Migrating a large Drupal site to WordPress can save significant build time—but it’s rarely a one-click process. Tools like FG Drupal to WordPress can help automate content migration, but they come with limitations, especially when dealing with complex Drupal structures.
In this case, a migration test was conducted using the FG Drupal to WP plugin to evaluate whether it could reliably move a large volume of content into a new WordPress build using Divi.
Issue Background
A Drupal site needed to be migrated into WordPress with the following goals:
- Migrate a large number of pages of content
- Preserve structure and content where possible
- Use Divi Builder for the new frontend
- Reduce manual copy/paste effort
The migration was tested using the FG Drupal to WordPress plugin in a staging environment.
Diagnosis
Drupal vs WordPress data structure mismatch
WordPress stores most content in posts and postmeta, while Drupal uses a modular system with nodes, entity references, paragraphs, and custom taxonomies. This creates challenges when mapping content between platforms.
Free vs premium plugin limitations
The free version of the plugin successfully imported basic content such as posts, pages, and tags, but failed to properly handle custom nodes, taxonomies, navigation menus, and metadata.
Warnings indicated that additional functionality required the premium version and add-ons.
Premium version improvements (and issues)
The premium version exposed significantly more content types and data, but introduced new challenges:
- Drupal content types were converted into custom post types instead of standard pages
- Some imported pages appeared blank due to missing support for paragraph-based content
- URL structures were altered incorrectly in some cases
Media import failures
Errors occurred when attempting to import external media files that no longer existed or returned 404 responses.
Slug and metadata issues
Without additional add-ons, page titles and metadata were not imported correctly, resulting in incorrect slugs and URL structures.
Resolution Steps
1. Set up a staging environment
Always test migrations in a safe development or staging environment before working on production.
2. Connect to the Drupal database
Use credentials from the Drupal configuration file (sites/default/settings.php) to connect the plugin directly to the Drupal database.
3. Run a test import
Start with the free version to evaluate how content is mapped and identify limitations.
4. Upgrade to premium and required add-ons
To improve results, use the premium plugin and relevant add-ons for paragraphs, entity references, and metadata.
5. Review imported content
Check where content is placed and identify issues with structure, missing content, and incorrect URLs.
6. Plan for cleanup
Expect to perform manual cleanup or create scripts to reorganize content, convert post types, and fix URLs.
7. Choose a migration strategy
A hybrid approach—using the plugin for bulk import and manually refining key pages—is often the most effective.
Final Outcome
The plugin successfully imported a large portion of content, and the premium version significantly improved visibility into the Drupal data structure. However, structural inconsistencies required additional cleanup and refinement.
This demonstrates that automated tools are best used as a starting point rather than a complete migration solution.
If you’re planning a Drupal to WordPress migration and want expert guidance, contact Freshy.
