete REST Management API. Kentico Xperience 13 and earlier rely heavily on the .NET CMS.DataEngine for bulk operations rather than REST, which affects how data is extracted. Versions 12 and older are already out of Kentico's support, and Kentico Xperience 13 itself reaches end of all support on 1 January 2027, so the scoping call will confirm which extraction path applies to your specific version and instance configuration.

What happens to Kentico form submissions during migration: can they be moved to Drupal Webform?

Kentico BizForms map to Drupal Webform and form submissions map to Webform Submission entities, but there is a significant extraction constraint on the Kentico side: form submission data is not accessible via the standard public API and requires either direct database access or a custom endpoint on the source instance. ClonePartner scopes this during the discovery call to confirm what access is available; without database-level or custom API access, submission records cannot be read from Kentico and the migration scope would need to be adjusted.

Will all our Kentico users and passwords carry over to Drupal?

User accounts, roles, and role assignments migrate directly from Kentico to Drupal. Passwords do not transfer: Kentico does not expose password hashes through its API, and Drupal stores passwords in its own hashing format that cannot accept plaintext values even if they were available. Every migrated user will need to perform a password reset in Drupal before they can log in, so a post-cutover communication plan for your user base is a required step in the project.

Before you start

4 questions

Do I need professional help for this migration?

Yes. Professional help ensures proper field mapping and preservation of relationships between records. Our engineer-led approach catches edge cases that automated tools miss.

Does ClonePartner provide guidance before committing?

Yes. We provide a free consultation and assessment. We'll review your data structure, discuss your requirements, and provide a detailed migration plan and fixed-price quote before you commit to anything.

Do you use an off-the-shelf tool to migrate from Kentico to Drupal, or is this built for our data?

It is built for your data. Each migration is a set of custom scripts written for your data model, not a generic import tool. That is also why we start with a sample migration: you see your own records in Drupal before the full migration is committed.

Can we see a sample of our Kentico data migrated to Drupal before the full migration runs?

Yes. We run a sample migration on your own data first, so you can review how your records look in Drupal before the full migration goes ahead. We run validation scripts to confirm the record counts match your source, and you check the sample against your source records; if a field is missing or mapped wrong, or anything else needs adjusting, we fix it in the migration scripts and re-run the sample as many times as you need. The full migration only runs after you've approved the sample. On projects delivered in phases, each phase gets its own sample migration for you to approve.

Data & mapping

7 questions

Will original ownership, authorship and created dates be preserved?

Yes. Created-time metadata is carried across, and ownership and authorship are carried across where the original users are set up in Drupal. Where Drupal cannot store one of them natively, it is kept as embedded metadata on the migrated record.

If the new system can't natively support an old record type, what are my options?

We handle it case by case. While mapping your data, we identify every record type without a direct counterpart in Drupal, review sample records from it and propose how it can be represented, based on what Drupal supports: map it to the closest native object, create a custom field or object, fold it into the parent record as text or a note, attach it as a file, or keep it in a read-only archive. You choose the approach, we write the migration scripts to place the data there, so it comes across in the form you choose instead of being left behind, and you see how it looks in a sample migration before we run the full set.

We've built custom modules and integrations on Kentico. Can you migrate their content to Drupal?

We migrate the content and data your custom modules hold, as long as it can be read from Kentico programmatically. Every migration we run is written as custom code for that project rather than pushed through an off-the-shelf tool, so unusual module data is not a blocker. During scoping we review each custom module and integration with you and agree how it will be handled before any work is committed.

Will the migration set off automations or send emails or notifications to customers, our team or anyone else?

No. Before the sample or full migration starts, we confirm with you that nothing in Drupal will send messages about the migrated data: we import with notifications switched off wherever Drupal allows it, and either pause any automation that could send them for the migration window or give it a condition, such as a suppression tag, that skips migrated records, which lets your live automations keep running for new records. We only proceed once you have confirmed it. If you want anyone told about the move, that message is sent separately, once the migrated data has been checked.

Can you migrate data that Drupal can't take in through an API?

