How long does a Contentful to Drupal migration take?

Most mid-size migrations (50 to 500 content types, 10,000 to 100,000 entries) complete in 12 to 20 weeks end-to-end. Complex enterprise migrations with multiple spaces, frontend applications, and regional deployments typically run 6 to 9 months. We provide a scoped timeline after the discovery phase.

Will we lose content or SEO rankings during the migration?

Our automated ETL pipeline is built around a rigorous verification framework that validates migrated entries against the source to prevent data loss. URL structure is preserved with 301 redirects for any path changes; metadata fields, canonical tags, and structured data are carried over. We monitor Search Console rankings for four weeks post-launch and fix any regressions.

Can we keep our existing Next.js or React frontend?

If your frontend consumes Contentful's Delivery API, we rebuild the data layer against Drupal's JSON:API endpoint. Query shapes change, but your frontend components, routing, and design system are untouched. We provide a compatibility layer and updated API documentation for your frontend team.

How does Drupal mitigate GDPR and US CLOUD Act compliance risks?

Self-hosted Drupal on an independent European provider significantly mitigates the US CLOUD Act risks that arise from using platforms controlled by US corporations. By choosing a sovereign European host, you insulate your digital operations from foreign surveillance laws, allowing your DPO to establish a highly defensible, compliant data architecture. We document the updated data processing architecture for your DPO as part of the go-live package.

What does Contentful to Drupal migration cost?

Migration cost depends on the number of content types, entry volume, frontend integration complexity, and target hosting environment. Indicative ranges: straightforward migrations (single space, no custom frontend) from 25,000€; complex enterprise migrations (multi-space, decoupled frontend, multilingual) from 60,000€. We provide a fixed-price proposal after the discovery workshop.

Do we need in-house Drupal expertise after migration?

Metadrop offers post-migration maintenance and support contracts with SLA-backed security updates, editorial support, and a technical account manager. Most organizations start with a managed maintenance package and build internal capability over time if desired.

Can Drupal handle the same headless/API-first architecture as Contentful?

Drupal's JSON:API module (Drupal core since 8.7) and GraphQL module provide the same decoupled content delivery patterns as Contentful's APIs. Drupal also adds server-side rendering options, a native page builder for non-headless editorial use cases, and the ability to run hybrid coupled/decoupled architectures from a single installation.

Contentful to Drupal Migration

Talk to a migration expert

Why European Organizations Are Leaving Contentful

Salesforce's acquisition of Contentful changes the risk calculus for any European organization with data residency obligations.

Contentful is now a US-controlled SaaS platform. Under the US CLOUD Act, US authorities may compel Salesforce to disclose data controlled by its subsidiaries, even when servers are located in Europe.
GDPR Article 44 data transfer risk management becomes significantly more complex when ultimate data control rests with a US parent company outside EU jurisdiction.
NIS2 and sector-specific regulations (finance, healthcare, energy, public sector) require organizations to demonstrate actual control over their critical digital infrastructure, not contractual promises from a US SaaS vendor.
No exit without a partner. Contentful's proprietary data model and API structure mean content is locked in formats that require expert transformation to migrate cleanly.
Subscription cost exposure. Contentful Premium contracts typically start above €30,000/year and escalate with content types and API calls, with no open-source fallback.

Drupal Is the Sovereignty Guarantee

Drupal's open-source self-hosting model is the only proven alternative that eliminates SaaS dependency for enterprise content platforms.

Host anywhere in Europe (your data center, a certified European cloud provider, or a sovereign-cloud partner). No US-headquartered company controls your data.
Headless or coupled, your choice. Drupal's JSON:API and GraphQL layers support the same decoupled frontend patterns Contentful users depend on (Next.js, React, Vue), with no retraining for frontend teams.
Full codebase ownership. Drupal is GPL-licensed: you can audit, fork, and modify every line. No vendor can revoke your access or change licensing terms.
Active global community and long-term roadmap. Drupal 10/11 is supported by 50,000+ contributors; security releases are coordinated by a dedicated security team.
Structured content model. Drupal's entity/field architecture replicates and extends Contentful's content-type model, preserving the structured content approach your editors already know.

What Metadrop Delivers

Full-lifecycle migration from Contentful to Drupal, handled by a Drupal Silver Certified Partner with 15+ years of enterprise delivery.

