Keeping your Drupal CMS site up-to-date is essential for maintaining security, performance, and stability. This guide covers everything you need to know about applying updates safely and confidently. You'll learn how security updates work in Drupal CMS, when to apply them manually or automatically, and how to get notified when your site is affected by a known vulnerability. Before updating, we’ll walk you through how to create a complete backup—including your database, files, and codebase—so you’re prepared in case anything goes wrong.

From there, you'll get step-by-step instructions for updating Drupal core, module and theme extensions, and configuring automatic updates when it makes sense for your site. Whether you prefer hands-on control or a more automated approach, this guide helps you weigh your options and choose the update method that fits your setup. Stay secure, avoid downtime, and keep your Drupal CMS site running smoothly with these best practices.

What are security updates?

Learn how Drupal CMS handles security updates and explore your options for applying them manually, automatically, or through your host.

Make a backup before applying security updates

Learn when and how to back up your Drupal CMS site before applying updates, using either hosting provider tools or a custom strategy.

Update Drupal core

Learn how to update Drupal core using the built-in UI to keep your site secure and up to date.

Update module and theme extensions

Keep your Drupal CMS modules and themes up to date to ensure security, stability, and new features.

Configure automatic updates

Learn how to enable automatic updates in Drupal CMS and decide if they’re right for your site.