.NET End of Support and Upgrade Guide
Every .NET version has an end of support date, and with a new release arriving every year, those dates come round quickly. This guide explains which versions are still supported, when the rest run out, and what that means for the applications your business depends on, so you can plan your next upgrade before the deadline plans it for you.
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Introduction
Microsoft releases a new major version of .NET every November, alternating between long and short support windows. That predictability is good for planning, but it also means an application built on the latest release will need upgrading within two to three years to stay supported.
The challenge is rarely the upgrade itself. It's that upgrades get deprioritised. Applications keep working, other projects take precedence, and before long a version drops out of support without anyone noticing. And upgrading isn't just about staying secure. Each new .NET release typically brings performance improvements that can help your applications run faster.
Many organisations have well-built .NET applications quietly running on versions that stopped receiving security patches months or even years ago. Keeping on top of the release cycle and building upgrades into your roadmap rather than treating them as one-off projects, is the most reliable way to stay secure.
.NET End of Support Dates
Every .NET release falls into one of two categories:
- Long Term Support (LTS) – Released in even-numbered years. Supported for 3 years, making LTS the usual choice for business-critical systems.
- Standard Term Support (STS) – Released in odd-numbered years. Supported for 2 years, suited to teams that want the newest features and upgrade frequently.
Regardless of type, each release moves through two stages before it reaches end of support:
-
Active Support – The release receives bug fixes, performance and stability improvements, and security patches.
-
Maintenance Support – The last 6 months of a release's life. Only security patches are issued.
After that, support ends completely. There are no further patches, and Microsoft strongly advises against running out-of-support versions in production.
It's also worth knowing that being on a supported version isn't enough on its own. Microsoft only supports systems running the latest patch for that version, so applications need to be kept patched throughout their lifecycle to stay covered.
Here's where each release currently stands:
|
.NET Release |
Release Type |
General Availability Date |
Current Support Phase |
End of Support |
| .NET 11* | STS | Nov-26 | Pre-release | Nov-28 |
| .NET 10 | LTS | Nov-25 | Active | 14-Nov-28 |
| .NET 9 | STS | Nov-24 | Maintenance | 10-Nov-26 |
| .NET 8 | LTS | Nov-23 | Maintenance | 10-Nov-26 |
| .NET 7 | STS | Nov-22 | Out of support | 14-May-24 |
| .NET 6 | LTS | Nov-21 | Out of support | 12-Nov-24 |
| .NET 5 | STS | Nov-20 | Out of support | 10-May-22 |
| .NET Core 3.1 | LTS | Nov-19 | Out of support | 13-Dec-22 |
*Expected dates, based on Microsoft's standard release cadence.
Note: STS support was extended from 18 to 24 months starting with .NET 9, which is why earlier STS releases have shorter support periods.
Both .NET 8 and .NET 9 stop receiving security patches on 10 November 2026. .NET 8 was a major release that many organisations upgraded to, so a large number of applications will be affected by this date. If you're running .NET 8, upgrading to .NET 10 keeps you on an LTS release, supported until November 2028. Click here to find out more.
.NET Framework End of Support
Not every .NET application runs on modern .NET. Many organisations still depend on the original .NET Framework, which works to a different set of rules. There are no new major versions, and most supported releases are tied to the lifecycle of the Windows operating system they run on.
|
.NET Framework Release |
General Availability Date |
End of Support |
| 4.8.1 | Aug-22 | Follows Windows OS lifecycle |
| 4.8 | Apr-19 | Follows Windows OS lifecycle |
| 4.7 – 4.7.2 | Apr-17 – Apr-18 | Follows Windows OS lifecycle |
| 4.6.2 | Aug-16 | 12-Jan-27 |
| 4.5.2 – 4.6.1 | May-14 – Nov-15 | 26-Apr-22 |
| 3.5 SP1 | Nov-07 | 09-Jan-29 |
Even the supported versions of .NET Framework are firmly in maintenance mode: stable and patched, but no longer evolving. Modern .NET, by contrast, has moved on considerably. It’s open source, and it runs on Windows, Linux and macOS, so applications are no longer tied to Windows servers. If you haven’t looked at .NET for a few years, it’s a very different platform from the one you may remember.
For many organisations, that makes Framework applications prime candidates for modernisation, bringing them onto modern .NET to gain better performance, more flexible hosting options, and a clear, predictable upgrade path.
Conclusion
With a new .NET release every year, there's always a version approaching end of support. Checking what your applications run on, and acting before the deadline rather than after it, gives you time to test properly instead of rushing an upgrade under pressure.
DSP's expert development team can review your application estate, identify what's at risk, and recommend the most practical route forward, from a like-for-like version upgrade that keeps you secure and takes advantage of the latest performance improvements to a full modernisation of legacy .NET Framework systems. We'll help you stay supported, secure, and ready for what's next.
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Jamie Lamberstock
Senior Development Consultant