TYPO3 Update or Relaunch?: Which Path to Choose

One of the important things to consider and notice by many TYPO3 agencies and developers is whether to opt for a TYPO3 update or a TYPO3 upgrade. With NITSAN's many years of TYPO3 development expertise, this comparison will guide you in deciding whether you need a TYPO3 update for your website or a complete TYPO3 relaunch.

We have developed many sites and upgraded TYPO3 from typo3 update v9 to 10, typo3 update v10 to 11, typo3 update v11 to 12 and from typo3 update v12 to 13. In this article, we will share insights on which option is better for your TYPO3 website: a TYPO3 update or a TYPO3 relaunch.

By the end of this article, you will have sufficient knowledge about TYPO3 updates and TYPO3 relaunches, helping you make an informed decision on which to choose.

Ready to dive in? Let's go!

According to the latest data examined, if you maintain your website regularly, it is very beneficial for you from a sales perspective. People who have updated their websites from older TYPOP3 versions to the latest noticed the following sting results,

• 55% more visitors
• 97% more inbound links
• 434% more indexed pages
   

According to the latest researched data, if you maintain your website on a regular basis it is very beneficial for you from a sales perspective. People who upgraded their websites from older versions to the latest noticed the following sting results,

• 55% more visitors
• 97% more inbound links
• 434% more indexed pages

That’s a quite good uplift for a little investment. Isn’t it?

Choosing between a TYPO3 update and a complete relaunch can be a daunting decision for any organization. Both paths offer distinct advantages and potential challenges. This guide will help you decide the best course of action based on your specific needs and goals.

Here are some comparisons to help you decide what is better for your website:

Update TYPO3 Version 10 to 11 or TYPO3 10 to 13

If you are upgrading from a very old TYPO3 version to the latest TYPO3 version, such as from TYPO3 version 12 to 13, we recommend considering the TYPO3 Website Relaunch option. Here’s why:

Old Template Structure: The template structure of older versions may break during the upgrade. A relaunch ensures compatibility with the latest TYPO3 version and design standards.

Extension Compatibility: Extensions used in older versions may no longer be available or maintained for the latest TYPO3 version.

Business Evolution: As your business evolves, new functionalities and changes may be required, which are better addressed with a fresh start.

Use of Morden design and the Latest TYPO3 version

The web is a fast-paced world, and outdated websites can quickly fall behind. If your site relies heavily on older HTML or feels clunky on mobile devices, a TYPO3 relaunch might be the perfect solution.

Here's why a TYPO3 relaunch can benefit you:

Modern Design: Breathe new life into your website with the latest design trends.

Latest TYPO3 Version: Take advantage of the newest features and security updates for optimal performance.

Mobile-Friendly: Ensure your website looks and functions flawlessly on all devices, from desktops to smartphones.

SEO Boost: A modern website built with TYPO3 best practices can improve your search engine ranking, making it easier for potential customers to find you.

Cost-Effective Options: Choose from a complete rebuild using the latest TYPO3 template methods, or leverage a pre-designed, trendy TYPO3 template for a budget-friendly refresh.

Choose Website relaunch as the best option.

Refresh or Rebrand Your Company

Creating an exceptional user experience can significantly boost conversions and demonstrate your commitment to brand representation. Redesigning and rebuilding your website can achieve this. We highly recommend a TYPO3 relaunch to design your ideal website using the latest coding standards. This approach ensures you leverage the newest TYPO3 extensions and benefits, enhancing both functionality and user engagement.

Are Elements/Extensions from Older TYPO3 Versions Still Compatible?

If your TYPO3 Extensions are no longer compatible or maintained, you don't need to update or restart your TYPO3 website. Simply back up the data and switch to an alternative extension or have a TYPO3 service provider update it.

However, if the main core extensions or template frameworks no longer work and need replacement, you should opt for a TYPO3 upgrade without hesitation. This ensures your site remains functional and up-to-date with the latest TYPO3 updates. Utilizing the right TYPO3 plugins and extensions is crucial for maintaining website performance and security.

