RHEL 8 End of Life: May 31, 2029 (Maintenance Support Ends)
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 reaches end of life (EOL) on May 31, 2029, the end of its Maintenance Support phase. That is the last day a standard RHEL 8 subscription receives errata. RHEL 8 is still supported, with one qualification: its Full Support phase ended on May 31, 2024, so the line gets security and urgent bug-fix errata and nothing else. No new minor releases, no new functionality, no new hardware enablement. RHEL 8 was released on May 7, 2019; Red Hat's paid extended support add-on can carry its final minor release, RHEL 8.10, to May 31, 2033.
The dates, in one table
| Milestone | Date | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Release (general availability) | May 7, 2019 | Start of the ten-year life cycle |
| End of Full Support | May 31, 2024 | Minor releases, software enhancements and native hardware enablement stopped |
| End of Maintenance Support (end of life) | May 31, 2029 | Last errata on a standard subscription; Extended Life Phase begins |
| End of the paid extended support add-on (ELS) | May 31, 2033 | Four more years of errata for RHEL 8.10, on a separate paid add-on |
Sources: Red Hat's Red Hat Enterprise Linux Life Cycle page for the phase definitions and extended support rules, and Red Hat's Product Life Cycle Data API for the dates, which our RHEL adapter re-reads at every build, so they update if Red Hat revises them. Red Hat's own caveat applies: it calls future End of Maintenance Support dates close approximations, subject to change.
What Maintenance Support means in practice
Red Hat's life cycle page defines three production phases: Full Support, Maintenance Support and the Extended Life Phase. RHEL 8 crossed from the first to the second on May 31, 2024. During Maintenance Support, Red Hat says, errata meeting its standard criteria ship as they become available, while new functionality and new hardware enablement "are not planned for availability". The standard criteria are security advisories for Critical, Important and Moderate CVEs with a CVSS score of 7 or higher, plus urgent and selected high-priority bug fixes. Red Hat's feature matrix for the phase:
- Errata coverage: yes. Keep applying it.
- Minor releases: no. RHEL 8.10 is the last; there is no 8.11.
- Software enhancements: no.
- Refreshed hardware enablement: using virtualization only. New hardware means RHEL 8 as a guest on a newer RHEL host, not natively.
After May 31, 2029, a standard subscription enters the Extended Life Phase: access to previously released content and limited technical support on existing installations. Red Hat states that "no bug fixes, security fixes, hardware enablement or root-cause analysis will be available during this phase", and reserves the right to end it at any time. The Extended Life Phase is not extended support; it is the shelf.
RHEL 8.10 is the final minor release
Red Hat's life cycle page calls 8.10 "the final 8.10 release" and lists it as the last minor release of RHEL 8; it is also the latest RHEL 8 minor in the data we serve. That matters because Red Hat ships errata for the current minor of a major only. A host that tracks dnf update is on 8.10 and is patched. A host pinned to 8.9 or earlier, by a release lock, a frozen image or a vendor's certification, receives nothing from the standard stream, whatever its inventory row says. Red Hat lists every RHEL 8 Extended Update Support (EUS) stream as retired; the only earlier minor with an open paid stream is 8.8, under the SAP-specific E4S offering. The minor-by-minor dates are in our RHEL minor-version guide.
The paid options Red Hat describes
- Extended Life Cycle Support (ELS), delivered as Extended Life Cycle Premium. This extends the major version past its end of life. Red Hat's life cycle data lists the RHEL 8 ELS add-on as running to May 31, 2033; its policy page says Extended Life Cycle Premium (ELCP) replaces ELS beginning with RHEL 8.10 the day after Maintenance Support ends, providing "an additional four years of extended support for the last minor release", with errata per the same standard criteria and 8.10 the only eligible RHEL 8 release. Beyond ELCP, Red Hat describes renewable one-year Long-Life term extensions. This is how RHEL 7, whose Maintenance Support ended June 30, 2024, stays on a paid supported track to May 31, 2029.
