Drupal development services cover planning, building, migrating and extending websites on Drupal, the open-source PHP content management system used by universities, public bodies, nonprofits, publishers and large companies. We build new Drupal 11 sites, move older Drupal sites onto a supported version, write custom themes and modules, and connect Drupal to CRMs, single sign-on and other business systems. You get a site your editors can run without a developer, code in your own repository, and a clear plan for keeping Drupal updated after launch.
Drupal is one of the platforms in our wider web development services. It is not the right choice for every site, and we will say so if WordPress, Webflow or a headless CMS fits you better. Where Drupal shines is structured content at scale: many content types, many editors with different permissions, several languages and approval workflows.
What Is Drupal, and When Is It the Right CMS?
Drupal is a free, open-source CMS written in PHP that stores content as structured types and fields rather than as free-form pages. Its core includes granular roles and permissions, multilingual support, content moderation workflows, a Views query builder, Layout Builder for page design, and a JSON:API for sending content to other apps. Drupal CMS, a ready-to-use edition with recipes for common features, launched in early 2025 to make new sites quicker to set up.
| Your requirement | Drupal | WordPress |
|---|---|---|
| Many content types with structured fields and relationships | Built for it in core | Possible with custom post types and plugins |
| Fine-grained permissions for many editor roles | Detailed permissions in core | Basic roles, extended by plugins |
| Multilingual content | Four language modules in core | Plugin required |
| Draft, review and publish workflows | Content Moderation and Workflows in core | Plugin required |
| A small marketing site with a few editors | Usually more than you need | Often the simpler choice |
| Availability of developers and lower build cost | Smaller, more specialized talent pool | Very large talent pool |
If your site is mainly a marketing site or blog, our WordPress development team is likely a better fit.
Our Drupal Development Services
- Drupal website development. New Drupal 11 sites, from content model and design through to launch and editor training.
- Drupal theme development. Custom themes built with Twig and component-based front ends, designed in Figma first and tested for accessibility. Our Drupal theme development services page covers themes in detail.
- Drupal module development. Custom modules for business rules, integrations and editor tools that contributed modules do not cover. See Drupal module development.
- Drupal migrations. Drupal 7 to Drupal 11 rebuilds with content migration, upgrades from Drupal 8, 9 and 10, and moves from WordPress or other CMSs to Drupal.
- Integrations. CRMs such as Salesforce and HubSpot, single sign-on through SAML or OpenID Connect, payment providers, search services and internal systems.
- Decoupled Drupal. Drupal as the content backend with a Next.js or React front end, connected through JSON:API or GraphQL.
- Drupal consulting and audits. A review of an existing site covering module health, custom code, security updates, performance, accessibility and SEO, with a ranked action list.
- Drupal maintenance. Core and module updates, security advisories, backups and small changes on a monthly plan, through our Drupal maintenance services.
Drupal 7 to Drupal 11 Migration
Drupal 7 reached end of life on January 5, 2025, so sites still running it no longer receive security fixes from the Drupal Security Team. Moving from Drupal 7 is not a simple upgrade. Drupal 8 and later were rebuilt on a different architecture, so a Drupal 7 site needs a new theme and a content migration. Upgrades from Drupal 8, 9 or 10 to Drupal 11 are much smaller, because the architecture stayed the same.
| Starting point | What the move involves | Typical timeline |
|---|---|---|
| Drupal 7 | New Drupal 11 build, content model review, new theme, content migrated with the Migrate API, URLs and redirects preserved | 2 to 6 months depending on size |
| Drupal 8 or 9 | Step through supported versions, replace abandoned modules, fix deprecated code with Upgrade Status and Drupal Rector | 3 to 8 weeks |
| Drupal 10 | Update custom code and contributed modules for Drupal 11 compatibility, test and deploy | 1 to 4 weeks |
| WordPress or another CMS | Content model design, migration scripts, redirects and editor training | 2 to 5 months |
Every migration includes a URL map, 301 redirects through the Redirect module, Pathauto patterns that match your old URLs where possible, and metadata carried over with Metatag. Large sites benefit from planning alongside our SEO migration services, so search visibility is protected at launch.
How Our Drupal Development Company Runs a Build
- Discovery and content modeling (2 to 3 weeks). We interview editors, audit existing content and design the content types, fields, taxonomies, roles and workflows. You get a written content model and a fixed quote for the build.
- Design (2 to 4 weeks). Page templates and reusable components are designed in Figma, mapped to the content model so every design element has a field behind it.
