As Drupal 9's end-of-life approached in November 2023, many organizations found themselves scrambling to upgrade sprawling, complex sites. We've seen this pattern repeat with every major Drupal release—the frantic rush to update dozens of contributed modules, apply compatibility patches, and test everything before the deadline. It’s a familiar frenzy, but does it have to be?
We recently witnessed this transformation firsthand through our work with a large state government platform. By comparing their manual Drupal 10 preparation with their current, automated Drupal 11 readiness, we discovered some compelling insights about the future of Drupal maintenance.
The manual maintenance reality
In January 2023, with approximately 10 months until Drupal 9's end-of-life, we conducted a comprehensive audit of the state’s platform readiness for Drupal 10. The results were sobering:
- 59.7% of contributed modules (71 out of 119) required updates for Drupal 10 compatibility
- 22 modules needed custom patches to function properly
- Countless hours of manual research, testing, and coordination lay ahead
This scenario sounds familiar to anyone who has managed a large-scale Drupal version upgrade. The process typically involves:
- Checking each module's issue queue for Drupal 10 compatibility using the upgrade_status and upgrade_rector modules.
- Researching and applying patches from the community.
- Testing each update individually
- Coordinating updates across development, staging, and production environments.
- Managing merge conflicts and dependency issues
For a government platform serving thousands of daily users, this manual process represented weeks of developer time, extensive QA cycles, and significant project risk.
Enter automation: Renovate package updater
Fast-forward to June 2025, when the same platform tells a dramatically different story. Now equipped with Renovate for automated package management, the state’s Drupal 11 readiness audit revealed:
- Only 20.8% of contributed modules (25 out of 121) needed updates.
- Just 7 modules required patches for compatibility.
- A 65% reduction in manual update work.
- 68% fewer patches to maintain.
The transformation is striking, but the real value lies in what these numbers represent—hundreds of hours of developer time redirected from tedious maintenance to meaningful feature development. Alongside tools like Renovate, Drupal’s Project Update Bot has been a huge help for keeping sites up to date. It automatically spots outdated code, opens issues, and even suggests fixes, making major updates much smoother for everyone.
The hidden value of continuous updates
Beyond the obvious time savings, automated updates deliver value in ways that aren't immediately apparent:
Self-healing bug fixes
When updates happen continuously rather than in large batches, many bugs fix themselves. Issues that developers spend hours investigating often disappear with the next automated update. This "self-healing" effect becomes particularly valuable for large teams where communication overhead can delay bug resolution.
Reduced patch debt
Maintaining custom patches is one of the most time-consuming aspects of Drupal maintenance. Each patch must be:
- documented and tracked.
- tested with every core and module update.
- re-rolled when conflicts arise.
- eventually replaced when official fixes become available.
With automated updates, patches often become obsolete as maintainers release official fixes. By using the "composer-exit-on-patch-failure": true setting from cweagans/composer-patches, teams can easily spot when a patch no longer applies cleanly (see: Lullabot’s ADR for Composer Exit Failure). This acts as an early signal to check whether the patch has been merged into the contributed module or if an updated patch is available.
This proactive approach to patch management, combined with continuous updates and the ongoing efforts of the Drupal community, helped us reduce the patch count on the state government platform by 68%. That’s 15 fewer patches to maintain, test, and monitor.
Improved security posture
Automated updates have significantly strengthened our Drupal maintenance process, especially for a state government client with stringent security requirements. By automating updates, we can apply critical security patches immediately, rather than waiting for scheduled maintenance windows. This quick response is essential for government platforms that handle sensitive data, as it minimizes vulnerability windows and reduces security risks.
Continuous, automated patching also gives everyone peace of mind. Our team and the client rest assured that the platform is protected against new threats. With security handled proactively, we can focus more on strategic improvements instead of routine patching, making our maintenance process both more efficient and more effective.
Quantifying the time savings
Based on our experience with similar platforms, we can estimate the time savings:
This represents a 57% reduction in maintenance overhead – roughly 118 hours of developer time that can be redirected toward feature development, performance optimization, or other high-value activities.
Beyond time: the strategic advantages
The benefits extend far beyond time savings.
Predictable maintenance costs: With automated updates running continuously, maintenance becomes a predictable operational cost rather than a large capital expense every few years.
Reduced risk: Smaller, frequent updates are inherently less risky than large batch upgrades. Issues are easier to isolate and resolve.
Team efficiency: Developers can focus on creative problem-solving rather than repetitive maintenance tasks.
Client confidence: Government stakeholders appreciate the proactive approach to security and stability that automation provides.
Implementing automation in your workflow
Tools like Renovate make automated Drupal maintenance accessible to teams of any size. The key is to start small.
- Begin with automated dependency updates for low-risk packages
- Establish comprehensive testing pipelines to catch issues early
- Configure automated security updates with immediate deployment
The investment in setup time pays dividends almost immediately, and the benefits compound with each release cycle.
The future of Drupal maintenance
Our state government platform's transformation illustrates a broader shift in how we approach Drupal maintenance. As the platform matures and tools like Renovate become more sophisticated, the days of manual, crisis-driven upgrades are numbered.
For organizations still managing Drupal updates manually, the question isn't whether to automate; it's how quickly you can get started. With Drupal 11's release and the eventual transition to Drupal 12, there's never been a better time to embrace automated maintenance workflows.
The future of Drupal maintenance is here, and it's automated. Your development team and your clients will thank you for making the switch.