Orchard CMS 1.x is .NET Framework. Orchard Core is a different product. There is no in-place upgrade. We will tell you what content can come across, and whether Orchard Core is still the right home.
Australian .NET team. We look at the site before anyone talks about a rebuild.
01
What you have
02
What is safe to keep
03
Upgrade or move
The site still works. That is why it has been left alone.
Orchard 1.10 looks like it is one number away from Orchard Core 3. It is not. Separate repositories, separate architecture. A lot of the installs we hear about were built as an application framework as much as a CMS. Then the person who understood the Layout Editor left.
You might recognise one of these:
You do not need a new brand, or a CMS pitch. You need a clear read on the site you already have.
Orchard Core is still a real product. Latest release noted July 2026 is 3.0.1, requiring .NET 10. Orchard CMS 1.x lives in a different repo. Latest 1.x tag is 1.11, published 13 January 2026 — still Framework 4.8. 1.10.4 on 10 October 2025 was the last 1.10.x. A newer 1.x tag is not a Core migration.
Orchard CMS 1.x is ASP.NET MVC, NHibernate, .NET Framework, Windows-only. Orchard Core is a rewrite on ASP.NET Core. Maintainer-era guidance is still the clearest statement: there is no automatic in-place upgrade. 1.x does not replace, and it works only on Windows servers. Never “upgrade Orchard to the latest Orchard”.
Content can be exported. Code cannot. There is no in-place path.
Different DB schema. Recipes are XML on 1.x and JSON on Core. There is no Orchard 1 Layout Editor on Core. Modules, themes, Layouts, NHibernate records, and workflows do not load on Core. Every 1.x module and theme is a rewrite. Community recipe tools (Lombiq Helpful Extensions and similar) move content-ish XML to JSON. They do not migrate code.
1.x still received community 1.10.x patches. That feels like “we are fine”. Framework 4.8 support follows the Windows box, not an Orchard HQ LTS table. There is no Orchard headquarters banner that switches 1.x off. The clock is Windows Server and Framework, plus the fact that hiring follows Orchard Core and modern .NET, not NHibernate and O1 layouts.
None of that makes the content worthless. It does mean “upgrade 1.10 to Orchard Core 3 over a weekend” is the wrong first move.
We start with the install, not with a destination.
1.x versus someone already on Core, which modules and themes are custom, whether the Layout Editor and workflows are load-bearing, and whether Orchard was used as a CMS or as an application framework. We will tell you what content can export, and what is a rewrite.
There are three honest outcomes. We recommend one, not all three.
Content and URLs come across where recipes can carry them. Modules, themes, and NHibernate records do not. Unused features stay behind.
Source, a short record of what changed, and a site someone else can understand.
We will not tell you 1.11 finished the Core move. We will not tell you WordPress is the answer to every 1.x site. If you already know you want to stay on Orchard Core forever, an Orchard-only shop may be a better fit. If you want an honest fork in the road, talk to us.
A URL and a rough version is enough to start.
The first call is 30 minutes. You leave with a recommendation you can take to a manager, not a rebuild estimate pulled from thin air.
We have taken over and modernised ageing .NET systems for Australian organisations, including work with Data#3, Hastie, NESS, and NSW Health. That is related Microsoft web work, not a published Orchard 1.x or Orchard Core case study. Your site still starts with its own assessment. We will not pretend it is a project we have already published.
Thirty minutes. Bring a URL and a version number if you know it. We will tell you whether to rebuild on Orchard Core, stay on 1.x for a while, or leave Orchard — and we will not call 1.x a Core upgrade.
Book a free 30-minute discovery call