Umbraco to WordPress migration: Planning for a successful transition
Migrating from Umbraco to WordPress is more than a technical task, it’s a strategic opportunity to enhance how your site works, how your teams collaborate, and how your platform supports future growth.
In this section, we break down the planning phase into practical, manageable steps, so your team enters the migration phase with clarity and confidence.
Start with a complete system assessment
Before any migration begins, it’s essential to evaluate what’s already in place and how it needs to change. This assessment helps prevent surprises down the line and ensures every critical detail is accounted for.
Audit your current system
Begin by analyzing your existing Umbraco setup, both on the surface and under the hood. Two key areas to examine are:
- Content structure: Map your navigation, page hierarchy, and URL structure. This will help guide the structure of your WordPress site, ensuring that critical relationships and flows are retained.
- Custom functionality: Identify anything built beyond Umbraco’s defaults. This could include custom modules, integrations, or Packages. These will either need to be rebuilt in WordPress or replaced with reliable plugins or API-driven solutions.
Review frontend and design elements
Even if you’re not planning a redesign, you’ll need to recreate your frontend from scratch in WordPress. Document your current layouts, design components (headers, footers, sliders, buttons), and any interactive behaviors. If you’re using Razor views, macros, or the Grid Editor, consider how those components will be rebuilt using WordPress templates or blocks.
This is also a good time to decide whether you want to carry your visual identity over as-is or evolve it.
Inventory your content
Creating a detailed content inventory gives you a master list to reference during the migration process. This should include:
- Static pages (e.g., home, service, about)
- Blog posts or updates
- Media assets (images, videos, PDFs)
- Form entries stored via Umbraco Forms
You may also want to flag outdated or underperforming content for deprecation or improvement.
Define your technical requirements
Planning for WordPress means more than copying features, you’ll also need to define the environment it runs in. Some key decisions include:
- Hosting: Will you go with enterprise-grade managed hosting (like WordPress VIP), or self-host your instance?
- Plugins: What plugins will you need to replace existing Umbraco features, like forms, SEO, caching, or access controls?
- Integrations: Which external tools, CRMs, email platforms, and analytics tools need to integrate with the new WordPress stack?
Identify risks before they surface
Every migration carries some risk, but identifying them early lets you address them with confidence. Common concerns include:
- Data loss: Having clean, up-to-date backups of your content and database is critical.
- SEO disruption: Changes to URLs, metadata, or site architecture can impact search rankings. Planning redirects and metadata transfers early helps maintain visibility.
- Feature gaps: Some functionality may not have a one-to-one equivalent in WordPress. Flag these early so the development team can offer alternatives or build custom plugins.
Including your stakeholders in early planning discussions also helps surface risks, often before they become blockers.
Get stakeholder alignment early
No migration should happen in a silo. Bring key stakeholders into the planning process to ensure alignment on scope, priorities, and timelines. These typically include:
- Project sponsors
- Editorial and content teams
- IT and development teams
Early involvement ensures smoother approvals later and minimizes rework.
Choose the right migration approach
Once your assessment is complete, you’ll need to decide how you want to migrate. There’s no one-size-fits-all answer, it depends on your goals, available time, and internal capacity. Here are three common approaches:
- Lift-and-shift: Rebuild your existing site on WordPress as-is, focusing on platform change rather than design or content updates.
- Redesign: Use the migration as a chance to refresh your design, branding, or user experience. This requires more time but often delivers long-term value.
- Phased migration: Move one section at a time, reducing risk and downtime. This works well for larger or more complex platforms.
Your approach should reflect what matters most, speed, innovation, continuity, or a mix of all three.
Map terminology between Umbraco and WordPress
While both CMSs manage content, they use different terms and structures. Here’s a side-by-side comparison to help bridge the gap:
| Umbraco Term | WordPress Equivalent | Description |
| Umbraco CMS | WordPress | The main software powering your site |
| Content Nodes | Posts & Pages | Structured content in a hierarchical tree |
| Document Types | Custom Post Types | Custom content models |
| Templates (CSHTML) | Theme Templates (PHP) | Defines layout and presentation |
| Properties | Custom Fields / Meta Fields | Data fields attached to content |
| Nested Content / List Picker | Categories / Tags | Structured content classification |
| Media Section | Media Library | Stores and manages assets |
| User Groups & Permissions | User Roles | Access control for different users |
| Packages | Plugins | Extend CMS functionality |
| Grid Editor / Block Grid | Gutenberg Block Editor | Structured, component-based content editing |
| Global Content / Settings | Theme Options / Customizer | Site-wide configuration |
| Multi-node Tree Picker | Menus | Used for navigation and internal linking |
| Content Versions | Revisions | Track and roll back content changes |
| REST API / Delivery API | REST API / GraphQL | Programmatic access to content |
| Multiple Sites (structure) | WordPress Multisite | Managing multiple sites under one installation |
| Umbraco Forms | WPForms / Gravity Forms | Form builders for capturing data |
| Examine / Output Cache | WP Query / Page/Object Cache | Search and caching systems |
Final note
This planning phase might not involve any code, but it’s where the success of your migration is determined. With a clear assessment, a realistic strategy, and aligned stakeholders, your team will be positioned to execute with precision and minimal disruption.
When done right, this isn’t just a migration. It’s a strategic upgrade, one that makes your site easier to manage, more scalable, and better aligned with your business goals.
