Cisco ISR and Catalyst 8000 edge routers (hardware) End of Life (EOL) Dates & Support Timeline
Complete end-of-life dates, support windows, and security status for all Cisco ISR and Catalyst 8000 edge routers (hardware) versions. Dates read at the vendor's own lifecycle pages (cisco.com). Updated at every deploy.
Cisco ISR and Catalyst 8000 edge routers (hardware) ISR 4451 is supported until November 30, 2028, its end-of-support date. The End-of-Sale date for Cisco ISR and Catalyst 8000 edge routers (hardware) ISR 4451 is November 7, 2023. The next Cisco ISR and Catalyst 8000 edge routers (hardware) version to reach end of life is ISR 4221, on November 30, 2028. The full Cisco ISR and Catalyst 8000 edge routers (hardware) lifecycle, with every version's release and end-of-support date, is in the table below.
Running an EOL version? Get matched with support options — free ↓| Version | Latest Release | Release Date | EOL Date | Days | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ISR 4451 | ISR 4451 | — | Nov 30, 2028 | 775 days remaining | Active |
| ISR 4431 | ISR 4431 | — | Nov 30, 2028 | 775 days remaining | Active |
| ISR 4351 | ISR 4351 | — | Nov 30, 2028 | 775 days remaining | Active |
| ISR 4331 | ISR 4331 | — | Nov 30, 2028 | 775 days remaining | Active |
| ISR 4321 | ISR 4321 | — | Nov 30, 2028 | 775 days remaining | Active |
| ISR 4221 | ISR 4221 | — | Nov 30, 2028 | 775 days remaining | Active |
| ISR 4461 | ISR 4461 | — | Jan 31, 2030 | 1202 days remaining | Active |
| ISR1100X-6G | ISR1100X-6G | — | Jul 31, 2031 | 1748 days remaining | Active |
| ISR1100X-4G | ISR1100X-4G | — | Jul 31, 2031 | 1748 days remaining | Active |
| ISR1100-6G | ISR1100-6G | — | Jul 31, 2031 | 1748 days remaining | Active |
| ISR1100-4G | ISR1100-4G | — | Jul 31, 2031 | 1748 days remaining | Active |
| C1109-2PLTEVZ | C1109-2PLTEVZ | — | Jul 31, 2031 | 1748 days remaining | Active |
| C1109-2PLTEUS | C1109-2PLTEUS | — | Jul 31, 2031 | 1748 days remaining | Active |
| C1109-2PLTEGB | C1109-2PLTEGB | — | Jul 31, 2031 | 1748 days remaining | Active |
| C1101-4PLTEP | C1101-4PLTEP | — | Jul 31, 2031 | 1748 days remaining | Active |
| C1101-4P | C1101-4P | — | Jul 31, 2031 | 1748 days remaining | Active |
| Catalyst C8500L-8S4X | Catalyst C8500L-8S4X | — | Jan 31, 2032 | 1932 days remaining | Active |
| Catalyst C8500-12X4QC | Catalyst C8500-12X4QC | — | Jan 31, 2032 | 1932 days remaining | Active |
| Catalyst C8500-12X | Catalyst C8500-12X | — | Jan 31, 2032 | 1932 days remaining | Active |
| Catalyst C8300-1N1S-6T | Catalyst C8300-1N1S-6T | — | Jan 31, 2032 | 1932 days remaining | Active |
| Catalyst C8300-1N1S-4T2X | Catalyst C8300-1N1S-4T2X | — | Jan 31, 2032 | 1932 days remaining | Active |
| C1161X | C1161X | — | Jan 31, 2032 | 1932 days remaining | Active |
| C1161 | C1161 | — | Jan 31, 2032 | 1932 days remaining | Active |
| C1131X | C1131X | — | Jan 31, 2032 | 1932 days remaining | Active |
| C1131 | C1131 | — | Jan 31, 2032 | 1932 days remaining | Active |
| C1117 | C1117 | — | Jan 31, 2032 | 1932 days remaining | Active |
| C1116 | C1116 | — | Jan 31, 2032 | 1932 days remaining | Active |
| C1113 | C1113 | — | Jan 31, 2032 | 1932 days remaining | Active |
| C1112 | C1112 | — | Jan 31, 2032 | 1932 days remaining | Active |
| Catalyst C8500-20X6C | Catalyst C8500-20X6C | — | Jul 31, 2032 | 2114 days remaining | Active |
| Catalyst C8300-2N2S-6T | Catalyst C8300-2N2S-6T | — | Jul 31, 2032 | 2114 days remaining | Active |
| Catalyst C8300-2N2S-4T2X | Catalyst C8300-2N2S-4T2X | — | Jul 31, 2032 | 2114 days remaining | Active |
| Catalyst C8200L-1N-4T | Catalyst C8200L-1N-4T | — | Jul 31, 2032 | 2114 days remaining | Active |
| Catalyst C8200-1N-4T | Catalyst C8200-1N-4T | — | Jul 31, 2032 | 2114 days remaining | Active |
Live EOL badge for your README — updates automatically at every build.