In many cases, yes. Where something can't be written through an API, we recreate it through Drupal's user interface where the interface allows it, and where that work is repetitive we script and automate it. We tell you up front which items are handled this way, because recreating them through the interface can add time to the schedule.

What happens if Drupal requires fields our Kentico data doesn't have?

We check the destination for required fields your source data cannot fill and bring each one to you before those records are migrated. Together we agree how each one is handled, such as a mapping from an existing field, a default value, or, where Drupal lets that field be made optional, setting it to not required for the migration so you can make it required again once the migration is complete. The migration then runs with that rule applied, so no records are rejected or left behind.

Can you change our URL structure when we move from Kentico to Drupal, such as moving a blog or docs from a subdomain onto our main domain?

Yes, where Drupal and your site's front end support the structure you want. Each page is created in Drupal by the migration, so it can be given its new address, for example a blog moved from a subdomain to a path on your main domain, and you get a map of every old URL to its new one so redirects can be set up from the old addresses wherever they are served.

Timeline & downtime

2 questions

How long does the Kentico to Drupal migration take?

Most migrations complete within 1–5 business days, depending on data volume and complexity; very large migrations, such as several hundred thousand records, take longer. We provide a detailed timeline after the initial assessment and can often complete small migrations in under 24 hours.

Will there be downtime when migrating from Kentico to Drupal?

No. Our migration process is designed for zero downtime. Kentico stays fully operational throughout: the bulk migration runs in the background and the cutover is fast, so there is no disruption to your live business operations.

Security & access

1 question

Can we whitelist a single IP instead of opening our network to your migration tool?

Yes. All migration traffic runs through a centralized system using one fixed IP, which your IT team can whitelist instead of opening broader network access.

Pricing

1 question

Is migration pricing a flat fee, or does it scale with data volume?

It's a flat fee with no hidden costs. The price we agree with you for your scope is the price you pay, and small variances in the final volume, a bit more or less, are included.

After go-live

5 questions

How do I validate that everything migrated correctly?

Every client receives a Migration Validation Report with comprehensive metrics including record-count comparison, attachment integrity verification via checksum, and full audit logs of the migration run, showing every record created, skipped or failed. If any item didn't come across, the report names each one, the specific reason, and how to bring it across if you want it there. We also offer unlimited sample migrations, so you can check your data before the full migration runs.

What support do you provide after the migration goes live?

At ClonePartner, we consider ourselves your partners in this journey. We take full accountability for your migration's success. Once your migration goes live, we provide 30 days of comprehensive post-migration support as standard, and longer support, such as 60 or 90 days, can be agreed for your project. During this period, we help with anything related to your migrated data, so your migration is a complete success.

Will we get a migration report and a mapping sheet linking old record IDs to new ones?

Yes. We provide a comprehensive migration report along with an ID-mapping sheet that links each old Kentico record ID to its new ID in Drupal. This ensures full traceability, simplifies post-migration verification, and helps your team validate that records have been migrated accurately.

After migration, do I contact ClonePartner or the platform's own support if something looks wrong?

ClonePartner is the contact for anything about the migrated data itself. Questions about the platform itself, such as how its features and settings work, go to the platform's own support or to whoever administers it for you.

Will our existing Kentico page URLs and links keep working after we move to Drupal?

They can, through redirects and link rewriting. Links between your own pages are updated to point at their new URLs as part of the migration, and the files and images your pages use are re-hosted on Drupal, wherever it can host them, with their links rewritten. For every old URL we give you a map to its new address, so redirects can be set up where your site is served and old bookmarks, search results and external links open the right page.

Migrate from Kentico to Drupal with precision & ease

Why teams migrate from Kentico to Drupal

What makes this migration complex

No Native Migration Path

Three-Table Content Extraction

Tree Hierarchy to Flat Nodes

Page Type to Content Type Remapping

Page Builder Widget Translation

Chained Migration Dependency Order

Intelligent Human-Verified Data Mapping

Every migration risk, already solved

Real migration stories

Fully customizable engineer-led migration

Your timeline. Our engineers.

Your Kentico to Drupal migration, step by step

Pros and cons of different migration options