Craft CMS Maintenance: Five Reasons to Update Monthly, and What to Include

Update the Craft core and plugins. Keep PHP and the database current. Take a backup, test it, and check that everything still works afterward. That’s the routine behind Craft CMS maintenance, and it keeps a Craft website secure, fast and ready for the next version. Doing it monthly is the simplest way to stay ahead of security patches without letting updates pile up.

Craft CMS is flexible, scales well and is easy for editors to use. None of that saves a site from needing regular website management after launch. The biggest part of monthly Craft maintenance is updating the CMS core and plugins, and that’s where most of the risk, and most of the value, sits.

Why should Craft CMS websites get monthly maintenance?

Why put a Craft site’s plugins and core through monthly maintenance? These are the five reasons that matter most in our experience.

1. Security vulnerabilities

Security comes first. Hackers constantly probe websites for weaknesses, and an outdated plugin or CMS core gives them an easy way in. The Craft team finds and fixes security flaws and ships the fixes as updates, but a patch only helps once it’s installed. Staying current will significantly reduce the risk of a security breach and protect sensitive data.

2. Bug fixes and performance enhancements

Plenty of updates have nothing to do with security. They fix bugs and improve performance. Bugs range from minor glitches to real malfunctions that hurt the user experience, and updating regularly gets the fixes onto your site promptly, so it stays reliable. Many releases also include optimizations that improve speed and compatibility with other software components.

3. Compatibility with new features

Craft changes with each new release, and updates bring new features that site owners can put to work. To use them, though, the CMS core and plugins have to be up to date. Falling behind can cause compatibility issues, with some features unavailable and others behaving in ways nobody expected.

4. Maintaining long-term stability

Leave a Craft site alone long enough and it builds up technical debt. The gap between the site’s current state and the latest version widens, and every future update gets harder and slower. A monthly update routine keeps that gap small and the site stable.

5. A proactive maintenance approach

Fixing things before they break is cheaper than fixing them after. Monthly updates catch small issues before they turn into big ones. That means less downtime, fewer disruptions to the business and less risk to your brand’s reputation.

What does monthly Craft CMS maintenance include?

Updates are the core of Craft maintenance, but a good monthly routine covers the whole stack the site runs on. Here’s what that typically includes.

Craft core and plugin updates

Craft and its plugins are installed through Composer, and Craft lists available updates in the control panel and through the php craft update command. Each month, review the release notes, apply minor and patch updates, and flag anything with breaking changes for a planned upgrade. It’s also the time to spot plugins that are no longer maintained and plan a replacement before they become a liability.

PHP and database versions

Craft is only as secure as the server it runs on. PHP versions have their own support windows; PHP 8.2, the minimum for Craft 5, receives security fixes only until December 31, 2026, according to php.net’s supported versions page. Monthly maintenance should track PHP and database (MySQL, MariaDB or PostgreSQL) versions and schedule server upgrades before support runs out.

Security patches and monitoring

Critical security releases shouldn’t wait for the monthly window. A maintenance plan should watch Craft’s security advisories, apply critical patches quickly, keep the SSL certificate valid, review admin user accounts and confirm that devMode is off in production so error details aren’t exposed to visitors.

Backups

Back up both the database and uploaded assets on a schedule, store copies off the server, and take a fresh backup before every update. Just as important, test a restore now and then. A backup you’ve never restored is a guess, not a safety net.

Performance

Check page speed on key templates, clear stale caches, review the queue for stuck jobs, and keep an eye on image transforms and database size. Small slowdowns are easy to fix when they’re caught early and much harder after months of drift.

Content and link checks

Maintenance isn’t only technical. Look for broken links, outdated pages, missing alt text and forms that no longer deliver. A quick content review keeps the site accurate for visitors and healthy for search.

License renewals

Craft and many commercial plugins include a period of updates with the license, and renewing keeps those updates coming. Track renewal dates so an expired license doesn’t quietly block a security update.

