CMS End of Support in 2026: Is Your Business Ready?
TL;DR
- Umbraco 13, Drupal 10, parts of Sitecore, Adobe Experience Manager 6.5, and Kentico Xperience 13 all reach end of support at some point in 2026.
- End of support does not mean a website stops working. It means the vendor stops shipping security patches, bug fixes, and support access for that version.
- Optimizely does not have a single fixed 2026 date. It only maintains its two newest major versions, so CMS 11 and earlier are already unsupported.
- Migration demand and cost typically spike as these deadlines approach, since organizations end up competing for the same developers and partners.
- Planning a migration or replatforming project early, rather than waiting for the deadline, is the difference between a calm project and a rushed one.
Every content management system ships on a release cycle, and every release cycle eventually runs out of support. 2026 happens to be the year several major cycles end within months of each other. Umbraco 13, Drupal 10, parts of Sitecore, Adobe Experience Manager 6.5, and Kentico Xperience 13 all lose vendor support at some point this year. If your organization runs any of these platforms, this is the year to know exactly where you stand.
This is not a reason to panic. It is a reason to plan. The sections below cover what each platform's 2026 deadline actually means, why the dates cluster the way they do, and how to think about your next move, whether that is an in-place upgrade or a full website replatform.
What “End of Support” Actually Means
People often conflate end of support with the CMS turning off. That is not how it works, and it is worth clarifying before naming any specific deadline.
When a CMS version reaches end of support, sometimes labeled end of life or EOL, the underlying software keeps running exactly as it did the day before. Nothing shuts down. What changes is that the vendor stops shipping security patches, bug fixes, and, in most cases, help desk assistance for that specific version. From that point forward, any vulnerability discovered in the platform is yours to find, evaluate, and patch, usually without vendor tooling to help.
The risk is not a switch flipping off. It is a security clock starting, one that gets more concerning the longer it runs unaddressed.
CMS Platforms Reaching End of Support in 2026
This is the table of 6 CMS that are reaching end of support or end of life within 2026, with specific dates and detail on what is changing.
| Platform | 2026 milestone | Date | What changes |
| Umbraco 13 | End of life (LTS) | December 14, 2026 | Standard security patches stop without paid extended support |
| Drupal 10 | Final security coverage ends | December 2026 | Drupal 11 becomes the only actively secured major version |
| Sitecore (XP 10.0/10.1, JSS) | Support model shift / JSS end of life | June 1, 2026 | Production incident and security support become paid add-ons |
| Adobe Experience Manager 6.5 | Managed Services end of support | August 31, 2026 | On-premise core support continues into early 2027 |
| Optimizely CMS 11 and earlier | Already outside active support | Ongoing | Only the two newest major versions receive active security monitoring |
| Kentico Xperience 13 | End of support | December 31, 2026 | Security hotfixes only through 2026, then support ends January 1, 2027 |
Umbraco 13
Umbraco 13 is a long-term support release, and its three-year support window closes on December 14, 2026. After that date, the platform no longer receives standard security patches unless an organization purchases extended support directly from Umbraco.
Drupal 10
Drupal follows a two-year major release cycle, with each version getting roughly two years of active support followed by about two more years of security-only coverage. The final Drupal 10 minor release loses its security coverage window in December 2026, several months after the 10.5 branch already lost coverage in June 2026. Drupal 11 is the current destination for anyone migrating off Drupal 10.
Sitecore
Sitecore's 2026 changes are less about a single hard date and more about a shift in its entire support model. As of June 1, 2026, production incident support and security updates for older versions in Extended Support became a paid add-on rather than a standard entitlement. Mainstream support for Sitecore XP 10.3 already ended on December 31, 2025, and Sitecore JSS reaches end of life in June 2026 as Sitecore pushes customers toward its Content SDK. Organizations running Sitecore XP 10.0 or 10.1 are affected by the same paid Extended Support shift.
Adobe Experience Manager 6.5
For AEM 6.5 customers on Adobe Managed Services, support ends August 31, 2026. On-premise customers get a longer runway, with core support currently expected to continue into early 2027. Given how long and how expensive AEM implementations typically are, this is a deadline worth planning around well in advance.
Optimizely CMS
Optimizely does not publish a single fixed end-of-support date the way the other platforms do. Instead, it actively maintains only its two most recent major versions. Security monitoring and patches for CMS 11 and earlier versions are effectively already unsupported, and coverage narrows further whenever Optimizely ships a new major release. If your version history is not current, you may already be closer to the edge of support than a headline date would suggest.
