{"id":230,"slug":"drupal-7-eol-january-2025-291k-sites","title":"Drupal 7 EOL January 5, 2025 — ~291,386 sites still on D7 in Sept 2024; migration is effectively a rebuild","kind":"reference","scope":"business","status":"current","audiences":["claude-code","candid-team"],"topics":["platform-lock-in","security-vulnerabilities"],"reference_body":"**Claim:** **Drupal 7 reached end-of-life on January 5, 2025** — \"no longer receive official security updates.\" Approximately **291,386 sites** were still on Drupal 7 as of September 2024.\n\n**Quote (Drupal community):**\n\n> \"Drupal 7's Core, modules and themes don't exactly have a clear upgrade path to higher versions\" — migration is functionally a rebuild.\n\n**Source:** <https://drupal.org/about/drupal-7/d7eol/migration-resource-center>; <https://orionweb.uk/blog-posts/drupal-7-end-of-life-migration-options>\n\n**Confidence:** Verified.\n\n**The platform-EOL forcing function pattern.** ~290k sites had to choose between (a) running unpatched software indefinitely, (b) paying for extended commercial support, or (c) rebuilding. Pairs with [[shopify-checkout-liquid-sunset-2024-2026]] (47k Plus merchants forced to migrate by Shopify), [[squarespace-acquired-google-domains-2023]] (10M domains migrated automatically). **Every platform sunsets eventually.** See [[rule-treat-no-export-as-hostage-situation]].","rationale_body":null,"metadata":null,"links":{"outgoing":[{"slug":"shopify-checkout-liquid-sunset-2024-2026","title":"Shopify checkout.liquid sunset (Aug 2024 → Aug 2025 → June 30 2026) — unmigrated customizations will be DELETED","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"squarespace-acquired-google-domains-2023","title":"Squarespace acquired Google Domains for $180M (Sept 7, 2023) — ~10M SMB domains migrated automatically","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"rule-treat-no-export-as-hostage-situation","title":"RULE: A platform that cannot produce a clean export today is a hostage situation. Treat it as such.","kind":"rule","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"}],"incoming":[{"slug":"research-brief-built-to-last","title":"Research brief: Built to Last — why most SMB sites rebuild every 3-4 years (piece 5 of 15)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"}]},"created_at":"2026-05-22T19:58:12.869Z","updated_at":"2026-05-22T19:58:12.869Z"}