- Theme and site building (4 to 10 weeks). We build the theme in Twig as components, configure content types, Views and Layout Builder or Paragraphs, and write any custom modules. You review progress on a staging site every two weeks.
- Content migration (in parallel). Migration scripts run repeatedly against staging, so the final import at launch is a rehearsed step, not an experiment.
- Testing and accessibility (1 to 2 weeks). Functional testing for every role, performance checks, and accessibility testing against WCAG 2.2 AA with automated tools and manual keyboard and screen reader checks.
- Launch and training. We deploy, set up redirects, monitoring and backups, and train your editors with short recorded guides for each content type.
Content Modeling: The Drupal Development Step Most Projects Rush
The content model decides how easy your Drupal site is to run for the next five years. When it is rushed, editors end up pasting everything into a single body field, Views cannot filter content properly, and every redesign means rewriting content by hand.
- Content types and fields. An event has a date, a venue and a booking link as separate fields, not as text in a paragraph. That lets you list upcoming events automatically and show them in search results with structured data.
- Taxonomies. Topics, departments and locations are shared vocabularies, so content can be filtered and linked across the site.
- Reusable components. Layout Builder or Paragraphs give editors a set of approved building blocks, such as a call to action, a staff list or an FAQ, without letting them break the design.
- Media. Images, documents and videos are stored as reusable media items with alt text and usage rights recorded once.
- Roles and workflows. Who can draft, review, publish and archive each type of content is set in the model, not left to a policy document.
Drupal Development Tools and Modules We Use
| Category | Tools |
|---|---|
| Core tooling | Composer, Drush, DDEV for local environments, Git, configuration management with exported YAML |
| Theming | Twig, Single Directory Components, Sass or Tailwind CSS, Storybook for component previews |
| Page building | Layout Builder, Paragraphs, Media Library |
| SEO and URLs | Pathauto, Redirect, Metatag, Simple XML Sitemap, Schema.org Metatag |
| Search | Search API with Apache Solr, or Drupal's database search for smaller sites |
| Workflow and access | Content Moderation, Workflows, roles and permissions |
| Decoupled | JSON:API, GraphQL module, Next.js |
| Quality | PHPUnit, PHPStan with the Drupal extension, Upgrade Status, Drupal Rector, axe accessibility checks |
| Hosting | Acquia, Pantheon, AWS, DigitalOcean |
Drupal Hosting: Managed Platforms or Your Own Cloud
Drupal runs on any server with PHP and a database, but how it is hosted changes how safely you can deploy. There are two common routes.
- Managed Drupal platforms such as Acquia and Pantheon. They provide development, test and live environments, one-click backups and a deployment workflow designed for Drupal. They suit organizations that want a well-trodden process and vendor support.
- Your own cloud account on AWS or DigitalOcean. More control and often a lower monthly bill for simple sites, but the deployment pipeline, backups, caching and server updates need to be set up and maintained by your team or ours.
Either way, the hosting account is opened in your organization's name. We recommend a route during discovery based on your traffic, budget and who will look after the servers.
Decoupled Drupal Development Services
In a decoupled setup, Drupal manages content and permissions while a separate front end, usually Next.js, renders the site. It suits organizations that publish the same content to a website, an app and other channels, or that want a very fast front end. The trade-offs are real: two codebases to maintain, editor preview that needs extra setup, and some Drupal features such as Layout Builder that do not carry over directly. We only recommend it when the benefits are clear. For wider options, see our headless CMS development page.
Drupal Deliverables and What a Healthy Launch Looks Like
- A Drupal 11 codebase managed with Composer in your Git repository, with configuration exported so every environment matches.
- A documented content model, roles and workflows.
- A custom theme with a component library your developers can reuse.
- Migration scripts, a URL map and redirect list for any site we replaced.
- Editor guides and recorded training sessions for each role.
- Monitoring, backups and an update plan for core and contributed modules.
We measure the launch on things the build controls: page speed on real devices, accessibility test results, redirects that resolve correctly, editors able to publish without help, and security updates applied on time. We do not promise traffic or rankings.
Drupal Development Pricing
Drupal builds are fixed-price projects quoted after discovery. The main cost drivers are the number of page templates and content types, custom modules, integrations, languages, the volume of content to migrate, and accessibility requirements. Migrations from Drupal 7 and large builds are quoted individually because their scope varies so much. Updates after launch run on a monthly maintenance plan.
