Two Moodle sites on the same version can need very different amounts of work to upgrade. The size of the job depends far more on what is installed around Moodle than on Moodle itself. These are the things that decide it, so you can see where your site stands before you ask anyone for a quote.
1. How far you are going
Each Moodle release sets a minimum version you can upgrade from. Moodle 5.0 and 5.1 need 4.2.3 or later, and 5.2 and 5.3 need 4.4 or later. A site on an older 4.x or 3.x release needs one or more intermediate upgrades first, and each step needs its own testing.
2. Your add-on plugins
This is usually the biggest factor. Every additional plugin needs a version that supports the target release. Maintained plugins are quick to update; abandoned ones have to be replaced, rewritten or removed, and their data kept safe. A site with five well-maintained plugins and a site with forty, several of them custom, are very different jobs.
3. Your theme and customizations
Themes built on Moodle’s core Boost theme usually need small changes. Heavily customized themes need more, especially across the move to Bootstrap 5 in Moodle 5.0. Changes made directly to Moodle’s core code (rather than through plugins) have to be found and redone, which is why core changes make every future upgrade harder.
4. Your server
Newer releases need newer PHP and database versions, so the server may need upgrading first. Moving to Moodle 5.1 or later also means pointing the web server at Moodle’s new public folder and setting up routing, which depends on your hosting.
5. Integrations and data
- Single sign-on, payment, video and student-record integrations each need testing after the upgrade
- A large database and many files make backups, copies and the upgrade itself take longer
- Several languages or many course formats add to the testing
6. Testing and the go-live window
A proper upgrade is rehearsed on a copy of the live site first, then repeated on production in a planned maintenance window. How much testing is needed depends on how many courses, activities and integrations your teachers and students rely on.
Our free Moodle upgrade checklist walks through every step, checked against Moodle’s official upgrade guide, and our free Moodle health check shows your version and whether it still gets security fixes. If you would rather we handle it, send us your version and plugin list and we will reply with a written quote.
Related serviceMoodle UpgradesMoodle 5.x upgrades, rehearsed on staging first.
Written byMuhammad AhmadFounder & Software Engineer at StackStead Solutions. Building for the web since 2020.Ask a question
