Sitefinity upgrades explained

When considering Sitefinity upgrades, these are the key aspects to evaluate:

• Version upgrades
• Technology migration
• Cloud migration

Progress recommends that you proceed at a pace suitable to your specific needs and business conditions.
There are various Sitefinity upgrade paths (including technology migration options) depending on the stage in your customer journey.
For recommendations regarding the upgrade paths, see Upgrade paths recommendations.

NOTE: Evaluating your upgrade readiness and creating an action plan for the upgrade is essential. You can contact your Sitefinity account manager or implementation partner for assistance.

Version upgrade involves moving from an older Sitefinity version to either the latest long-term support (LTS) version or the highest available version.
This keeps your Sitefinity platform secure, enables you to benefit from enhanced performance, provides continued support with bug fixes and backport request handling, and unlocks the potential of the latest advanced capabilities and integrations.

For detailed information about the upgrade procedure, see Upgrade Sitefinity CMS.

Technology migration encompasses the modernization of your frontend and widget rewrites from older technologies, such as Web Forms and MVC, to modern frameworks.
ASP.NET Core and Next.js provide superior performance, cross-platform capabilities, and headless CMS mode, among other advantages, which makes the modernization crucial for future-proofing your Sitefinity projects. 

For more information, see Technology migration.

The modernization of the frontend technology is often considered the most time-intensive part of the upgrade process. Sitefinity supports a gradual approach to transition from Web Forms or MVC to the modern technologies, thus preventing operational disruptions and enabling an efficient process. For example, you can gradually migrate your Web Forms pages to ASP.NET Core pages using a hybrid development approach - running both technologies in the same project.
For more information, see Migrate using a step-by-step approach.

Cloud migration involves transitioning from self-hosted Sitefinity CMS setup to a cloud-native CMS provided by Progress Sitefinity. 
Sitefinity Cloud (PaaS) provides a scalable enterprise infrastructure running on Azure, optimally configured for availability, security, and performance. It is designed to meet individual customer needs based on expected traffic and offers a tier-based pricing model. See Sitefinity Cloud Tiers.
Some advantages of the cloud migration, among many: Sitefinity Cloud offers streamlined automated upgrades, CI/CD automation to manage the entire development lifecycle, an advanced SIEM solution, and seamless integrations through Sitefinity Integration Hub.

For more information, see Cloud migration.

Upgrading to the latest version of Sitefinity offers a multitude of benefits, including enhanced performance, scalability, and productivity. This ensures your websites operate seamlessly for years and remain future-proof. By staying current with Sitefinity upgrades, you not only gain access to new features but also ensure your platform remains secure and efficient. Key advantages include:

Enhanced performance: The latest versions provide optimized speed, improved response times, and enhanced UX and customization capabilities. This results in a smoother user experience, benefiting developers, content creators, marketers, and any team involved in managing digital experiences.

Security improvements: We enhance Sitefinity's security by following current security guidelines and compliances, and using the latest frameworks. This helps protect your websites from vulnerabilities and cyber threats.

Developer productivity: ASP.NET Core and Next.js provide enhanced tooling, reusable components, and CLI-based scaffolding to streamline frontend development. Developers also benefit from faster development cycles - with Hot Reload and Fast Refresh, code changes appear instantly upon save.

Enhanced scalability: Newer versions of Sitefinity CMS are designed for Cloud compatibility, supporting our PaaS and SaaS deployment models.

Seamless integrations: Newer versions of Sitefinity CMS support the integration with thousands of external systems, such as CRM, ERP, MarTech, automation, collaboration, and productivity applications, using the latest APIs and a low-code integration infrastructure. For more information, see Integration Hub.

Generative AI support: The latest Sitefinity version provides out-of-the-box AI capabilities through Azure OpenAI service integration. Content editors and marketers can generate AI-assisted and SEO-friendly content securely within the content editor UI. For more information, see Generate AI content.

Continued support: Upgrading gives you access to product updates and continued technical support. For more information, see Progress Sitefinity Support Plans.