Discourse End of Life (EOL) Dates & Support Timeline
Complete end-of-life dates, support windows, and security status for all Discourse versions. Data sourced from endoflife.date and official vendor documentation. Updated at every deploy.
Discourse 2026.8 is supported until October 27, 2026, its end-of-support date. The next Discourse version to reach end of life is 2026.1, on September 30, 2026. 9 of 12 tracked Discourse versions are past end of life; the most recent to reach it, 2026.6, did so on August 25, 2026. The full Discourse 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.4 LTS | 3.4.7 | Feb 4, 2025 | Aug 19, 2025 | 400 days past EOL | EOL |
| 3.5 LTS | 3.5.4 | Aug 19, 2025 | Jan 28, 2026 | 238 days past EOL | EOL |
| 2025.11 | 2025.11.2 | Nov 25, 2025 | Jan 28, 2026 | 238 days past EOL | EOL |
| 2025.12 | 2025.12.2 | Dec 30, 2025 | Feb 26, 2026 | 209 days past EOL | EOL |
| 2026.1 LTS | 2026.1.9 | Jan 28, 2026 | Sep 30, 2026 | 7 days remaining | Warning |
| 2026.2 | 2026.2.2 | Feb 26, 2026 | Apr 28, 2026 | 148 days past EOL | EOL |
| 2026.3 | 2026.3.1 | Mar 31, 2026 | May 28, 2026 | 118 days past EOL | EOL |
| 2026.4 | 2026.4.2 | Apr 28, 2026 | Jun 30, 2026 | 85 days past EOL | EOL |
| 2026.5 | 2026.5.2 | May 28, 2026 | Jul 28, 2026 | 57 days past EOL | EOL |
| 2026.6 | 2026.6.3 | Jun 30, 2026 | Aug 25, 2026 | 29 days past EOL | EOL |
| 2026.7 LTS | 2026.7.3 | Jul 28, 2026 | Mar 30, 2027 | 188 days remaining | Active |
| 2026.8 | 2026.8.1 | Aug 25, 2026 | Oct 27, 2026 | 34 days remaining | Warning |
Live EOL badge for your README — updates automatically at every build.
[](https://endoflife.ai/discourse)
Discourse release and support pattern
Across the 12 release lines with a published release date, Discourse has shipped a new line roughly every 4 weeks (median interval). A line typically stays supported for about 2 months from its release to its end-of-life date. 4 of the 12 tracked lines are designated long-term support, which is where the longer windows sit.
Of the 12 release lines tracked, 9 are past end of life and 3 are still within support. The newest line, 2026.8, was released August 25, 2026. The next scheduled end of life is 2026.1 on September 30, 2026 — 7 days from this build. The longest-supported line currently published is 2026.7, to March 30, 2027.
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 Discourse end of life mean for your organization?
When a version of Discourse 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 Discourse 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 Discourse 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 Discourse versions. This is a bridge, not a permanent solution — plan your migration in parallel.
Discourse has 9 versions past end of life — security patches have stopped, but CVE disclosures haven't. Extended support past the official date exists for many products in this position — whether it exists for Discourse 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."