- Extended Update Support (EUS). This never extended RHEL 8 itself; it kept a specific older minor patched for 24 months from its release. Red Hat now lists it under legacy offerings, superseded by ELCP, and every RHEL 8 EUS stream is closed.
Where to move: RHEL 9 or RHEL 10
Red Hat's in-place upgrade path with Leapp runs one major at a time, 8 to 9, then 9 to 10. RHEL 9 leaves Full Support on May 31, 2027, before RHEL 8's end of life, so a fleet that lands on RHEL 9 after that date lands in Maintenance Support, with the same no-new-hardware constraint it just left.
| Target | Released | Full Support ends | Maintenance Support ends (EOL) | Paid extension to | Read |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RHEL 10 | May 20, 2025 | May 31, 2030 | May 31, 2035 | May 31, 2039 | RHEL 10 guide: the longer runway |
| RHEL 9 | May 18, 2022 | May 31, 2027 | May 31, 2032 | May 31, 2036 | RHEL 9 guide: the required stepping stone |
Checklist
- Find every RHEL 8 host and its minor.
cat /etc/redhat-release, or your Satellite or Insights inventory. Anything not on 8.10 is unpatched unless it carries an open paid stream. - Un-pin what can be un-pinned. Clear the release lock and
dnf updateto 8.10: errata restored at no licence cost. - Decide per workload by how long it must run. Retiring before May 31, 2029: stay on 8.10 and patch. Running past it: upgrade, or budget ELCP for 8.10 to May 31, 2033 as a bridge, not a destination. Trade-offs: our RHEL decision guide.
- Pick the target with the hardware refresh in mind. RHEL 10 for anything that needs new hardware or features; RHEL 9 only where an application vendor certifies nothing newer.
- Check the stack on top. Middleware, databases and add-ons have their own dates; our EOL Checker and API cover the rest of the estate.
Frequently Asked Questions
When is RHEL 8 end of life?
RHEL 8 reaches end of life on May 31, 2029, the end of its Maintenance Support phase in Red Hat's life cycle data. After that date a standard subscription enters the Extended Life Phase, which Red Hat says provides no bug fixes, security fixes, hardware enablement or root-cause analysis. RHEL 8 was released May 7, 2019.
Is RHEL 8 still supported?
Yes, in Maintenance Support. Full Support ended May 31, 2024, which stopped new minor releases, new functionality and new hardware enablement. Security and urgent bug-fix errata that meet Red Hat's standard criteria continue until May 31, 2029, for the final minor release, RHEL 8.10.
Is RHEL 8.10 the last RHEL 8 release?
Yes. Red Hat's life cycle page calls 8.10 the final RHEL 8 release, and it is the only RHEL 8 minor still receiving errata on a standard subscription. A machine pinned to 8.9 or earlier receives nothing unless it moves to 8.10 or carries a paid stream that is still open.
What happens to RHEL 8 after Maintenance Support ends?
Without a paid add-on, RHEL 8 enters the Extended Life Phase: access to previously released content and limited technical support, but no new fixes. With the paid add-on, which Red Hat's life cycle data lists as Extended Life Cycle Support (ELS) and its policy page says is delivered as Extended Life Cycle Premium for RHEL 8.10, errata continue for four more years, to May 31, 2033. Red Hat lists renewable Long-Life term extensions beyond that.
What should RHEL 8 be upgraded to?
RHEL 9 or RHEL 10. Red Hat's in-place upgrade path runs one major version at a time, so a move to RHEL 10 passes through RHEL 9. RHEL 9 leaves Full Support before RHEL 8 reaches end of life, so RHEL 10 is the target with the longer runway; both versions' dates are in the table on this page.
Related
- RHEL 8 — the live status page with its EOL Risk Score
- RHEL · RHEL End of Life & Support Options — every version's dates
- Is RHEL 8.10, 9.4, 9.6 or 9.7 still supported? — the minor-version dates
- RHEL 9 life cycle · RHEL 10 end of life — the upgrade targets
- RHEL decision guide — upgrade, Red Hat extended coverage, or third-party?
- How we verify our dates — the rules every number on this site is held to