
Migrating from AEM to Craft CMS: Considerations, Challenges, and Best Practices
If you're reading this, you're probably feeling the weight of Adobe Experience Manager's complexity and cost. Maybe your content editors are frustrated with the interface, or perhaps your CFO just saw the annual licensing bill. You're not alone, more companies are evaluating whether AEM's corporate-level features justify its price tag and operational overhead.
The migration from AEM to Craft CMS represents a significant shift in how you'll manage web content. While AEM offers extensive capabilities for large corporations with complex digital marketing needs, Craft CMS provides a more focused, developer-friendly approach that often better suits mid-sized companies and teams looking for flexibility without the burden of excessive infrastructure.
This isn't just about switching tools. It's about reimagining your content management approach. Let's explore what this migration actually involves, the challenges you'll face, and how to make an informed decision about whether this move makes sense for your team.
Understanding the Core Differences
Before you can plan a migration, you need to understand what you're actually changing. AEM and Craft CMS approach content management from fundamentally different philosophies.
Adobe Experience Manager builds on Java-based architecture with deep integration into Adobe's marketing ecosystem. It treats content as part of a broader digital experience platform, with built-in personalization, multi-site management, and advanced digital asset workflows. The system assumes you'll need corporate-level governance, approval chains, and integration with marketing automation tools.
Craft CMS, on the other hand, takes a more straightforward approach. Built on PHP and designed with developers in mind, it focuses on content flexibility and clean implementation. Instead of prescribing how your content should work, Craft provides building blocks (Sections, Fields, and Matrix blocks) that you assemble to match your specific needs.
Our experience shows that teams often underestimate how different these philosophies are. AEM's component-based system, where pages are assembled from predefined building blocks, doesn't map directly to Craft's entry-based structure. You're not just moving content; you're restructuring how that content relates to itself and your users.
The technical stack difference also matters. AEM typically runs on complex Java application servers with specific infrastructure requirements. Craft runs on standard PHP hosting, which means lower server costs and simpler deployment processes. This shift alone can reduce your monthly infrastructure expenses by 60-80%.
Comparing Features and Capabilities
Let's get specific about what changes when you move from AEM to Craft CMS. Understanding these differences helps you prepare for what you'll gain and what you might need to replace.
Content Modeling and Structure
AEM uses a hierarchical page tree with templates and components. Each page inherits properties from its template, and authors build pages by dragging components into predefined zones. This works well for maintaining consistency across large sites but can feel restrictive when you need custom layouts.
Craft uses Sections and Entry Types with custom fields. Instead of inheriting from templates, each entry has its own field layout. Matrix fields let authors create flexible content blocks without developer intervention. This gives editors more freedom while still maintaining structure through field validation and constraints.
Digital Asset Management
AEM's DAM is one of its strongest features, with automated image processing, metadata management, and workflow capabilities. Assets can have complex relationships, versioning, and approval processes built in.
Craft's asset management is simpler but still capable. Assets live in Volumes (local storage, Amazon S3, etc.), support custom metadata fields, and include built-in image transformation. What you lose in workflow complexity, you gain in simplicity and speed. For teams that don't need elaborate asset approval chains, Craft's approach often works better.
User Management and Permissions
AEM integrates with corporate directory services (LDAP, Active Directory) and supports complex permission schemes. You can control access down to individual components and workflows.
Craft provides user groups with customizable permissions. While not as granular as AEM, it covers most real-world needs: who can edit which sections, who can publish versus save drafts, and who can access the control panel. Single sign-on is available through plugins if you need directory integration.
Multi-site and Localization
Both systems handle multiple sites and languages, but differently. AEM's Multi Site Manager lets you manage site hierarchies with inheritance and overrides. Content can be shared or localized with sophisticated translation workflows.
Craft handles multi-site through its Sites feature, where each site can have its own base URL, language, and content. Entries can be localized per site, with the ability to sync or customize content across sites. The approach is more straightforward but requires more manual coordination for complex multi-site scenarios.
Real-World Use Cases and Migration Scenarios
Working with teams has taught us that successful migrations happen when companies match their actual needs to the platform's strengths. Here are common scenarios we encounter:
The Publishing Company Scenario
A media company with 50 editors publishing hundreds of articles weekly found AEM's workflow overhead slowing them down. Every article required multiple approvals through AEM's workflow engine, even for simple updates. After migrating to Craft, they built a simpler two-stage review process using Craft's native drafts and revisions. Publishing time dropped from hours to minutes, and editors reported higher satisfaction with the cleaner interface.
The Marketing Team Scenario
A B2B software company used AEM primarily for their marketing site. They weren't using personalization or marketing automation features, just publishing product pages, blog posts, and resources. The migration to Craft eliminated $200,000 in annual licensing while actually improving their content creation speed. They replaced AEM's component system with Craft's Matrix fields, giving marketers more layout flexibility without developer involvement.
The Multi-brand Corporation Scenario
A retail company managing 12 brand sites initially worried about losing AEM's Multi Site Manager. They rebuilt their architecture in Craft using multi-site functionality combined with shared field groups. While they lost some inheritance features, they gained the ability to customize each brand site without affecting others. The trade-off worked because their brands needed differentiation more than consistency.
The Failed Migration Scenario
Not every migration succeeds. A financial services firm attempted to move from AEM to Craft but struggled with compliance requirements. Their content needed specific approval workflows with audit trails that AEM handled natively. While they could have built custom functionality in Craft, the development cost exceeded potential savings. They ultimately stayed with AEM, focusing instead on training and process improvement.
