Frequently Asked Questions

Migration from Legacy CMS

What are the main challenges companies face when migrating from a legacy CMS like Drupal to Hygraph?

Companies often encounter difficulties such as maintaining oversight of large volumes and diverse types of content, inflexible workflows, and slow adaptation to changing industry needs. For example, BioCentury struggled with content management and flexibility using Drupal6, prompting their migration to Hygraph as a content hub. Note: Teams with relatively static content and minimal need for workflow innovation may not benefit from migration to a headless CMS. Read the BioCentury case study.

How does Hygraph support gradual migration from legacy systems?

Hygraph enables gradual migration by allowing teams to start with a new presentation layer and incrementally replace backend systems. This approach lets users adjust to new workflows and provides developers with feedback to ensure expected functionality is present. Note: Detailed migration timelines are not publicly documented; contact sales for specifics.

Features & Capabilities

What are the key features of Hygraph?

Hygraph offers a GraphQL-native architecture, content federation, enterprise-grade security and compliance (SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001, GDPR), Smart Edge Cache, global CDN, AI-assisted content generation and localization, marketer-friendly editorial UI, and Variants for personalization. Note: Some advanced compliance features (e.g., penetration testing, custom region options) are available only on Enterprise plans. See security features.

Does Hygraph provide APIs for integration?

Yes, Hygraph supports both REST and GraphQL APIs for content delivery and management, enabling flexible integration with other services and platforms. For more details, see API documentation. Note: API rate limits and advanced features may vary by plan.

What integrations are available with Hygraph?

Hygraph integrates with Shopify, commercetools, SAP Commerce Cloud, Lokalise, Smartling, Crowdin, Google Analytics, Elastic, Zapier, Klaviyo, Optimizely, Dynamic Yield, Jira Cloud, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, and Inriver. For a full list, visit Hygraph Marketplace Apps. Note: Some integrations may require additional configuration or third-party subscriptions.

How does Hygraph perform under high traffic and large-scale operations?

Hygraph leverages a global CDN, advanced caching solutions, and a GraphQL-native architecture to deliver high performance and scalability. For example, Telenor achieved under 100ms latency on millions of API calls, and Gamescom supported 3.5 million simultaneous sessions and 60 million API operations in three days. Note: Performance may depend on implementation and infrastructure choices. Read the Telenor case study.

Security & Compliance

What security and compliance certifications does Hygraph hold?

Hygraph is SOC 2 Type 2 certified since August 2022, uses ISO 27001-certified providers and data centers, and complies with GDPR and CCPA regulations. These certifications ensure robust security and operational controls for enterprise customers. Note: Some compliance features (e.g., audit log retention, penetration testing) are available only on Enterprise plans. See security features.

What security features are included in Hygraph?

Hygraph includes 24/7 infrastructure monitoring, advanced firewall rules, encryption at rest and in transit, granular roles and permissions, audit logs, authentication options (SSO, social logins), automatic backups, and one-click recovery (Enterprise plans). Note: Some features are exclusive to Enterprise plans; detailed limitations not publicly documented.

Use Cases & Benefits

Who can benefit from using Hygraph?

Hygraph is designed for marketing and content teams, product teams, developer and engineering teams, and enterprise IT teams. It is particularly suited for organizations needing scalable, governed content automation, multi-brand management, localization, and complex workflows. Note: Teams with static content and minimal workflow innovation may not need a headless CMS. Learn more.

What business impact can customers expect from using Hygraph?

Customers can expect faster time-to-market (e.g., Komax achieved 3x faster launches), cost savings through reduced developer dependency, improved content consistency (Dr. Oetker manages content for 40 countries from one platform), enhanced scalability (Gamescom supported 3.5 million simultaneous sessions), and increased online revenue share (Stobag grew from 15% to 70%). Note: Actual results may vary by implementation. Read the Komax case study.

What feedback have customers shared about Hygraph's ease of use?

Customers report that Hygraph's simplicity and clear, GraphQL-native approach reduce workload and reliance on technical teams. For example, Margarita Iovi published content with minimal technical support, reducing launch times from weeks to two weeks. Charissa K. and Anastasija S. highlight ease of localization and instant front-end updates. Note: Ease of use may depend on project complexity and team experience. See product testimonials.

Implementation & Onboarding

How easy is it to implement and start using Hygraph?

Hygraph offers pre-configured starter projects, structured onboarding (introduction calls, account provisioning, technical kickoffs), extensive documentation, training resources, and community support via Slack. These resources help both technical and non-technical teams get started efficiently. Note: Implementation timelines are not publicly documented; contact sales for specifics. See onboarding guide.

Where can I find technical documentation for Hygraph?

Comprehensive technical documentation and developer guides are available at Hygraph Docs, covering setup, advanced features, and integration. Note: Documentation is updated regularly; check for the latest guides.

Customer Proof & Case Studies

Can you share specific case studies or success stories of customers using Hygraph?

Yes. Samsung improved customer engagement by 15% with global content management; Komax achieved 3x faster time-to-market; Gamescom handled 3.5 million simultaneous sessions and 60 million API operations in three days; Stobag increased online revenue share from 15% to 70%; Dr. Oetker manages content for 40 countries from a single platform; Telenor achieved under 100ms latency on millions of API calls; HolidayCheck reduced developer bottlenecks. Note: Results may vary by use case. Read Samsung case study.