[](https://endoflife.ai/cisco-edge-routers)
Cisco ISR and Catalyst 8000 edge routers (hardware) lifecycle status — the real story
Cisco ISR and Catalyst 8000 edge routers are the branch and WAN edge routing hardware under Cisco IOS XE: the ISR 4000 series (4221 to 4461), the ISR 1000 series (ISR1100, C1100 and the select C1101 and C1109 part numbers) and the Catalyst 8200, 8300 and 8500 edge platforms. Cycles on this page are router models, so it is the hardware companion to the Cisco IOS XE page, where the exploited IOS XE CVEs in CISA's KEV catalog are tracked. Every date comes from Cisco's own End-of-Sale and End-of-Life bulletins on cisco.com (public, no login), one bulletin per family, each cited on its cycles. Each bulletin was read twice on 2026-10-16: the bulletin HTML fetched with a browser header set and the same bulletin in the built-in browser; every milestone identical (tools/cisco-hardware-bulletins.mjs refuses to write on any difference). Cycles are models; each lists the chassis part numbers Table 2 of its bulletin retires (base, spare and bundle forms). A model gets a cycle only when its own chassis part number is in Table 2; where Cisco titles a bulletin select, the cycles are the exact part numbers it retires. Current models without a bulletin are not listed; their absence is not a statement that they are supported indefinitely.
Field mapping, the Cisco hardware convention of the Cisco ASA 5500-X and Cisco RV pages: support is Cisco's End-of-Sale Date ('The last date to order the product through Cisco point-of-sale mechanisms'); eol is Cisco's Last Date of Support ('The last date to receive applicable service and support for the product as entitled by active service contracts or by warranty terms and conditions. After this date, all support services for the product are unavailable, and the product becomes obsolete'). The other Table 1 milestones (End-of-Life Announcement, Last Ship, End of SW Maintenance Releases, End of Vulnerability/Security Support, End of Routine Failure Analysis, End of New Service Attachment, End of Service Contract Renewal) are carried under their own names where the bulletin prints them; a milestone the bulletin does not print is empty. Cisco bulletins print no launch date, so releaseDate is empty.
The Cisco 'Select 4300ISR' bulletin (EOL13680) is not used: its Table 2 retires Viptela licence bundles and a memory spare, not routers. ISR 4000 part numbers that appear only as licence bundles carry the dates of the bulletin that also lists the base chassis.
Cisco ISR and Catalyst 8000 edge routers (hardware) release and support pattern
Of the 34 release lines tracked, 0 are past end of life and 34 are still within support. The next scheduled end of life is ISR 4221 on November 30, 2028 — 774 days from this build. The longest-supported line currently published is Catalyst C8500-20X6C, to July 31, 2032.
Computed from the tracked release data at every build — the figures above are the dates in the table, restated, not an editorial estimate.
What does Cisco ISR and Catalyst 8000 edge routers (hardware) end of life mean for your organization?
When a version of Cisco ISR and Catalyst 8000 edge routers (hardware) reaches end of life, the maintainers stop issuing security patches. Vulnerabilities discovered after this date are publicly disclosed on the National Vulnerability Database, exploit code appears on GitHub, and your systems remain permanently exposed.
The CVE blind spot: A CVE-based scan does not show the accumulation of unpatched vulnerabilities in EOL software. Some scanners flag unsupported versions of common products, but coverage varies, and none of them give you the date in advance. With a zero-day, nobody knows about the vulnerability. With EOL software, the vulnerability is public — listed, rated, and often weaponized — but no vendor patch is coming. This is one of the most dangerous gaps in enterprise security posture.
Organizations running EOL Cisco ISR and Catalyst 8000 edge routers (hardware) should treat it as a vulnerability class in their risk register, apply compensating controls (network segmentation, enhanced monitoring, access restriction), and prioritize migration to a supported version.
Your options when Cisco ISR and Catalyst 8000 edge routers (hardware) reaches end of life
There are four realistic paths. Which one is right depends far more on how long the system needs to keep running than on the version you are on today.
| Option | Best when | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Move to a supported version | The system will outlive the current version's support window and you can schedule the work | Budget for compatibility testing, not just the upgrade itself — that is where the real cost sits |
| Replace the component | The project is unmaintained, or a better-supported alternative exists | The replacement has its own lifecycle and its own end-of-life date — you are changing vendors, not escaping the problem |
| Buy extended support | Migration is genuinely underway but cannot finish before the deadline, or the workload is frozen by certification or a third-party application | A bridge, not a destination — every year purchased is a year the migration still has to happen |
| Document accepted risk | The system is isolated, short-lived, or scheduled for retirement | Only defensible with real compensating controls and a written decision — auditors treat undocumented end-of-life software as a finding |
How to choose, in one question: how many more years does this system need to run? Under a year, extended support (where it exists) is usually cheaper than an emergency migration. One to three years, migrate — support purchased repeatedly costs more than doing the project once, and the project only gets harder as the version ages. Indefinitely, migrate now and plan the next migration before it surprises you.
Worth saying plainly, because vendors selling extended support rarely will: extended support is often the more expensive choice over a multi-year horizon. It is the right answer when a deadline is genuinely unreachable, not as a default. Compare the annual fee against the one-time cost of migrating before committing to either.
Formalizing decisions like this across your estate? Our free EOL policy template is a ready-to-adopt policy with risk tiers, remediation SLAs, and audit mapping — no signup, free to use and share.
Extended Support Options
If you cannot migrate immediately, extended support vendors provide continued security patches for EOL Cisco ISR and Catalyst 8000 edge routers (hardware) versions. This is a bridge, not a permanent solution — plan your migration in parallel.
When Cisco ISR and Catalyst 8000 edge routers (hardware) versions reach end of life, security patches stop — the CVEs keep coming. Extended support past the official date exists for many products in this position — whether it exists for Cisco ISR and Catalyst 8000 edge routers (hardware) 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."