If you’re still on CMS 11 or lower, going to CMS 13 isn’t just a normal upgrade, it’s a platform shift. Learn more about how replatforming can help your site unlock Visual Builder and Opal AI within weeks.
Kentico Xperience 13
Kentico Xperience 13 reaches end of support on December 31, 2026. Throughout 2026, it receives security hotfixes only, and from January 1, 2027, support ends entirely. As with the other platforms here, a Kentico Xperience 13 site keeps running after that date. What stops is Kentico's ongoing patching and support.
Why So Many Deadlines Land in the Same Year
This clustering is not a coincidence, and it is not specific to any one vendor. Most CMS platforms release major versions on a similar rhythm, offer roughly three years of active support, and then wind down together. It is less a conspiracy and more a shared industry rhythm: a batch of platforms shipped around the same time, so a batch of platforms age out around the same time too.
The Real Cost Isn't the Deadline, It's the Rush
The date on the calendar is rarely the expensive part of an end-of-support cycle. The expensive part is what happens in the months leading up to it, when every organization on the same platform, and often across several platforms, starts competing for the same implementation partners and the same developer time. Migration projects that start with a plan and a realistic timeline tend to go more smoothly and cost less than the ones that start as an emergency.
If your CMS is on this year's list, the useful next step usually isn't rebuilding everything immediately. It's understanding where you currently stand, what your options are, and what a realistic project actually requires. A structured replatforming approach built around your specific migration scope, rather than a rushed rebuild, tends to be both cheaper and considerably less disruptive. built around your specific migration scope, rather than a rushed rebuild, tends to be both cheaper and considerably less disruptive.
Deciding What Comes Next
An end-of-support deadline is also a natural moment to ask a bigger question: should you move to a newer version of the same platform, or is it worth reconsidering your CMS architecture altogether? Traditional, headless, hybrid, and composable CMS platforms each solve different problems, and the right fit depends on your content model, your team's technical capacity, and how your channels and integrations are expected to grow. If you haven't compared these approaches recently, it's worth reviewing how traditional, headless, hybrid, and composable CMS platforms differ before locking in your next platform.
A Practical Way to Plan Your 2026 Migration
- Confirm your exact version and its specific support end date, since naming only the platform is not precise enough.
- Inventory custom code, integrations, and content models that will need to move or be rebuilt.
- Get a realistic timeline and cost estimate before the deadline crowds the market.
- Decide early whether you are upgrading within your current platform or moving to a different CMS entirely.
- Build in time for testing across content, integrations, and every channel your site touches.
None of this requires urgency today. It requires a plan, ideally one built before the fourth quarter of 2026, when demand for migration partners and developers is expected to peak.
FAQs
The website keeps running. What stops is the vendor's supply of security patches, bug fixes, and support access for that specific version. Any vulnerability found after that point has to be identified and patched without vendor assistance, which is why unpatched CMS versions become a growing security liability over time.
No. End of support only affects the vendor relationship, not the software itself. A site built on an unsupported CMS version continues to function exactly as before. The difference shows up later, when a bug or vulnerability appears and there is no vendor patch or support ticket available to resolve it.
Umbraco 13 (December 14, 2026), Drupal 10 (final security coverage ending December 2026), Sitecore (paid Extended Support model starting June 1, 2026, alongside JSS end of life), Adobe Experience Manager 6.5 for Managed Service customers (August 31, 2026), and Kentico Xperience 13 (December 31, 2026) are all affected. Optimizely does not have a fixed 2026 date, but it only maintains its two most recent major versions, so older releases are already unsupported.
Timelines vary widely depending on site complexity. A straightforward migration with standard content and structured data can often be completed in a few months with an experienced team, while complex enterprise implementations with heavy customization or integrations can take considerably longer. Custom code, third-party integrations, and multi-channel testing are usually the factors that extend a timeline the most.
It depends on how well your current platform still fits your content, technical, and channel requirements. An end-of-support deadline is a reasonable moment to reassess, not just patch and move on. If your team is outgrowing a traditional CMS, or needs more flexibility across channels, this is a good time to compare headless, hybrid, and composable options against simply upgrading in place.
With hundreds of CMS migration projects under our belt, we have composed a comprehensive list of the most companies missed when replatforming here.
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