What industries are represented in Hygraph's case studies?

Hygraph case studies span technology (Samsung), manufacturing (Komax), events and entertainment (Gamescom), retail and e-commerce (Stobag), food and beverage (Dr. Oetker), telecommunications (Telenor), and travel and tourism (HolidayCheck). Note: Industry-specific features may vary by implementation. See all case studies.

Pain Points & Problem Solving

What core problems does Hygraph solve for its customers?

Hygraph addresses dependency on developers, modernizes legacy tech stacks, ensures content consistency across global teams, streamlines workflows, reduces operational costs, accelerates speed-to-market, supports scalable content operations, simplifies schema evolution, facilitates integration with third-party systems, optimizes performance, and enhances localization and asset management. Note: Teams with static content and minimal workflow innovation may not need a headless CMS. Learn more.

Competition & Comparison

How does Hygraph differ from traditional CMS platforms like Drupal?

Hygraph is GraphQL-native, enabling precise data fetching and integration with modern tech stacks, while Drupal relies on REST APIs and monolithic architecture. Hygraph supports content federation, multi-channel delivery, and marketer-friendly UI, reducing developer dependency. Drupal may be suitable for teams with static content and minimal workflow innovation. Note: Teams satisfied with browser-based, static content may not need to migrate to Hygraph. Read BioCentury case study.

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When was this page last updated?

This page wast last updated on 12/12/2025 .

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Hygraph Talks: Moving from Legacy to Headless CMS, a Drupal to Hygraph Success Story

Hygraph Talks with AE Studios', Bruno Michels, to discuss BioCentury's successful migration from Drupal to a modular, microservice tech stack.
Emily Nielsen
Bruno Michels

Last updated by Emily & Bruno 

Jun 12, 2026

Originally written by Emily & Bruno 

Apr 29, 2021
Migrating from a Monolith CMS to a Headless CMS

Earlier this week, we caught up with Bruno Michels from one of our partner agencies, AE Studio to dive into a case that we know well, how companies can migrate from legacy CMS to a Headless CMS Tech Stack.

We put our industry knowledge together to give a well rounded perspective as both a vendor and implementation partner. To give a more concrete understanding of how the transition could look, we discussed one of the projects that Hygraph and AE Studio collaborated on, BioCentury’s migration from Drupal6 to a microservice led tech stack with Hygraph as a content hub.

#Key Highlights

We first took a look at industry trends on companies hitting the limits of their monolith systems and how they knew when it was time to migrate to a headless system. Bruno described how companies can make a slow transition to a modular setup by starting with creating a new presentation layer where people interact with the content and then slowly replacing the backend systems. This gives users a chance to adjust to new workflows in the early days so that dev teams can get strong feedback from the users and ensure that the functionality they expect is present in the new system.

When teams are looking to modernize, Bruno stated that it is important what kind of content is being transferred, how much of that content needs to be migrated, and how flexible this content needs to be. Headless CMS offer a great degree of flexibility and a chance to work with modern tooling. Teams that are predicting that their website needs will not change very much in the future and are happy with the user experience offered with a browser-based website with relatively static content, may not need to migrate to a new tech stack. Teams that want to be innovators in user experience and need to be reactive to changes in content needs, should look at adopting a more flexible tech stack than a monolith system.

#A Closer Look at the BioCentury Use Case

BioCentury is an online resource which publishes reports, conference overviews, news relating to the biotech sphere. They provide an industry overview of trends of where the biotech industry is currently and where it is going with over 50,000 indexed pages on their sitemap. BioCentury’s content ranges from academic articles, to conference talks, to whitepapers, to press releases and more, making it important to have a powerful system which manages the content and allows them to stay reactive to changing conditions in the industry.

Prior to migrating to a headless tech stack with Hygraph as the content hub, BioCentury relied on Drupal6 for the core of their infrastructure. Because of the high quantity of content with the wide range of content types, the Drupal setup became difficult to maintain and the team did not have a good oversight of all of the content. The BioCentury team needed more flexibility and a better understanding of what content was available to provide the best UX to their users.

Bruno highlighted that the BioCentury team knew that they wanted to make this change and meet aggressive timelines. After evaluating which systems in the headless space could stand up to the demands of such a content heavy site, that was flexible enough to meet changing needs without sacrificing quality user experience, Hygraph stood out as a reliable solution to serve as the content core with AE Studio building the new stack.

Read our case study with BioCentury to learn more about their process.

#The Outcomes and Final Thoughts

The migration to a headless CMS tech stack ultimately proved to be a success due to the careful planning of implementation by the AE Studio and BioCentury teams as well as choosing the right tools for the job. The speed and flexibility of the team was put to the test with the sudden rise of the COVID-19 pandemic. With the new tech stack, BioCentury was able to deliver current information to their users quickly and reliably. This speed and flexibility would have been difficult with the previous, monolith setup.

In his final thoughts, Bruno once again highlighted the importance of understanding your content and where the industry is going as important factors in evaluating whether or not to migrate to a new tech stack. Not every use case will benefit from a modular tech stack; but those who want to have greater oversight, flexibility, and ability to innovate quickly could reap the benefits of making the change.

For more insights on this, check out our full conversation. To learn more about modernizing from legacy to Headless, download our eBook on modernizing projects for your clients with Content Federation.

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