What about Craft major version upgrades, like Craft 4 to 5?

Monthly updates keep you current within a major version. Major version upgrades are bigger projects that need their own plan, and the support calendar makes them hard to put off. According to Craft’s supported versions page, each major version gets at least two years of active support, followed by a year of critical security fixes before end of life.

• Craft 5 was released on March 26, 2024. Active support runs through December 31, 2030, and security fixes through December 31, 2031.
• Craft 4 reached the end of active support on April 30, 2025, and security support ended on April 30, 2026. Craft 4 sites no longer receive security patches.
• Craft 3 reached end of life on April 30, 2024.

If your site is still on Craft 4 or earlier, upgrading should be at the top of the maintenance list. Craft’s Craft 5 upgrade guide recommends getting the live site onto the latest Craft 4 release first, then meeting Craft 5’s requirements: PHP 8.2 and MySQL 8.0.17+, MariaDB 10.4.6+ or PostgreSQL 13+. From there, the upgrade happens in three phases: preparation, a local upgrade and rollout to live environments. Plugins need Craft 5-compatible versions, so auditing them early saves surprises.

Looking further ahead, Craft is rebuilding Craft 6 on Laravel, and an alpha has been released. A site that’s current on Craft 5, with well-maintained plugins, will be in the best position whenever that upgrade makes sense.

How often should you update Craft CMS?

Monthly is the right rhythm for most sites. It’s frequent enough that updates stay small and low-risk, and infrequent enough to test properly. The exception is critical security releases, which should be applied as soon as they can be tested, outside the monthly cycle. High-traffic or e-commerce sites running Craft Commerce may warrant closer monitoring.

How to update Craft CMS safely

Updating directly on a live site is the most common way maintenance goes wrong. This sequence, based on Craft’s update documentation, keeps the risk low:

1. Back up first. Take a fresh database backup and confirm your asset files are backed up.
2. Read the release notes. Check the changelogs for Craft and each plugin, especially for breaking changes or new requirements.
3. Update locally or on staging. Run php craft update all (or update one handle at a time) in a development environment that mirrors production, never on the live server first.
4. Commit the changes. Commit the updated composer.json, composer.lock and project config files to version control.
5. Test the site. Check key templates, forms, search, the control panel and any integrations or checkout flows.
6. Deploy. Install the locked dependencies on production and apply migrations and project config changes as part of the deployment.
7. Monitor. Watch logs, the queue and site performance for a day or two, and keep the backup handy in case you need to roll back.

Monthly Craft CMS maintenance checklist

• Back up the database and assets, and confirm a recent restore test
• Review and apply Craft core and plugin updates on staging, then deploy
• Check Craft security advisories and apply any critical patches
• Confirm PHP and database versions are still supported
• Flag abandoned or incompatible plugins and plan replacements
• Verify the SSL certificate, uptime and that devMode is off in production
• Review admin users and remove accounts that are no longer needed
• Check page speed, caches, the queue and error logs
• Scan for broken links, outdated content and failing forms
• Track license renewals and the next major version upgrade on the calendar

Is Craft CMS maintenance different from WordPress maintenance?

The principles are the same: update regularly, back up, test and monitor. The mechanics differ. Craft sites are typically updated through Composer and deployed through version control, with project config keeping settings in sync across environments, while WordPress relies more on one-click updates in the dashboard. We cover the WordPress side in five reasons to perform monthly updates for WordPress websites.

Should you handle Craft CMS maintenance in-house or with a support partner?

Teams with a Craft developer on staff can run this routine themselves, as long as it actually happens every month. Many organizations prefer ongoing Craft CMS support from a partner, so updates, backups and upgrade planning don’t compete with other priorities. That’s the role of Daylight’s monthly Craft maintenance services.

Keep the plugins and the Craft core updated every month and you protect what you’ve built, give visitors a better site and show up to every major upgrade ready instead of behind.