Decision Framework: Is Migration Right for You?
Making the migration decision requires honest assessment of your needs, resources, and constraints. Here's a framework to guide your evaluation:
Assess Your Current AEM Usage
Start by auditing what you actually use in AEM. List every feature, integration, and workflow your team depends on. Be specific. Instead of "we use workflows," document "editors create drafts, senior editors review, legal approves, then marketing publishes." This detail reveals what you'll need to replicate or replace.
Next, calculate your true AEM costs. Include licensing, infrastructure, support contracts, and developer time for maintenance. Don't forget hidden costs like training new employees or waiting for specialized AEM developers.
Evaluate Migration Complexity
Consider your content volume and structure. Sites with thousands of pages and complex relationships require more migration effort than simpler marketing sites. Factor in:
- Number of content types and templates
- Asset volume and organization
- Custom integrations and APIs
- User accounts and permissions
- URL structures and SEO equity
Technical debt matters too. If your AEM implementation includes years of customizations and workarounds, migration offers a chance to clean house, but it also means more analysis and decision-making during the process.
Calculate ROI Timeline
Migration isn't free. Budget for:
- Initial migration development (3-6 months typically)
- Content migration and QA (1-3 months)
- Training and documentation (ongoing)
- Parallel running costs during transition
Compare this against projected savings from:
- Reduced licensing fees
- Lower infrastructure costs
- Decreased developer maintenance time
- Faster content publishing
Most teams see positive ROI within 12-18 months, but your timeline depends on migration complexity and current AEM costs.
Risk Assessment
Identify what could go wrong and plan accordingly. Common risks include:
- SEO impact: URL changes can hurt search rankings
- Feature gaps: Some AEM features might not have Craft equivalents
- Team resistance: Editors comfortable with AEM might resist change
- Integration challenges: Third-party tools might need reconfiguration
- Performance issues: Poor migration planning can create slow sites
For each risk, document mitigation approaches. SEO impact? Plan comprehensive redirects. Feature gaps? Budget for custom development. Team resistance? Invest in training and change management.
Professional Recommendations for Migration Success
We recommend approaching migration as a transformation opportunity, not just a platform switch. The teams that succeed treat migration as a chance to improve their content processes, not just replicate what existed before.
Phase Your Migration
Don't attempt everything at once. Start with a pilot, perhaps a microsites or a section of your main site. This lets you test your migration process, train a small group of users, and identify issues before they affect your entire web presence. Once the pilot succeeds, expand gradually.
A typical phasing approach:
- Migrate static content and basic pages first
- Add dynamic content and user features
- Integrate third-party services
- Migrate complex workflows and automation
- Decommission AEM after parallel running period
Invest in Migration Tooling
While manual content migration is possible, automation saves time and reduces errors. Build or buy tools for:
- Content extraction from AEM (using APIs or database queries)
- Data transformation (converting AEM's structure to Craft's format)
- Asset migration with reference preservation
- URL mapping and redirect generation
- Validation and QA checking
The Feed Me plugin for Craft helps with import, but you'll likely need custom scripts for extraction and transformation. Budget 20-30% of your migration effort for tooling development.
Design for the Future
Resist the temptation to recreate AEM's structure in Craft. Instead, design your content model based on current and future needs. Ask:
- What content types do we actually need?
- How can we simplify our editorial workflow?
- What flexibility do editors need?
- How can we improve site performance?
This is your chance to eliminate technical debt and build a cleaner, more maintainable system.
Plan for Training and Support
Even though Craft is more intuitive than AEM, training remains crucial. Create role-specific training:
- Editors: Focus on content creation, Matrix fields, and asset management
- Developers: Cover Twig templating, plugin development, and deployment
- Administrators: Explain user management, backups, and updates
Document everything, create video tutorials, and establish support channels. Consider appointing "Craft champions" who can help their colleagues adapt.
Maintain SEO Value
Protecting your search rankings during migration requires careful planning:
- Audit current URLs and create a mapping spreadsheet
- Set up 301 redirects for any URL changes
- Migrate meta titles, descriptions, and structured data
- Update XML sitemaps and submit to search engines
- Monitor search console for errors post-launch
- Maintain redirects for at least one year
Test redirects extensively before launch. Even small mistakes can significantly impact traffic.
Conclusion: Making the Migration Decision
Migrating from AEM to Craft CMS isn't just a technical project. It's a business decision that affects your entire content operation. The potential benefits are real: significant cost savings, improved performance, happier content editors, and greater flexibility for developers. But success requires careful planning, realistic expectations, and commitment to change management.
The companies that benefit most from this migration share certain characteristics: they're paying for AEM features they don't use, their content teams want more flexibility, and they're willing to invest in the migration process. If this sounds like your situation, migration could deliver substantial returns.
Remember that perfect feature parity isn't the goal. Instead, focus on building a content management system that serves your actual needs, not the needs AEM imagined you might have. This often means simpler workflows, cleaner interfaces, and more direct paths from content creation to publication.
Planning an AEM to Craft CMS migration for your company? The technical challenges are manageable, but success depends on understanding your content ecosystem and planning for every aspect of the transition. If you're evaluating whether Craft CMS can meet your specific requirements or need help architecting a migration that preserves your SEO value while improving your editorial workflow, we can help you assess the technical feasibility and create a detailed migration roadmap that minimizes risk and disruption to your business.
