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October 17, 2026•3 min read

Will Your Sitecore Version Lose Support, and Should You Upgrade or Migrate?

SitecoreArchitecture

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Verified October 17, 2026 against Sitecore's and Microsoft's own documentation.

Sitecore in Plain Words, the series:

  1. Sitecore in Plain Words: XM or XP, Where Does It Run, and Who Runs What?
  2. What Is the Difference Between Sitecore XM and XP?
  3. Where Can Sitecore Run? Six Hosting Models, Layer by Layer
  4. Who Looks After What in Each Sitecore Hosting Model?
  5. Why Does Sitecore Need More Than One Server, and What Is Headless?
  6. Will Your Sitecore Version Lose Support, and Should You Upgrade or Migrate?

Yes, every version has an expiry date

Like a car warranty that thins with age, each XM and XP version gets three phases: Mainstream (full support), Extended, then Sustaining (mostly documentation and upgrade help).1 10.0 and 10.1 leave extended support on 31 December 2026. On an older version there are two roads: upgrade in place, or migrate to SitecoreAI.

What changed in June 2026

Since 1 June 2026, security fixes and production incident help in the Extended phase are no longer included by default; you discuss options with your Sitecore account representative. Sitecore's upgrade help applies when you move to a version still in Mainstream support, today 10.4 or 10.5.

Timeline of Sitecore support phases for versions 9.3 to 10.5 from 2019 to 2035, with October 2026 marked. 10.0 and 10.1 leave extended support on 31 December 2026; 10.5 extended support runs to 31 December 2032.

Version Released Mainstream ends Extended ends Sustaining ends
10.5 Aug 2026 31 Dec 2029 31 Dec 2032 31 Dec 2034
10.4 Apr 2024 31 Dec 2027 31 Dec 2030 31 Dec 2032
10.3 Dec 2022 31 Dec 2025 31 Dec 2028 31 Dec 2030
10.2 Nov 2021 31 Dec 2024 31 Dec 2027 31 Dec 2029
10.1 Feb 2021 31 Dec 2023 31 Dec 2026 31 Dec 2028
10.0 Aug 2020 31 Dec 2023 31 Dec 2026 31 Dec 2028
9.3 Nov 2019 31 Dec 2022 31 Dec 2025 31 Dec 2027

Which fits you

Our consulting view, a starting point rather than a verdict:

  • A content website, no deep visitor tracking: XM, or SitecoreAI if you want Sitecore to run it.
  • Personalization and automation built on stored visitor history: XP, self-hosted or on Managed Cloud.
  • No in-house server team: SitecoreAI, or Managed Cloud if you stay on XM or XP.
  • Strict rules on where data and servers live: on-premises or your own Azure tenancy.

The two roads forward

Upgrade in place to 10.4 or 10.5: you keep XP's visitor data features and your site code, still run the servers (or Managed Cloud does), and reset the support clock. Migrate to SitecoreAI: Sitecore runs the platform, but the front end is rebuilt as headless; Sitecore offers SitecoreAI Pathway, AI-assisted migration workflows, for this move.2 Sitefluence is an independent Sitecore consultancy; if you are unsure which road is yours, talk it through with us.

References

Footnotes

  1. Sitecore KB0641167. "Product Support Lifecycle" ↩

  2. Sitecore Developer Portal. "SitecoreAI FAQ" ↩

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