One of the things we recommend to our clients is to keep on top of releases. By doing so you get regular updates, enhanced support and more crucially, security fixes that will keep your Umbraco running as it’s meant to.
Umbraco 8 will reach its End-of-Life (EOL) on February 24, 2025. After this date, security patches and updates will no longer be provided, which may leave your site vulnerable to security risks.
Whilst it’s possible to continue using Umbraco 8, it’s important to understand the implications of continuing to do so and explore your options for maintaining those all important security and compliance concerns.
What does end of life mean?
When a software version reaches its EOL, it will no longer receive updates or support from the developers. In this case, that means Umbraco won’t provide any further updates to Umbraco 8, including potentially critical security patches or technical support. Operationally, this could prove to be a major issue as any requests for support would result in a quick “sorry, this version is End-of-Life” response. And, if a security vulnerability was exposed for Umbraco 8, then your only option to resolve the issue would be to upgrade to a more recent version of Umbraco.
For this reason, it’s not recommended to use Umbraco 8 after it has been considered EOL (February 24, 2025).
Which version to target next?
Upgrading to the latest Long-term Support (LTS) or Standard-term Support (STS) version of Umbraco ensures you have access to the newest features, performance improvements, and security enhancements.
It’s worth mentioning that although Umbraco 15 is noted as the latest and greatest, the LTS version of Umbraco is currently at v13. So, in terms of considering which version to upgrade to, you might want to favour the LTS release.
What’s been released since Umbraco 8? I’m glad you asked, because the improvements are substantial.
- A fully rebuilt version of .NET - cross platform, modular, open source and much more performant
- Block List and Block Grid
- Updated backoffice experience
- Accessibility improvements
- A vastly improved rich text editor
- Support for new packages (e.g. Umbraco Workflow)
- Content Delivery API (for headless websites)
- Webhooks
- And lots more…
In terms of the next steps, there are 2 options:
-
Direct upgrade to a supported version
This could provide a useful path since you’d be able to maintain existing content structure, but you’d also still end up with a very similar experience as to the one you have now. -
Rebuild to a supported version
This would provide an opportunity to re-architect and work on a new strategy for your website at the same time. Your content structure will likely change and you could be more future thinking in terms of approach.
Ready for an upgrade?
If you’re unsure, we’re happy to advise you on where you’re at and what it means for you. It’s possible we could even choose a mixture of both upgrade options, where we migrate some of your content as well as give your website a larger refresh under the hood.
It’s an exciting time to be involved in the Umbraco ecosystem, and an even better time to upgrade any of those legacy Umbraco websites that you might have.
Our team of Umbraco experts are here to support you, so get in touch today to get the best out of Umbraco.