Ensure PHP Compatibility with TYPO3 Version

When your hosting provider discontinues support for your current TYPO3 or PHP version, it's crucial to take action. If your TYPO3 version is relatively up-to-date, consider an upgrade to the latest version for better performance and security. However, if you're running a significantly outdated version, a full relaunch with a fresh design and the newest TYPO3 version is advisable. This approach not only ensures PHP compatibility but also enhances your site's functionality and user experience. Keeping your TYPO3 version updated helps avoid potential issues and ensures compatibility with the latest PHP versions, leading to smoother site operations and better support from hosting providers.

Choose TYPO3 Update and TYPO3 Relaunch both.

TYPO3 LTS Suppo

When TYPO3 LTS support ends, consider TYPO3’s Extended Long Term Support (ELTS) for an additional three years. After TYPO3 ELTS, it's advisable to upgrade TYPO3 to address compatibility issues, stay aligned with modern website trends, and enhance security. While a TYPO3 relaunch is an option, it can be more costly. Opting for a TYPO3 upgrade ensures your website remains current, secure, and fully functional.

Choose TYPO3 Update as the best option.

Want to Make a Secure Website with TYPO3 Security?

Security is the most important concern in the website business; your data, customers, and visitors are your capital. To address these concerns, TYPO3 security teams release continuous security updates. By regularly updating, you can avoid security issues. In this case, a major TYPO3 upgrade is recommended over a relaunch.

Merge with TYPO3 Headless or TYPO3 PWA

Congratulations on considering an upgrade for your TYPO3 website with the latest technologies like Headless TYPO3 or Progressive Web Apps (PWA). To implement these advancements, you will likely need to opt for a TYPO3 website relaunch, as older standards and structures are incompatible with these modern solutions. For a seamless upgrade, a minimum of TYPO3 v10 is recommended. By relaunching your TYPO3 site with these innovative technologies, you can enhance performance, user experience, and compatibility. Choose a TYPO3 relaunch to stay ahead with Headless TYPO3 and PWA.

Want to go with TYPO3 eCommerce? 

Powering up your TYPO3 website to TYPO3 Shop can be a good idea. To do so you don’t need a major TYPO3 relaunch. You just need to integrate TYPO3 Aimeos TYPO3 Shop Extension to your existing website. The only thing to consider is that your version for the current TYPO3 website is compatible with the Aimeos extension i.e TYPO3 v10,11,12,13.

TYPO3 SEO & Speed Performance of Website 

To significantly boost the speed and performance of your TYPO3 website, it's essential to undertake a comprehensive TYPO3 upgrade. This involves not only updating to the latest TYPO3 version but also refining coding standards, removing outdated code, and incorporating better extensions and SEO structures. Enhancing your website's templating methods and using effective plugins can lead to noticeable improvements. By addressing these elements, your TYPO3 website will not only load faster but also achieve better SEO rankings, ultimately providing a superior user experience.

If you ask for estimations of custom development for TYPO3 relaunch or major TYPO3 Upgrade, we bet the cost would be much higher than a ready-made TYPO3 template. 

The custom design and development is of course that the starting price is much higher, typically ranging from $2,000 to $8,000, depending on your needs and desired outcome. Of course, the more pages, forms, and templates you have, the more costly your TYPO3 website will be.

Let’s understand it by one of our customer case study,

Customer Requirement:

A parent group of companies needed to relaunch a TYPO3 website with a new design and TYPO3 version that displays a variety of niche services and businesses they needed to showcase. Some of their businesses were textile, automobile, Retail services, education (colleges), stock market services, and manufacturing firms. 

They required a website template that can satisfy the look and feel of all the individual niches from a single website i.e from a parent website that showcases their businesses and on clicking an individual business it redirects users to its specific website with different looks but same structure. 

