SuiteCRM 8 is a fundamentally different architecture from SuiteCRM 7 — it introduces a Symfony application layer and an Angular-based frontend, with your SuiteCRM 7 codebase running inside it as a legacy layer. Because of this, moving from 7 to 8 is a migration rather than an upgrade: the process involves a new SuiteCRM 8 installation, not a patch applied to your existing instance.
Your SuiteCRM 7 code and data are preserved — they are moved into the SuiteCRM 8 folder structure and become the legacy layer
The migration is performed using a dedicated migration package, separate from standard upgrade packs
All migration commands run from the command line against the new SuiteCRM 8 instance
Before starting the migration, your SuiteCRM 7 instance must be on the latest 7.x release. The migration package is built against a specific minimum 7.x version — check the migration package name on the releases page to confirm the required version (e.g. 8.7.0 Upgrade from 7.14.x requires 7.14.x).
If your instance is not on the required version, upgrade it before proceeding.
Do not attempt the migration until your SuiteCRM 7 instance is on the required version. Running the migration from an older 7.x version will fail or produce an unstable result.
Also complete the following before starting:
Back up your SuiteCRM 7 files and database
Test the full migration on a development environment before running on production
Audit your customisations — the migration may remove non-core files from the public/legacy/ folder. See Large or Complex Upgrades for guidance on auditing customisations
Review add-on compatibility with SuiteCRM 8 before migrating
Confirm your server meets the SuiteCRM 8 compatibility requirements — check the SuiteCRM 8 Compatibility Matrix
The full migration process is documented in the SuiteCRM 8 admin guide:
That guide covers downloading the migration package, copying your SuiteCRM 7 instance, running the migration commands, resetting permissions, and post-migration checks.
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