Strapi 5 Migration: Why It Is Essential for Modern CMS

Introduction

We are living in a dynamic digital-only era where a content management system (CMS) is much more than just a publishing tool. In 2025 and beyond, it will serve as the core engine powering omnichannel experiences, customer engagement, and organizational agility.

To align with these demands, Strapi released its Strapi 5 update that has redefined how enterprises can model, deliver, and scale their digital content strategies.

Enterprises that are still relying on Strapi v3 or v4 are beginning to feel the impact of performance bottlenecks, limited API flexibility, and declining support options. This is why migrating to Strapi 5 is no longer just a migration option for businesses; it’s the right way forward.

This blog will explore the significant need to upgrade to Strapi 5 as an enterprise, what it can benefit you with, and what organizations can do to ensure a smooth transition.

Why Staying on Strapi v3 or v4 Holds You Back?

Staying with the older versions of Strapi can seem like a safer option from an enterprise mindset, but that comes with associated technical debt.

As Strapi continues to update, support for old versions will gradually lapse, and businesses will face difficulties fixing bugs & adding security updates, as well as new features that are available to them on the latest versions automatically.

One other area that can be impacted is performance. Even on versions 3 and 4, some businesses with higher visitor volumes experience latency issues.

Moreover, new tools, APIs, and technologies, such as Strapi AI, are being developed with Strapi 5 compatibility as the baseline, making it harder for legacy versions to keep pace. These challenges not only slow down business operations but also result in severe financial losses for the business.

Let’s understand this further with an example of API performance difference in both versions:

In Strapi v4, fetching multiple content types often required nested queries:

1const articles = await strapi.db.query("api::article.article").findMany({
2  populate: ["author", "category"],
3});

However, in Strapi 5, this is optimized with the new Query Engine API for faster population and cleaner syntax:

1const articles = await strapi.db.query("api::article.article").findMany({
2  populate: { author: true, category: true },
3});

This not only simplifies code readability but also improves query speed by up to 30% in production environments.

Key Advantages of Strapi 5 for Enterprises

Migrating to Strapi 5 offers multiple advantages for enterprise-grade transformation. In this section, we will briefly explore these benefits.

1. Future-Ready Architecture Strapi 5 possesses a more modular and extensible architecture, powered by Strapi AI at the core. This means enterprises can update their tech stack seamlessly without restrictions, deliver smarter content experiences, and have better integration flexibility for newly launched tools and future upgrades.

2. Improved Content Modeling One of the standout capabilities of Strapi 5 is the new content type builder. This version enables faster and simpler modeling through Strapi AI, which reduces the complexity of centralizing multiple content types across different platforms. With minimal complexities, your teams spend less time on configuration and more on creating & publishing content.

3. Improved Performance and API Responding APIs are the lifeline of any headless CMS. This is why Strapi 5 is designed to provide an enhanced API experience, meaning you can expect faster API calls and reduced latency. They offer tangible benefits for enterprises with global audiences - you'll notice improved response times and enhanced content delivery experiences.

4. Improved Developer Experience Another benefit of Strapi 5 is that it provides developers with a better experience, as it comes with enhanced tools/features, including 100% TypeScript, a new API response format, a launchpad demo app, enhanced content versioning, history, and draft management, and more. This helps improve their productivity and reduce deployment timelines.

5. Improved Security Measures The new version also features enhanced security capabilities. These features include enhanced encryption protocols, improved options for user authentication, and regular vulnerability assessments to help safeguard your critical data. These features help ensure compliance with industry standards and safety from rising cyber threats for both the CMS and your integrated system.

6. New Plugins Ecosystem Lastly, Strapi 5 covers a more enhanced plugin ecosystem, including Plugin SDK and a dedicated Plugin CLI. This allows the developers of a professional Strapi development company to either build custom plugins or integrate community-built plugins more seamlessly, thereby extending Strapi’s functionality as per your use case without disrupting the entire workflow.

Steps of Migration from Older Versions to Strapi 5

Migrating to Strapi 5 requires planning but offers substantial long-term returns. The step-by-step migration involves:

Step 1: Preparing the environment

The first step of the Strapi 5 migration is to back up all your Strapi assets, including your database, uploads, and configuration files.

# Backup MongoDB or PostgreSQL data
pg_dump -U <db_user> -h <db_host> -Fc <db_name> > backup.dump

Also, ensure that your infrastructure is compatible, and you’re using Node.js 18 nd npm v9+ to proceed with migration, as Strapi no longer supports older versions.

Step 2: Migrating content models and APIs

Once your data is backed up and the installation is completed, the next step is to migrate the content models and APIs. The best part of this version is that it introduces a more declarative content-type schema.

If you’re coming from Strapi v4, you’ll notice configuration paths and naming conventions have changed.

When migrating from Strapi v4 to Strapi 5, the model schema is automatically transitioned with npx @strapi/upgrade major. This eases the content model migration process.

However, remember that custom codes, controllers, services, and policies still require manual updates. For more information, you can refer to the Strapi 5 migration documentation.