Content audit and model mapping. We analyze your Contentful content types, entries, assets, and locales and design the equivalent Drupal entity model before a single line of migration code is written.
Automated ETL pipeline (Extract, Transform, Load): bespoke migration scripts built with Drupal Migrate API extract every content entry, transform it to the target schema, and load it with referential integrity preserved.
Rigorous zero-content-loss framework. We employ a strict validation and verification pipeline, checking every migrated entry against the Contentful source and providing a comprehensive reconciliation report before go-live sign-off.
SEO continuity. URL redirects, canonical tags, metadata fields, and structured data schemas are preserved or improved; your Google ranking signals are protected throughout.
Frontend decoupling preserved. If you run a Next.js or React frontend consuming Contentful's APIs, we rebuild the data layer against Drupal's JSON:API, keeping the same frontend with a new backend.
Editorial training and handover. Your content team gets hands-on training in Drupal's editorial interface; we document all content types, workflows, and publishing rules.

Migration Process

A structured five-phase engagement designed to minimize disruption to live operations.

Phase 1: Discovery and Content Audit (2 to 3 weeks)

Inventory every Contentful space: content types, entries, assets, locales, webhooks, and API integrations.
Map each content type to a target Drupal entity bundle; identify gaps and custom field requirements.
Define the hosting architecture: European cloud provider selection, infrastructure sizing, CDN strategy.
Agree acceptance criteria: zero content loss, URL parity, performance baselines, compliance sign-off checklist.

Phase 2: Drupal Platform Build (4 to 8 weeks)

Provision the Drupal environment on the agreed European hosting platform (self-managed VPS, Platform.sh, or Upsun European region).
Build content types, fields, media handling, and multilingual configuration to match and extend the Contentful model.
Configure editorial workflows, roles, and permissions aligned to your team's publishing process.
Install and configure security hardening, GDPR compliance modules, and monitoring.

Phase 3: Migration Pipeline Development (3 to 5 weeks)

Write bespoke Migrate API scripts for each content type; handle asset migration (images, files, video references) separately with CDN re-pointing.
Run iterative test migrations against a full copy of the Contentful space; measure and fix data loss, broken references, and encoding issues.
Validate structured data, metadata fields, and Open Graph tags on migrated content.

Phase 4: Frontend Integration and QA (2 to 4 weeks)

Reconnect frontend applications to Drupal's JSON:API or GraphQL endpoint; update authentication tokens and query shapes.
Run full regression testing across content types, editorial workflows, and frontend rendering.
Conduct accessibility audit (WCAG 2.1 AA) on the migrated site.
Performance testing: load profiling, caching configuration, CDN warm-up.

Phase 5: Go-Live and Hypercare (1 to 2 weeks)

Cutover with zero downtime: DNS migration, HTTPS certificate transfer, Contentful API decommission schedule.
301 redirect mapping validated in Search Console; Google Search Console re-verification.
Two-week hypercare period with a dedicated Metadrop engineer on-call for editorial and technical issues.
Post-migration compliance sign-off documentation (GDPR data processing records updated, NIS2 asset registry updated).

Digital Sovereignty: The Technical Case

For IT Directors and public-sector compliance officers who need to explain the risk to procurement and legal teams.

The US CLOUD Act problem. Under 18 U.S.C. § 2713, US authorities can compel US-headquartered companies to produce data from servers anywhere in the world, including EU-hosted Contentful data controlled by Salesforce.
"EU servers" are not enough. Storing data in Frankfurt or Dublin does not exempt a US-parent-controlled SaaS from CLOUD Act jurisdiction. The controlling entity's nationality matters.
Self-hosted Drupal breaks the chain. When your organization hosts Drupal on an independent European provider with no US parent, you fundamentally cut the primary chain of US extraterritorial data access under the CLOUD Act, keeping your infrastructure firmly under EU legal jurisdiction. You retain full strategic control as both data and infrastructure operator.
ENS and NIS2 alignment. Metadrop is ENS (Esquema Nacional de Seguridad) certified. We build enterprise Drupal platforms with the technical controls required to support your NIS2 alignment, incorporating advanced access controls, comprehensive audit logging, and secure infrastructure blueprints as standard.
Documented data processing records. We produce updated Article 30 GDPR records of processing activities reflecting the new hosting architecture, ready for your DPO to review.

Content and Editorial Continuity

Editors who work in Contentful will face no productivity cliff when they move to Drupal.

Drupal's editorial interface is field-based and structured, using the same mental model as Contentful's content type editor without the API abstraction layer.
Paragraph, Layout Builder, and Drupal Canvas modules give non-technical editors drag-and-drop page composition without developer intervention for routine updates.
Multilingual editorial workflows are native to Drupal core: content translation, locale-based publishing schedules, and language fallback are configured out of the box.
Media library replaces Contentful's asset management: images, documents, and video embeds managed centrally with reuse across content types.
Revision history and content moderation workflows (Draft to Review to Published) replicate or improve on Contentful's publishing states.
Zero SEO regression. We map every Contentful seoTitle, seoDescription, and canonicalUrl field to Drupal's Metatag and Pathauto modules; your Google rankings are protected from day one.

