Debian 11 End of Life: The August 31 LTS Cutoff, and What "End" Actually Means
Debian 11 "Bullseye" reaches the end of Long Term Support on August 31, 2026 — 39 days from this update. After that date the Debian LTS team ships no further security updates for it. Bullseye's standard support already ended back in August 2024; LTS has been the safety net since, and the net comes down at the end of August.
Debian retirements confuse people because Debian has three tiers, and each one ends on a different date. Standard support (the Debian security team) runs about three years. LTS (a volunteer-and-sponsor team) extends the total to five. And beyond that, Extended LTS (ELTS) — a commercial service run by Freexian with the Debian project's blessing — sells several more years for a subset of packages and architectures. So "Debian 11 end of life" has meant three different things depending on who you ask; the date that matters for most servers is the LTS one: August 31, 2026.
Debian End-of-Life Table (all tiers)
| Version | Released | Standard support ended | LTS ends | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 13 Trixie | Aug 9, 2025 | Aug 9, 2028 | Jun 30, 2030 | Supported |
| Debian 12 Bookworm | Jun 10, 2023 | Jul 11, 2026 | Jun 30, 2028 | Supported |
| Debian 11 Bullseye | Aug 14, 2021 | Aug 14, 2024 | Aug 31, 2026 | Supported |
| Debian 10 Buster | Jul 6, 2019 | Sep 10, 2022 | Jun 30, 2024 | EOL |
| Debian 9 Stretch | Jun 17, 2017 | Jul 18, 2020 | Jul 1, 2022 | EOL |
| Debian 8 Jessie | Apr 25, 2015 | Jun 17, 2018 | Jun 30, 2020 | EOL |
| Debian 7 Wheezy | May 4, 2013 | Apr 25, 2016 | May 31, 2018 | EOL |
| Debian 6 Squeeze | Feb 6, 2011 | May 31, 2014 | Feb 29, 2016 | EOL |
| Debian 5 | Feb 14, 2009 | Feb 6, 2012 | Feb 6, 2012 | EOL |
| Debian 4 | Apr 8, 2007 | Feb 15, 2010 | Feb 15, 2010 | EOL |
| Debian 3.1 | Jun 6, 2005 | Mar 31, 2008 | Mar 31, 2008 | EOL |
| Debian 3.0 | Jul 19, 2002 | Jun 30, 2006 | Jun 30, 2006 | EOL |
| Debian 2.2 | Aug 15, 2000 | Jun 30, 2003 | Jun 30, 2003 | EOL |
| Debian 2.1 | Mar 9, 1999 | Sep 30, 2000 | Oct 30, 2000 | EOL |
| Debian 2.0 | Jul 24, 1998 | Feb 15, 1999 | Feb 15, 1999 | EOL |
| Debian 1.3 | Jul 2, 1997 | Dec 8, 1998 | Dec 8, 1998 | EOL |
| Debian 1.2 | Dec 12, 1996 | Oct 23, 1997 | Oct 23, 1997 | EOL |
| Debian 1.1 | Jun 17, 1996 | Dec 12, 1996 | Dec 12, 1996 | EOL |
Per-version pages: endoflife.ai/debian · The broader guide: Debian EOL dates for every release.
The context that makes August awkward
Debian 12 "Bookworm" itself left standard support on July 11, 2026 — it is now in its own LTS phase (to mid-2028). That means the comfortable-sounding upgrade path "just go to 12" lands you on a release already in its extended phase; estates doing the work of a major upgrade should seriously evaluate jumping straight to Debian 13 "Trixie" (standard support to 2028, LTS to 2030) and doing the migration once instead of twice.
Your options, honestly compared
- Upgrade to Debian 13 (or 12) — Debian's in-place major upgrades are famously reliable; the work is app re-validation, not the OS. Target 13 unless a dependency pins you to 12.
- Paid extended coverage as a bridge — two flavors: Debian's blessed ELTS program (Freexian) continues security maintenance for main packages for years, and commercial ELS vendors cover Debian 11 in broader enterprise support bundles. Either is legitimate for the estate that can't migrate by August; both are bridges with meters running. Compare the extended-support options →
- What is not on the list: staying put unpatched. Debian 11 runs an enormous share of quiet, load-bearing infrastructure — exactly the servers nobody remembers until the incident.
The 39-day checklist
- Find your Bullseye:
cat /etc/debian_versionacross the fleet, or scan your inventory with our Stack Scanner. Container base images count —FROM debian:11anddebian:bullseye-slimlines carry the same deadline (see the FROM-line audit). - Sort into upgrade-now vs bridge: anything internet-facing or compliance-scoped upgrades first.
- Book the work: 39 days is one maintenance-window cycle for most teams — the calendar, not the technology, is the constraint now.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does Debian 11 reach end of life?
Debian 11 Bullseye's Long Term Support ends August 31, 2026 — after that the Debian project ships no further free security updates for it. Its standard support already ended in August 2024; LTS has been the safety net in between.
What's the difference between Debian LTS and ELTS?
LTS is the Debian project's volunteer-and-sponsor effort that extends free security support to roughly five years per release. Extended LTS (ELTS) is a paid commercial service operated by Freexian with Debian's blessing, continuing security maintenance for a subset of packages for several years beyond LTS. Commercial ELS vendors offer comparable paid coverage in enterprise bundles.
Should I upgrade Debian 11 to 12 or 13?
Prefer 13 (Trixie) if your applications allow it: Debian 12 left standard support in July 2026 and is already in its own LTS phase, so upgrading to 12 buys less runway than it sounds. A single 11→13 migration avoids doing the exercise again in two years. Debian's in-place upgrade path supports stepping through 12.
What happens to Debian 11 containers after August 31?
Images built FROM debian:11 or bullseye-slim keep building and running — but the OS packages inside stop receiving security updates, so every image build after August inherits unpatched CVEs. Rebase images to debian:12/13 (or another maintained base) on the same schedule as your servers.