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Migrate from Umbraco to Jekyll

Complete guide to migrating your Umbraco website to Jekyll. Leave Umbraco's requires .net hosting which is more expensive than php behind and get native github pages integration. Free migration tool included.

20-40 minutes

Medium

100% Free

Start Free Migration

TL;DR

You can migrate from Umbraco to Jekyll for free using LeaveWP. Enter your site URL, choose Jekyll as the destination, and download your content — posts, pages, and media — in minutes. No API keys, passwords, or CLI tools required. Difficulty: Medium. Estimated time: 20-40 minutes.

Why Teams Leave Umbraco

Open-source .NET CMS with flexible content modeling. .NET teams wanting an open-source CMS with excellent content modeling, but these limitations push teams toward modern alternatives.

Requires .NET hosting which is more expensive than PHP

This is the most common reason teams migrate away from Umbraco. Jekyll eliminates this issue entirely.

Smaller plugin marketplace than PHP-based CMS options

With Jekyll, native github pages integration — deploy by pushing to a repo.

Cloud version (Umbraco Cloud) adds significant cost

Modern architectures like Jekyll are designed to avoid this from the ground up.

Fewer tutorials and third-party resources available

After migrating, you'll no longer need to worry about this — Jekyll takes a fundamentally different approach.

What Jekyll Brings to the Table

Ruby-based SSG that powers GitHub Pages. Built with Ruby (Liquid templates), it's developer blogs hosted on github pages with minimal setup.

Native GitHub Pages integration — deploy by pushing to a repo

Mature and battle-tested for blogs and documentation

Large library of themes and plugins

Simple mental model — content in Markdown, layouts in Liquid

Jekyll is open-source and free to use. You own your code and data with no vendor lock-in. Deploy to any host that supports Ruby, or use managed platforms like Vercel and Netlify for zero-config deployments.

Umbraco vs Jekyll at a Glance

Side-by-side comparison based on real platform characteristics

Metric	Umbraco	Jekyll
Ease of Use	⭐⭐⭐ 3/5	⭐⭐⭐ 3/5
Performance	⭐⭐⭐ 3/5	⭐⭐⭐ 3/5
Flexibility	⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5	⭐⭐⭐ 3/5
Cost	⭐⭐⭐ 3/5	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5/5
Scalability	⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5	⭐⭐ 2/5
Ecosystem	⭐⭐ 2/5	⭐⭐⭐ 3/5
Language	.NET / C#	Ruby (Liquid templates)
Pricing	Free (self-hosted) / Cloud plans available	Free (open-source)
Open Source	Yes	Yes

Ratings are based on publicly available data, documentation, and community consensus as of 2026. Individual experience may vary.

What Gets Migrated

A detailed breakdown of how your Umbraco content maps to Jekyll

Content Types from Umbraco

content nodes
media
document types
member data

Technical Details

Export Method: Content Delivery API or Umbraco Heartcore
Source Language: .NET / C#
Destination Format: Markdown/MDX files with frontmatter, organized by content type
URL Handling: 301 redirect map generated automatically to preserve SEO equity

What may need manual attention

Custom server-side logic, third-party integrations, and platform-specific plugins will need equivalent solutions in Jekyll. The core content (text, images, metadata) transfers cleanly.

How It Works

Migrate your content in three simple steps

Connect

Enter your Umbraco site URL — LeaveWP connects automatically.

Configure

Select Jekyll as destination and choose content options.

Export

Download your migrated content or preview it in your browser.

Is Umbraco to Jekyll the Right Move for You?

Migrating from Umbraco to Jekyll makes the most sense if you're experiencing requires .net hosting which is more expensive than php or outgrowing Umbraco's architecture. Jekyll is best for developer blogs hosted on github pages with minimal setup.

You should migrate if: your Umbraco site is slow, your hosting costs are climbing, you need developer flexibility, or you want to adopt a modern JAMstack architecture.

You might want to stay if: your Umbraco site benefits from flexible document types — model any content structure and you don't have Ruby developers on your team.

The migration itself is straightforward with LeaveWP — enter your Umbraco URL, select Jekyll, and download your content. The more important question is whether Jekyll's architecture fits your team's skills and your project's long-term needs.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does it take to migrate from Umbraco to Jekyll?

Most migrations from Umbraco complete in 20-40 minutes. We pull content via Umbraco's Content Delivery API, then structured for Jekyll. Complex sites with extensive custom fields may take longer.

Will I lose my SEO rankings when migrating from Umbraco?

No. We help you set up proper 301 redirects from your old Umbraco URLs to preserve search rankings. Jekyll supports clean URL structures that maintain your existing SEO equity.

What Umbraco content can be migrated to Jekyll?

Umbraco content types like content nodes, media, document types, member data are all migrated to Jekyll. Content is converted to Markdown/MDX files or structured for your chosen headless CMS.

Do I need Ruby experience to migrate?

No coding experience is required for the migration itself — LeaveWP handles the export and conversion automatically. However, customizing your Jekyll site afterward will benefit from Ruby (Liquid templates) knowledge. For teams without that expertise, the generated code is well-structured and documented, making it approachable for developers of any level.

How much does it cost to host a Jekyll site after migrating from Umbraco?

Jekyll sites can be deployed to Vercel, Netlify, Cloudflare Pages, or any Node.js host — often on generous free tiers. static Jekyll sites can be hosted for free on Vercel or Netlify (up to generous bandwidth limits), which is significantly cheaper than running a Umbraco instance.

Can I migrate Umbraco custom fields and metadata to Jekyll?

Yes. Custom fields, metadata, and taxonomies from Umbraco are preserved during migration. In Jekyll, these become frontmatter fields in your Markdown/MDX files, which you can extend or restructure to fit your content model.