Multilingual, Integrations, and Long-Term Governance

For organizations running Contentful across multiple languages, regions, or system integrations.

30+ languages supported. Metadrop has delivered multilingual Drupal platforms in 30+ languages for clients including UNICEF and Save the Children; we handle RTL scripts, locale-specific date formats, and regional content variants natively.
CRM and ERP integrations. Existing Salesforce, HubSpot, or ERP integrations wired to Contentful are rebuilt against Drupal's REST or JSON:API layer using the same data contracts where possible.
DAM and PIM connectivity. If your organization uses a Digital Asset Manager or Product Information Manager, we build the connector module in Drupal to replace Contentful webhook pipelines.
Search integration. Apache Solr or Elasticsearch search indexes are rebuilt for the Drupal content model using Search API; existing search UX is preserved.
Post-migration governance model. We offer ongoing Drupal maintenance and support contracts with defined SLAs, security update SLAs (critical patches within 24 hours), and a dedicated technical account manager.

Why Metadrop

Metadrop is a Drupal Silver Certified Partner with 15+ years of enterprise delivery across 50+ countries.

Drupal Silver Certified Partner: verified expertise at the platform level, not just project delivery.
ENS certified, GDPR-ready, NIS2-aligned: compliance credentials that matter to European public sector and regulated industry procurement.
Proven enterprise references: Saint-Gobain, Save the Children, Telefónica, UNICEF, and Solvay, organizations that demand security, scale, and governance.
Full-lifecycle partner: strategy, architecture, development, migration, maintenance, and support. One team from audit to hypercare.
Independent technical governance. We act as your Drupal expert partner, advising on design decisions that could create future technical debt.
15+ years, 50+ countries, 30+ languages. The scale and depth to handle complexity your in-house team cannot.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does a Contentful to Drupal migration take?
Most mid-size migrations (50 to 500 content types, 10,000 to 100,000 entries) complete in 12 to 20 weeks end-to-end. Complex enterprise migrations with multiple spaces, frontend applications, and regional deployments typically run 6 to 9 months. We provide a scoped timeline after the discovery phase.
Will we lose content or SEO rankings during the migration?
Our automated ETL pipeline is built around a rigorous verification framework that validates migrated entries against the source to prevent data loss. URL structure is preserved with 301 redirects for any path changes; metadata fields, canonical tags, and structured data are carried over. We monitor Search Console rankings for four weeks post-launch and fix any regressions.
Can we keep our existing Next.js or React frontend?
If your frontend consumes Contentful's Delivery API, we rebuild the data layer against Drupal's JSON:API endpoint. Query shapes change, but your frontend components, routing, and design system are untouched. We provide a compatibility layer and updated API documentation for your frontend team.
How does Drupal mitigate GDPR and US CLOUD Act compliance risks?
Self-hosted Drupal on an independent European provider significantly mitigates the US CLOUD Act risks that arise from using platforms controlled by US corporations. By choosing a sovereign European host, you insulate your digital operations from foreign surveillance laws, allowing your DPO to establish a highly defensible, compliant data architecture. We document the updated data processing architecture for your DPO as part of the go-live package.
What does Contentful to Drupal migration cost?
Migration cost depends on the number of content types, entry volume, frontend integration complexity, and target hosting environment. Indicative ranges: straightforward migrations (single space, no custom frontend) from 25,000€; complex enterprise migrations (multi-space, decoupled frontend, multilingual) from 60,000€. We provide a fixed-price proposal after the discovery workshop.
Do we need in-house Drupal expertise after migration?
Metadrop offers post-migration maintenance and support contracts with SLA-backed security updates, editorial support, and a technical account manager. Most organizations start with a managed maintenance package and build internal capability over time if desired.
Can Drupal handle the same headless/API-first architecture as Contentful?
Drupal's JSON:API module (Drupal core since 8.7) and GraphQL module provide the same decoupled content delivery patterns as Contentful's APIs. Drupal also adds server-side rendering options, a native page builder for non-headless editorial use cases, and the ability to run hybrid coupled/decoupled architectures from a single installation.

Start Your Contentful Exit

Your data should be governed by European law, hosted in European infrastructure, and controlled by your organization.

Metadrop will scope your Contentful migration in a no-obligation discovery workshop. We assess your content model, hosting requirements, and compliance needs, and return a fixed-price proposal within five working days.