Case Study
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Migrating hundreds of thousands of pages, re-platforming and extending for the leading composable AI integration platform
From Prismic to Joomla
We are the Prismic to Joomla migration experts
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Challenges with Prismic
Key pain points
We have a long history with Prismic, and at one point, we were agency partners, so count us as biased. However, if you're anything like us, we've had an absolutely terrible experience with Prismic.
They've historically changed their API ad hoc, resulting in many broken websites, which is especially bad for an agency. They've dumped infrastructure on the community, resulting in expensive migration bills and client dissatisfaction and they've updated their system with no way to migrate other than to rebuild your entire website for literally years.
If you're having a hell of a time, we can help you move away and do it without breakages. We've had to migrate quite a few folks and we have a standardised process that lets us migrate images, videos, text and content structure to the platform of your choice.
Dependency on third-party hosting
You don’t control the infrastructure, Prismic does. So you’re tied to their uptime, limits, and CDN behaviour.
Limited native integrations
Most serious integrations require extra tooling or custom code because Prismic’s built-in ecosystem is pretty thin.
Steep learning curve
Slices, custom types, and the editor workflow take time to understand, especially for teams new to component-driven CMS structures.
Lack of built-in versioning
There’s no full document history or global rollback, meaning mistakes are harder to recover from without workarounds.
Escalating pricing model
Costs jump fast as you add seats, locales, or repositories, making it expensive to scale a growing content team.
Limited out-of-box features
Beyond basic content creation, most advanced needs require custom development, external tools, or plugins.
Benefits of Joomla
Key advantages
Trying to convince someone to use Joomla in 2026 feels like recommending Internet Explorer. But hey, if you must use it, there are a few redeeming qualities. Joomla does have some genuinely solid features. Native multilingual support without plugins is impressive. Its permission system is more detailed than most enterprise platforms, and the modular structure gives developers a lot of freedom to architect complex, multi-section sites. If you've got a big team with lots of editors and need granular control, Joomla won't fall apart on you.
If you’re absolutely set on Joomla (and we can’t stop you), we’ll point you toward an agency that still proudly builds 2008-core-web-vital-failing templates. Or you can talk to us, and we’ll at least make sure you don’t regret every step of the journey.
Native multilingual support
Joomla ships with multilingual features baked in, so you don’t need a plugin graveyard just to run a site in five languages. It handles translations cleanly and is genuinely one of the few CMSs that gets this right out of the box.
Granular user permission system
Its ACL system is its biggest bragging right. You can lock down roles, workflows, and access rules with a level of control that most CMS platforms still envy.
Custom field capabilities
Joomla gives you solid flexibility with custom fields, letting you shape structured content without hacking together a dozen extensions. It’s powerful enough for complex layouts and multi-section content.
Active developer community
The community isn’t massive, but the people who are there are dedicated, technical, and still shipping useful extensions and documentation. If you're deep in Joomla land, it’s a lifeline.
Strong security foundation
When properly maintained, Joomla is known for being stable and secure. Regular updates and a security-focused core give it an edge over many older open-source CMS setups.
Modular architecture flexibility
Its module-based layout system lets you build multi-section portals, dashboards, and content-heavy sites without bending the platform backward. If you know what you're doing, it’s flexible enough to scale.
Common questions
Prismic to Joomla migration FAQs
Answers to the most common questions about Prismic to Joomla migration
How much does Prismic cost?
Prismic has a free plan for 1 user with limited API calls. The Starter plan is $7/month per user for small teams. The Small plan is $150/month for up to 25 users with more locales and API bandwidth. Medium is $500/month. Large and Enterprise plans go higher. The pricing jumps are significant once you need multiple locales or repositories. We've had clients hit the ceiling on the Small plan faster than expected because of how Prismic counts API calls and custom types.
What are the best Prismic alternatives?
Sanity is the alternative we recommend most. It gives you better content modelling, real-time collaboration, and a query language (GROQ) that's far more flexible than Prismic's API. Contentful is another option with a bigger ecosystem, though pricing is steeper. If you liked Prismic's Slices concept, Sanity's block-based content approach works similarly but with more depth. We've migrated multiple former Prismic agency partners to Sanity, and the developer experience improvement is always the first thing they mention.
Can I migrate from Prismic to another CMS?
Yes. We've migrated quite a few Prismic projects, mostly to Sanity. We export your custom types, documents, and media through Prismic's API, then restructure everything for the target platform. Prismic's Slice-based content maps well to Sanity's portable text and block system. Typical migrations take 3-5 weeks. We keep your existing Prismic site live throughout, so there's no downtime. The biggest challenge is usually handling Prismic's media library, since images need to be moved to a new CDN.
Is Prismic a good CMS for developers?
It's decent for simple projects. The Slice Machine tooling is clever and the TypeScript support has improved. But Prismic's API has limitations that frustrate developers on bigger projects. You can't do complex queries, filtering is basic, and the content modelling is shallow compared to Sanity or Contentful. The bigger issue is Prismic's track record of breaking API changes and infrastructure shifts that have caused production outages. Developers who need reliability and deep customization are better served elsewhere.
Why are teams leaving Prismic?
The main reasons we hear are API instability, limited content modelling depth, and pricing that doesn't match the feature set. Prismic has a history of making breaking changes to their API and infrastructure without adequate migration paths. One major version change left agencies (including us, when we were partners) with broken client sites and expensive rebuild bills. Teams also outgrow the content modelling quickly. Once you need complex relationships between content types, Prismic's flat structure becomes a bottleneck.
How much does it cost to migrate from Joomla to a modern CMS?
For a typical Joomla site with 500 to 2,000 pages, expect $15,000 to $60,000 depending on complexity. The content extraction itself is manageable since Joomla uses MySQL, but the real cost is rebuilding custom extensions, templates, and workflows in a modern stack. Most Joomla sites have accumulated years of plugins that need equivalents or replacements. We've found the migration typically pays for itself within 12 months through reduced hosting costs, faster page loads, and eliminated maintenance overhead from outdated PHP dependencies.
How long does a Joomla migration take?
Plan for 6 to 12 weeks for a full migration. Content extraction from Joomla's MySQL database takes a few days. The bulk of the timeline goes toward rebuilding your frontend, replacing extension functionality, and migrating SEO equity (URLs, redirects, metadata). Joomla's version upgrade issues actually work in your favour here. If upgrading between Joomla versions already means a near-rebuild, you might as well migrate to a platform that won't put you through the same pain again in 3 years. We handle the full process including 301 redirect mapping so you don't lose search rankings.
Why are companies finally leaving Joomla?
Performance and developer availability. Joomla sites on shared hosting consistently score poorly on Core Web Vitals, which directly hurts search rankings. Finding developers who still want to work with Joomla's older PHP conventions is getting harder and more expensive every year. The extension ecosystem is shrinking as maintainers move on to other platforms. Companies that delayed migration are now facing a compounding problem where the longer they wait, the fewer resources exist to help them. High cost-per-click on "Joomla migration" search terms tells you everything about how urgently companies want out.
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