Custom Template Development approach:

Following were the time and cost estimations for the requirement to develop everything from scratch,

Development Time: 2.5 to 3 months (300 hours approx)

Cost: 9000 Euros (300 hours of development with €30/hr)

Ready-made template (T3 Karma) approach:

When the customer got aware of T3 Karma, the ultimately multi-purpose template with hundreds of elements and website layouts, here are the estimations,

Development Time: 0 hours

Cost:  €499

The template was the fruitful option to the customer and he proceeded happily for it. Why should one pay more price than it actually is.

We hope this case study would have cleared your confusions and you’d have a right direction to think!

Check Pre Built TYPO3 Templates

• How to rebuild an existing TYPO3 website?

This will depend on what version and templating structure your TYPO3 website is built on. The best approach is to find out the TYPO3 development agency that is experienced at TYPO3 and grab a quotation for the same.

• How much does it cost to rebuild a TYPO3 website?

The cost to rebuild the TYPO3 website will vary significantly depending on how much work needs doing. It’s like asking “How much will it cost to renovate my house?” – it obviously depends completely on how much work is required. Feel free to contact us to get an estimate of the cost to rebuild your website.

• How to upgrade a TYPO3 website?

With TYPO3 websites, it’s the template and templating method, existing PHP and TYPO3 version, currently used extension that has most of the control over your website looks. It’s usually possible to update your TYPO3 website by proper planning.

Learn how to make TYPO3 Upgrade painless.

But if in doubt, contact us and we’d be happy to take a look at your website and offer some advice.

• How to rebuild a website in TYPO3 without updating in real-time?

The best option here is to use a ‘staging’ site. This is a cloned copy of your website, which can be edited and updated without affecting the live website. Then when the TYPO3 relaunch is complete, it’s possible to just migrate TYPO3 to the staging site to replace the live site in one quick process.

• How to update the TYPO3 website?

There are lots of possible answers to this question, depending on factors such as your website technology, your website hosting environment, and the type and scale of updates you want to make. If in doubt, get in touch with us for some advice.

• How often should you update your TYPO3 website?

As a general rule of thumb, a lot of businesses will completely overhaul their website around every 24 – 36 months. However this depends a lot on the specifics of your website, and what you hope to achieve. In the shorter term, you should install updates for any existing TYPO3 plugins or third-party tools much more frequently, to avoid any vulnerabilities and to keep your site running smoothly.

• How much does it cost to update a TYPO3 website?

This might cost less than €100, to more than €10,000, depending on how much work is required. If you’re unsure about where to start, give us a call to discuss your objectives and we’ll send you an estimate for the work.

Learn more about TYPO3 Upgrade costings

For now, to check TYPO3 compatibility, you must manually prepare a 3rd party TYPO3 extension compatibility report by checking the specifications of each extension one by one from the TYPO3 Extension Repository (TER). And well, that’s a very time-consuming task.

To save time and energy for the project planning and estimation, Team NITSAN developed a cool TYPO3 extension to generate an automatic extension compatibility report, and its result is wonderful. You can make the TYPO3 estimation process painless with it!

Download TYPO3 Extension Compatibility Report Generator

The answer to TYPO3 rebuild or TYPO3 Upgrade is not clear-cut because it depends on two main things:

• The state of your current website, and whether it helps you meet business goals.
• The changes and functionality you want or need to incorporate to better engage your audience and move visitors further down the sales cycle.

When deciding whether your website should be upgraded or scrapped altogether, it is important to know what your goals are and if your current site can meet those needs. For example, if you have an older website built mostly with HTML, you probably can’t incorporate any upgrades and definitely need TYPO3 relaunch. If you have a newer website with updated code that meets current standards, maybe small upgrade revisions are all that is needed.

While the stated reasons can serve as a guideline as you consider whether your website is ready for a redesign, every website is unique, and there may be other factors that influence your decision.

If you would like to upgrade your current system, our TYPO3 Upgrade Service can guide you through the process and ensure your website benefits from the latest features, security and performance improvements.

NITSAN is happy to work with you to review your current site to determine how a redesign might help you achieve your business goals. 

If you have any questions or queries feel free to drop them in the comment box below! Till then see you ;)