How much does replatforming a website cost?

Replatforming a website (migrating from one CMS to another while preserving existing design and content) generally costs less than a full rebuild but more than a visual redesign, typically falling in a range driven by content volume, integration complexity, and the gap between the source and destination platforms. Exact figures are less standardized than redesign or rebuild pricing because replatforming scope varies significantly by platform pairing.

The primary use case is a site that works visually but runs on an inadequate, outdated, or difficult-to-manage CMS. Replatforming can happen behind the scenes with minimal disruption to the live site, which reduces business risk compared to a rebuild. Challenges include plugin and third-party app compatibility, maintaining layout consistency during migration, and preserving SEO equity (URL structures, redirects, metadata). Common destination platforms include WordPress, HubSpot CMS, and Craft CMS, each with different licensing, development, and maintenance cost profiles. Teams evaluating replatforming should map the total cost including migration labor, new platform licensing, integration rebuilds, and QA testing rather than comparing only the sticker price of the new CMS.