Why should you upgrade your site to Craft CMS 5?

Your website is an important part of how your organisation communicates, generates enquiries and delivers services. While the design and content are what visitors see, the technology behind the website also needs ongoing attention.

Craft CMS 5 introduces a more modern technical foundation, stronger security and significant improvements to the way website content is organised and managed.

For organisations currently using an older version of Craft, upgrading is not simply about installing the latest software. It is about keeping your website secure, supported and ready to evolve.

Keep your website secure and supported

Older versions of Craft CMS, PHP and third-party plugins eventually stop receiving regular updates. This can make security issues harder to address and may cause problems with newer hosting environments, browsers or integrations.

Upgrading to Craft 5 helps your website continue to benefit from:

• Craft CMS security and maintenance updates
• Compatible plugin updates
• Modern PHP and hosting environments
• Ongoing bug fixes and stability improvements
• Support from the wider Craft development community

Craft 5 also includes built-in two-step verification and passkey support, giving organisations stronger control over access to the website’s control panel.

No platform can remove every possible security risk, but keeping the CMS and its underlying technology up to date is an important part of responsible website maintenance.

Make content easier to manage

Craft 5 introduces several improvements designed to make everyday content management quicker and more intuitive.

Depending on how your website is configured, editors can benefit from:

• Better organisation of flexible content blocks
• Searchable and grouped content types
• Easier rearranging of page sections
• Improved management of nested content
• Bulk duplication and removal of selected blocks
• Faster search and filtering tools
• Improved drafting and live previews

These changes are particularly useful for larger websites or pages made up of several different content sections. Editors can work more efficiently without navigating one long or difficult editing screen.

Reuse content more effectively

Craft 5 provides stronger options for copying, duplicating and reusing structured content.

Reusable content types can help teams maintain consistency across areas such as:

• Testimonials
• Team profiles
• Calls to action
• Related services
• Downloads and resources
• Case study information

Rather than recreating the same content structures repeatedly, they can be configured once and reused where appropriate. This saves time and reduces the likelihood of inconsistent content across the website.

Improve content workflows

Craft 5 can make it easier to create and manage related content without leaving the page currently being edited.

For example, an editor may be able to create a new category, related page or supporting item directly from an article editing screen. This reduces unnecessary movement between different areas of the control panel.

Improved bulk-editing tools can also allow authorised users to update multiple entries from a content listing rather than opening each one individually.

Manage links and media more reliably

Craft 5 introduced a dedicated Link field that provides a clearer way to manage:

• Internal pages
• External websites
• Email addresses
• Telephone numbers
• Files and downloads
• Categories and related content

This reduces the risk of incorrectly formatted links and helps editors select the right type of destination.

Teams working with media can also preview audio and video files from within the control panel, making it easier to confirm that the correct file has been selected.

Create and review content more safely

Craft’s draft and live-preview tools allow content teams to review changes before publishing them.

In Craft 5, changes to nested content can remain part of the parent page’s draft. This means editors can update several areas of a page, preview the full result and publish everything together once it has been reviewed.

This provides a safer and more controlled workflow, particularly for complex pages or content that requires internal approval.

Benefit from modern plugin compatibility

Most Craft websites use plugins to provide functionality such as forms, ecommerce, search, redirects, image optimisation and CRM integrations.

When a website remains on an older Craft version, its plugins may also need to remain outdated. Over time, these versions may stop receiving updates or become incompatible with modern server environments.

An upgrade allows existing plugins to be reviewed and moved to supported versions where available. It is also an opportunity to remove unused plugins, replace abandoned tools and identify functionality that is now available directly within Craft.

Create a stronger foundation for future development

Websites rarely remain static. New services are introduced, campaigns are launched and user expectations change.

Craft 5 provides a flexible foundation that can support future developments such as:

• Campaign and service landing pages
• Improved search and filtering
• CRM and email marketing integrations
• Ecommerce and online payments
• Member or customer portals
• Multilingual content
• Mobile app integrations
• AI-powered website assistants
• Interactive tools and calculators

Your organisation may not need these features immediately, but upgrading makes it easier to introduce them when the need arises.

Review performance and reliability

Website performance depends on more than the CMS alone. Hosting, plugins, caching, image optimisation and third-party services all have an impact.

A Craft 5 upgrade provides an opportunity to review the wider technical setup, including:

• Server and PHP versions
• Installed plugins
• Outdated or deprecated code
• Caching and performance settings
• Image processing
• Background tasks
• Third-party integrations
• Application and error logs

An upgrade will not automatically make every website faster, but it creates an opportunity to identify and address technical issues that may be affecting performance or reliability.

An upgrade does not mean a redesign

Upgrading Craft CMS does not necessarily mean changing how your website looks.

In many cases, the existing design and content can remain largely unchanged while the CMS, plugins, server environment and underlying code are modernised.

However, the upgrade can also be a useful opportunity to review smaller improvements, such as:

• Refreshing the homepage
• Simplifying an important user journey
• Improving calls to action
• Reviewing website messaging
• Improving forms or enquiry processes
• Making content easier for your team to maintain

These improvements can be considered separately, allowing the scope to reflect your priorities and available budget.