endoflife.ai
CockroachDB v24.1 v25.4 Databases

CockroachDB v24.1 End of Life: October 21, 2026 (Assistance Ends)

By Scott Bissett  ·  Published: September 30, 2026  ·  Reference guide  ·  Dates served from data and checked against Cockroach Labs' release support policy daily.

CockroachDB v24.1 reaches end of life on October 21, 2026. That is the end of its Assistance Support phase under Cockroach Labs' release support policy, and the policy's own words for what follows are that Cockroach Labs provides no further support for the release. The phase that matters more to most operators ended a year earlier: Maintenance Support, with its regular patch releases, closed on October 21, 2025. v24.1 first shipped on May 20, 2024 and became an LTS release on October 21, 2024.

A v24.1 cluster has been on critical security fixes only since October 2025. Assistance Support keeps critical security fixes coming but ends feature enhancements and the routine patch cadence. If the cluster has a bug that is not a security issue, the answer since last October has been to upgrade, not to wait for a patch. After October 21, 2026 even the security fixes stop.
Quick answer: CockroachDB 26.3 is supported until February 19, 2027, its end-of-support date. The next CockroachDB version to reach end of life is 24.1, on October 21, 2026. 18 of 24 tracked CockroachDB versions are past end of life; the most recent to reach it, 26.1, did so on August 2, 2026. Every CockroachDB version's release and end-of-support date is on the CockroachDB lifecycle page.

Cockroach Labs' three phases, and what LTS changes

Cockroach Labs splits its major releases into Regular and Innovation releases. A Regular release passes through Maintenance Support (regular patch releases with critical security fixes and fixes for problems users report), then Assistance Support (no more feature enhancements; critical security fixes continue), then end of life. An Innovation release gets Maintenance Support only, for 180 days, and no Assistance phase.

The clocks depend on LTS. A Regular release at GA gets 365 days of Maintenance and 180 days of Assistance. Once Cockroach Labs designates a later patch as the first LTS release, the clocks restart from that day: 365 days of Maintenance from the first LTS release, then 365 days of Assistance. That is why v24.1, which went LTS at 24.1.6 on October 21, 2024, runs until October 2026 rather than ending in late 2025.

Releases and their dates

ReleaseTypeGALTS fromMaintenance endsEnd of life
v26.2Regular, LTSApril 27, 2026September 23, 2026September 23, 2027September 23, 2028
v25.4Regular, LTSNovember 3, 2025May 3, 2026May 3, 2027May 3, 2028
v25.2Regular, LTSMay 9, 2025December 17, 2025December 17, 2026December 17, 2027
v24.3Regular, LTSNovember 18, 2024May 5, 2025May 5, 2026May 5, 2027
v24.1Regular, LTSMay 20, 2024October 21, 2024October 21, 2025October 21, 2026
v26.3InnovationAugust 19, 2026—February 19, 2027February 19, 2027
v26.1InnovationFebruary 2, 2026—August 2, 2026August 2, 2026

Innovation releases are optional stepping stones: their six months of Maintenance Support end the day the release does. For a production cluster the Regular LTS rows are the ones to plan around.

Running CockroachDB past end of life?
Extended support past the official EOL date exists for many products in this position — whether it covers CockroachDB is exactly what we check. Tell us where to reach you and we’ll reply with matched options and pricing guidance — or an honest “no vendor covers this.” Free, no obligation.

Free · No obligation · Independent — we track the dates, vendors don’t pay for placement · dates verified against vendor sources. See all support options →

What to do

  1. On v24.1: upgrade before October 21, 2026, and treat it as overdue rather than upcoming, since patch releases stopped a year ago. CockroachDB does not support jumping across several major releases in one step; Cockroach Labs' upgrade guide gives the sequence from v24.1 and the finalization step at each hop.
  2. Choose a destination with room. v24.3 buys time to May 5, 2027; v25.2 to December 17, 2027; v25.4 to May 3, 2028; v26.2 to September 23, 2028. A cluster that has to pass through v24.3 anyway should keep going while the change window is open.
  3. Skip the Innovation releases in production unless you need a feature in one. Their support ends 180 days after GA, with no Assistance phase.
  4. Watch the LTS dates, not just GA. A new Regular release's long clocks only start when Cockroach Labs names its first LTS patch, which has been five to seven months after GA in recent releases. Until then, the GA clocks apply.

Frequently Asked Questions

When is CockroachDB v24.1 end of life?

October 21, 2026, when Assistance Support ends. Cockroach Labs' release support policy lists v24.1 as an LTS release from October 21, 2024, with Maintenance Support until October 21, 2025 and Assistance Support until October 21, 2026. After that, Cockroach Labs provides no further support for the release.

What is the difference between Maintenance Support and Assistance Support?

During Maintenance Support, Cockroach Labs produces regular patch releases with critical security fixes and resolutions to problems identified by users. During Assistance Support, which only Regular releases get, feature enhancements are no longer made available to the major release; critical security fixes continue. A Regular LTS release gets 365 days of each.

Which CockroachDB releases have the longest support left?

v26.2, LTS since September 23, 2026, with Assistance Support until September 23, 2028; then v25.4 (until May 3, 2028), v25.2 (until December 17, 2027) and v24.3 (until May 5, 2027). Innovation releases such as v26.1 and v26.3 get 180 days of Maintenance Support and no Assistance phase.

Sources

Related

© 2026 endoflife.ai · How we verify our dates · API · About