Now, let’s understand Strapi v4 → Strapi 5 migration for content type structure with an example:

Strapi v4 Structure:

1/src/api/article/models/article.settings.json

Strapi 5 Structure:

1/src/api/article/content-types/schema.json

Step 3: Updating Custom Plugins and Middlewares

Custom plugins designed in Strapi v3/v4 may depend on deprecated APIs and require changes based on the new architecture. Hence, updating them becomes essential for plugin lifecycle consistency.

With the new plugin SDK introduced in Strapi 5, creating custom plugins becomes seamless as it allows modular development and reduces complexity. Here’s how you can update plugin architecture to new APIs:

1// Strapi v4 plugin export
2module.exports = ({ strapi }) => ({ ... });
3
4// Strapi 5 plugin export
5export default ({ strapi }) => ({ register() {}, bootstrap() {} });

Step 4: Testing and validation

Testing is essential to ensure application performance, security, and API responses meet enterprise standards. Once the plugin update and content model migration are completed, begin the testing phase.

Run automated test suites to validate API responses, permissions, and content delivery.

To explain with an example, you can test API response validation (using Jest):

1test("GET /api/article returns valid response", async () => {
2  const response = await request(strapi.server.httpServer).get("/api/articles");
3  expect(response.status).toBe(200);
4  expect(response.body.data).toBeDefined();
5});

Also, make sure to use Strapi’s built-in --watch-admin flag to rebuild the admin panel dynamically during testing:

npm run develop --watch-admin

Step 5: Deploy on Strapi Cloud or Self-managed Cloud Setup

Once all steps have been completed and the testing is done, you can push the changes to your CI/CD pipeline & deploy it on Strapi Cloud or any other third-party compatible setup.

Using Strapi Cloud is suggested to improve functionality and compatibility with the provided features and tools of Strapi 5.

For example, for Strapi 5 deployment with GitHub, run this command-

Additionally, enterprises can cut migration complexity, reduce downtime, and optimize Strapi 5 adoption by working with an experienced Strapi development company. The technical expertise helps with faster deployment and time-to-market, without disrupting the existing operations.

Significant Strapi Feature Updates You Should Know

The Strapi 5 update is significantly focused on enterprise-grade innovation, and to enable that, it has released two major feature updates: Strapi AI and enhancements to Strapi Cloud.

For organizations planning a Strapi 5 migration, these advancements ensure a modern, efficient, and future-proof CMS foundation.

Let’s quickly understand these updates, their significance in Strapi 5, and how they can support your unique business requirements.

Strapi AI

The newly launched Strapi AI brings generative AI capabilities directly into the CMS interface, enabling businesses to build intelligent content workflows. This feature helps teams accelerate content creation with a smart prompting mechanism, automate editorial suggestions, and improve SEO readiness with context-aware recommendations. It can summarize, rephrase, or localize content without leaving the CMS dashboard and can seamlessly integrate with your existing content approval flows.

Additionally, you can generate entire content schemas via AI chatbots either by running a prompt or by uploading a Figma file / an existing frontend app. The infusion of Strapi AI reduces manual efforts and helps you maintain consistency across channels.

Strapi Cloud Enhancements

Strapi Cloud has evolved to simplify deployment and scaling for global enterprises. With upgraded CI/CD integrations, automated scaling across multiple environments, and built-in monitoring tools, it now delivers a truly enterprise-ready platform for seamless application development, testing, and deployment. The latest enhancements include one-click Strapi version upgrades, strengthened security and authentication, advanced caching, and a high-availability infrastructure designed to ensure fast, reliable global content delivery.

How Does Successive Digital Simplify Strapi 5 Migration?

With over a decade of experience in CMS development & modernization, Successive Digital doesn’t just migrate your content management engine; they can transform your entire business ecosystem for a 360-degree transformation experience.

To be precise, in the context of Strapi 5 migration, they seamlessly migrate content models, APIs, and custom plugins with zero data loss, re-architect your stack to maximize Strapi 5 scalability and flexibility, optimize API performance and system security, and lastly, conduct rigorous testing to guarantee zero downtime for your ongoing operations.

Therefore, whether you’re on Strapi v3 or v4, their proven frameworks ensure a smooth and cost-effective upgrade to Strapi 5. Here are a few project glimpses that demonstrate their capabilities:

Real-World Impact of Strapi 5 Migration

Yatra Successive assisted Yatra in modernizing its systems by moving its legacy CMS to Strapi. This led to a 40% reduction in costs and a 20% increase in user engagement.

MyStays Successive Digital migrated MyStays’ legacy system to Strapi, which streamlined booking by 25% and reduced time spent on content management by 40%.

Final Thoughts

In a digital economy where customer experience is paramount, using outdated versions of a CMS is a significant risk. This is the reason why Strapi 5 migration is recommended for enterprises expecting optimal operational continuity, rather than experiencing performance bottlenecks.

This new version serves as an enabler of agility, scalability, and AI-driven innovation for these established brands, allowing them to deliver an enhanced digital experience.

Furthermore, working with experts in developing Strapi-based applications, like Successive Digital, will help ensure your migration from Strapi v3 or Strapi v4 to Strapi 5 is seamless and is strategically aligned with your business goals.

In a nutshell, Strapi 5 is the present and the future of content management and digital experience ecosystem. Hence, to stay ahead and competitive, enterprises must plan a migration.