IBM i End of Life (EOL) Dates & Support Timeline
Complete end-of-life dates, support windows, and security status for all IBM i versions. Data sourced from endoflife.date and official vendor documentation. Updated at every deploy.
IBM i 7.6 is supported, with no end-of-life or end-of-support date announced yet. The next IBM i version to reach end of life is 7.4, on September 30, 2026. 21 of 24 tracked IBM i versions are past end of life; the most recent to reach it, 7.3, did so on September 30, 2023. The full IBM i 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 | Extended Support | Days | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2.1 | 2.1.1 | May 24, 1991 | Jun 30, 1994 | — | 11773 days past EOL | EOL |
| 2.2 | 2.2 | Sep 18, 1992 | Mar 31, 1995 | — | 11499 days past EOL | EOL |
| 2.3 | 2.3 | Dec 17, 1993 | May 31, 1996 | — | 11072 days past EOL | EOL |
| 3.0 | 3.0.5 | Jun 3, 1994 | May 31, 1997 | — | 10707 days past EOL | EOL |
| 3.1 | 3.1 | Nov 25, 1994 | Oct 31, 1998 | — | 10189 days past EOL | EOL |
| 3.2 | 3.2 | Jun 21, 1996 | May 31, 2000 | — | 9611 days past EOL | EOL |
| 3.6 | 3.6 | Dec 22, 1995 | Oct 31, 1998 | — | 10189 days past EOL | EOL |
| 3.7 | 3.7 | Nov 8, 1996 | Jun 30, 1999 | — | 9947 days past EOL | EOL |
| 4.1 | 4.1 | Aug 29, 1997 | May 31, 2000 | — | 9611 days past EOL | EOL |
| 4.2 | 4.2 | Feb 27, 1998 | May 31, 2000 | Jan 31, 2001 IBM Extended Support (ended) |
9611 days past EOL | EOL |
| 4.3 | 4.3 | Sep 11, 1998 | Jan 31, 2001 | — | 9366 days past EOL | EOL |
| 4.4 | 4.4 | May 21, 1999 | May 31, 2001 | Nov 30, 2001 IBM Extended Support (ended) |
9246 days past EOL | EOL |
| 4.5 | 4.5 | Jul 28, 2000 | Jul 31, 2002 | Dec 31, 2002 IBM Extended Support (ended) |
8820 days past EOL | EOL |
| 5.1 | 5.1 | May 25, 2001 | Sep 30, 2005 | — | 7663 days past EOL | EOL |
| 5.2 | 5.2 | Aug 30, 2002 | Apr 30, 2007 | — | 7086 days past EOL | EOL |
| 5.3 | 5.3 | Jun 11, 2004 | Apr 30, 2009 | Apr 30, 2013 IBM Extended Support (ended) |
6355 days past EOL | EOL |
| 5.4 | 5.4 | Feb 14, 2006 | Sep 30, 2013 | Sep 30, 2017 IBM Extended Support (ended) |
4741 days past EOL | EOL |
| 6.1 | 6.1.0 | Mar 21, 2008 | Sep 30, 2015 | Sep 30, 2019 IBM Extended Support (ended) |
4011 days past EOL | EOL |
| 7.1 | 7.1.0 | Apr 23, 2010 | Apr 30, 2018 | Apr 30, 2024 IBM Extended Support (ended) |
3068 days past EOL | EOL |
| 7.2 | 7.2.0 | May 2, 2014 | Apr 30, 2021 | Apr 30, 2026 IBM Extended Support (ended) |
1972 days past EOL | EOL |
| 7.3 | 7.3.0 | Apr 15, 2016 | Sep 30, 2023 | Sep 30, 2028 IBM Extended Support |
1089 days past EOL | EOL |
| 7.4 | 7.4.0 | Jun 21, 2019 | Sep 30, 2026 | Sep 30, 2029 IBM Extended Support |
7 days remaining | Warning |
| 7.5 | 7.5.0 | May 10, 2022 | TBD | — | Supported | Active |
| 7.6 | 7.6.0 | Apr 18, 2025 | TBD | — | Supported | Active |
Live EOL badge for your README — updates automatically at every build.
[](https://endoflife.ai/ibm-i)
IBM i release and support pattern
Across the 24 release lines with a published release date, IBM i has shipped a new line roughly every 1.2 years (median interval). A line typically stays in standard support for about 3.5 years from its release to its standard-support end date (measured on the 22 lines with both dates published).
Of the 24 release lines tracked, 21 are past end of life and 3 are still within support. The newest line, 7.6, was released April 18, 2025. The next scheduled end of life is 7.4 on September 30, 2026 — 7 days from this build. Upstream also publishes an extended-support phase for 10 lines, shown in the table above.
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 IBM i end of life mean for your organization?
When a version of IBM i 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 IBM i 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 IBM i 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 IBM i versions. This is a bridge, not a permanent solution — plan your migration in parallel.
IBM i has 21 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 IBM i 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."