What a legacy CMS consultant checks first, whatever you run.

What does a legacy CMS consultant do?

A legacy CMS consultant reads what your site already shows you, then tells you whether to upgrade, decouple or move. Start with your homepage source. Look for version numbers in your script file names, a generator tag in your page head, and the platform's name in your asset paths. A mechanic reads a dashboard (a consultant reads your source). And in my experience, it rarely lies to you.

Evidence comes first, recommendation second. Which version do you run, and does the vendor still support it? How much of your experience sits behind your login? Which of your integrations break if you change your core? Replatforming guidance says to map every content type, integration and high-risk page on your site, then set traffic retention and SEO preservation targets before you move anything. Do that, and you end up with a decision you can defend, not a quote for a rebuild. Sometimes the right move is to change nothing yet. A good consultant will say so, even when it costs them the job.

Which platforms count as legacy, and why does the date matter?

Your platform is legacy once the vendor or community stops shipping security fixes for your version. Look up your end-of-life date this week. Your exposure starts on that date, and it never shrinks on its own. [Nothing about an expired date improves with age.] If you run Drupal 7, you passed your date on January 5, 2025. No new features. No bug fixes, security updates or core commits. And if your Drupal 7 modules are marked unsupported, you get no patches for those either.

Do you run Magento 1? Your support was set to end in June 2020. Adobe says it will produce no security patches, so you get none, and your code grows more vulnerable with age. But Magento isn't the only one with a hard stop. Running Sitecore XP 10.0 or 10.1? Your Extended Support ends on 31 December 2026, and after that you cannot buy patches for your site at any price. And since 1 June 2026, security updates are a paid add-on on any XP version you keep in Extended Support.

Do you run a custom CMS or an unmaintained WordPress estate? No vendor publishes a calendar for you, so you have no date to look up. Your evidence is the age of your dependencies. Nobody will warn you (no vendor is watching your version numbers), so read your versions today. The free assessment shows you what your public pages reveal.

What should a consultant check first on an ageing site?

On an ageing site, spend your first hour on five checks: versions and end-of-life dates, response headers, rendering, dependency age, and search and schema signals. Open your homepage headers first. Which security headers does your site send, and which are missing? Then view your source. Is your content in the HTML, or does script build the page after it loads?

Next, check script and image weight and the version numbers in your file names, since old libraries often mean your platform has stalled. Then look at search signals: robots, canonical, heading order, and structured data on the pages you sample, not just your homepage. A tidy homepage hides the state of the rest.

The assessment checks your homepage plus up to eight sampled pages, scores your site on eight weighted pillars, and shows you the evidence behind each. It never logs in to your site. It doesn't read your analytics or run field performance data either. You get your first hour, not your full audit, and it points you to where to look next.

Should you upgrade, decouple, or leave the platform?

Your decision turns on how much of your experience sits behind your login and how tightly your custom code binds you to the old version. Count the screens on your site that ask you to sign in. If under 20% of your experience is behind your login, you are replacing your CMS. Over 50%, and you are replacing your platform. But the difference shows up in your budget far more than the wording suggests.

You can upgrade when a supported target exists for your version. On Sitecore, the target matters: XP 10.5 has mainstream support through December 31, 2029, and upgrade assistance applies only where your target is in Mainstream Support. Decoupling can move your effort rather than save it. Sitecore's recipe calls headless before SitecoreAI useful only in uncommon cases, so don't assume it is your shortcut.

Leaving means budgeting for what does not carry over to your new platform. Adobe's Magento 2 Data Migration Tool does not fully carry over your custom data, admin rights or media files, so Adobe advises a dry run on a testing environment and at least 3 months. Sitecore XM Cloud requires you to refactor your existing MVC builds. Your custom Solr indexes and Sitecore Forms stay behind. That list is where migration budgets quietly break.

How much does a legacy CMS consultant cost?

Most independent consultants charge $75 to $500 per hour, according to a March 2026 rate guide you can check, with a day rate of roughly 6 to 8 times the hourly rate. Hire in the UK and you will see £900 to £2,200 per day for mid-to-senior technology consulting. In the US, expect $150 to $250 per hour on average (that comes from a separate 2025 and 2026 range).

Don't read those general figures as your migration price. The source treats technical implementation as a separate category with different rate dynamics. And a public read of your site can't price it either. It can't see your custom modules, your integrations or what sits behind your login.

Before you book, get the rate in writing along with the scope of the first deliverable. Make that deliverable a written recommendation on your site. With that line in place, you can compare two consultants on the same footing, and a vague quote stands out fast.

How do you judge whether a consultant's advice is sound?

Judge a consultant's advice by whether every claim points to something you can verify yourself: a version, a date, a header, a page. Ask to see the evidence behind the recommendation before you see the quote. If the reason you hear for replacing your platform is a feeling, keep looking. Feelings are cheap, but the rebuild is not.

Sound advice tells you what does not carry over. It maps every content type, integration and high-risk page on your site. Traffic retention and SEO preservation targets get set up front, so you know what you are aiming for. It redesigns your information architecture instead of copying the old structure unchanged. Look for a dry run before production in your plan, and for realistic time: Adobe's own floor for a Magento 1 migration is 3 months, and more with heavy customization. If your plan lacks those pieces, you hold a hope, not a plan.

Be wary of certainty. If someone prices your rebuild before reading your public pages, or tells you everything will carry over, they have skipped your first hour. You can run the assessment on your own site. Then hold what you are told against what your pages show.

Can a free assessment replace the first consultation?

No, the free assessment cannot replace your first consultation, but it lets you start that conversation from evidence instead of guesses. It reads your homepage and up to eight sampled pages. You get one score out of 100, plus the evidence behind each of your eight pillars. Your score lands in a band, from good standing at 80 to 100 down to legacy condition at 0 to 39.

It cannot sit with you. It does not log in to your site, read your analytics, run field performance data or interview anyone, so it cannot weigh your contracts, your team or what sits behind your login. I consult on exactly this decision. In that conversation you and I weigh those things together. No script can stand in for it, so bring your questions.

Your check is free and takes about two minutes. You give your work email and get your report link once. The limit is three checks per hour per connection, so test your main site first, then your other sites.

Questions, answered.

Your next read.

1. 01Sitecore alternativesSupport dates, licensing and the paths off XP.
2. 02Drupal alternativesUpgrade, decouple or move, judged by your pages.
3. 03Website repairDown, hacked or broken: what survives, what to rebuild.
4. 04Headless CMS SEO auditRendering, canonicals, previews, schema from the template.