Drupal Starter
$4,500 one-time
One-time, 50% upfront
- Drupal 11 site with up to 10 pages
- Customized base theme styled to your brand
- Up to 3 content types (pages, news, team)
- Webforms, Pathauto, Metatag and XML sitemap set up
- Editor roles and CMS training
- 30 days support
- 3 to 5 weeks
Drupal Business
$9,500 one-time
One-time, 50% upfront
- Up to 25 page templates designed in Figma
- Custom Drupal theme
- Layout Builder or Paragraphs so editors build pages
- Up to 8 content types with Views listings and search
- WCAG 2.2 AA accessibility pass
- Multilingual-ready, GA4 and schema
- 60 days support, 6 to 9 weeks
Drupal Enterprise or Migration
From $18,000 project
One-time, milestone billing
- Drupal 7, 8 or 9 to Drupal 11 migration, or a large new build
- Content migrated with URLs and SEO kept
- CRM, SSO or ERP integrations
- Editorial workflows, approvals and revisions
- Multisite or headless options
- 90 days support
All prices in USD. Need something different? Ask for a custom quote.
For a project that does not match these plans, send us your current site and goals and we will reply with a custom quote.
Drupal Agency, Freelance Drupal Developer or In-House Team?
| Option | Works well when | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Freelance Drupal developer | You need a defined module, fix or upgrade on a site that is otherwise in good shape. | Availability, and gaps in design, accessibility or migration skills. |
| In-house Drupal developer | Your site changes every week and Drupal is central to your operations. | Drupal specialists are harder to hire than general PHP developers. |
| Drupal development agency | You need content modeling, design, build, migration and support from one accountable team. | Agencies that install dozens of contributed modules to save time, leaving you a heavy site to maintain. |
A Drupal developer's day is mostly site building, theming in Twig, writing custom modules in PHP, managing configuration and keeping core and modules updated. Ask any agency or freelancer how they handle each of those, and how they deploy changes without editing the live site.
Common Drupal Site Problems We Fix
- Too many contributed modules. Each one adds update work and risk. We remove modules that duplicate core features or are no longer maintained.
- Business logic in the theme. Code that belongs in a module ends up in theme files, so a redesign breaks features. We move it where it belongs.
- Configuration changed on the live site. When settings are edited in production and never exported, the next deployment overwrites them. We set up a proper configuration workflow.
- Skipped security updates. The Drupal Security Team publishes advisories on a regular schedule. Sites that miss them carry known risks.
- Everything in one body field. We restructure content into fields so it can be filtered, reused and marked up with structured data.
Organizations That Rely on Drupal Development Services
Drupal fits organizations where content governance matters as much as design. Universities run department and faculty sites with separate editors. Government and public bodies need accessibility, audit trails and multilingual content. Nonprofits manage campaigns, events and donation pages with several teams. Publishers and membership organizations need structured content, paywalls or gated areas, and complex search. Healthcare providers maintain large directories of services, locations and practitioners. In each case the value comes from Drupal's content structure and permissions, not from the platform name.
Why Choose 95 Solutions for Drupal Development
- Content systems are our own daily work. We run our own custom PHP CMS for Boiler Decoder and this website, so content modeling, publishing workflows and structured data are problems we solve on our own sites.
- Senior-led. Mustafa, our founder, holds a BS in Computer Science and leads every engagement, from the content model to launch.
- Development and SEO in one team. Migrations are planned with redirects, metadata and structured data from the start.
- You own everything. Repository, hosting and accounts sit in your organization's name, with contracts and invoices in USD from our US LLC and hours that cover the US business day and overlap UK hours.
Who Our Drupal Web Development Services Suit
A good fit
- Organizations still on Drupal 7, or on Drupal 9 or 10 and planning the move to Drupal 11.
- Sites with many content types, editors, languages or approval steps.
- Teams that need Drupal connected to a CRM, single sign-on or internal systems.
- Existing Drupal sites that have become slow, fragile or hard to update.
Probably not a fit
- A small brochure site with one or two editors. WordPress, Webflow or Squarespace will cost less to build and run.
- Online stores whose main job is selling products. A dedicated ecommerce platform usually serves you better.
- Projects with no budget for ongoing security updates after launch.
Where Drupal Development Connects to Our Other CMS Services
Drupal projects often connect to wider CMS work. Our CMS migration services cover moves between platforms, our enterprise CMS development team handles larger multi-site and governance needs, and the Drupal module development and Drupal theme development pages go deeper on custom code.