5 years
LTS support
Every Long Term Support release is supported for at least five years — full bug fixes for four years, then security-only fixes in the final year.
Lifecycle
The road ahead.
OpenSSL ships a feature release every six months and a new Long Term Support release every two years. Here is the release plan, the support lifecycle, and what's coming next — maintained by the team that builds it.
Release lifecycle
How long each release is supported.
13 months
Standard support
Non-LTS feature releases are supported for a minimum of 13 months from their release date (from 3.5 onward).
Every 2 yrs
New LTS cadence
A new LTS release is designated at least every two years — each odd-numbered April (Apr 2027, Apr 2029, …).
Always 2
Dual-LTS guarantee
At least two fully supported LTS releases are available at any given time, so teams always have a stable target.
5yr
LTS lifecycle
Release day
Ships on schedule — April for LTS, October for feature releases.
Full support · yrs 0–4
Every reported bug and security issue is fixed, on every supported platform.
Security-only · final yr
Only security fixes ship in the last year — time to plan the upgrade.
End of life → next LTS
Support ends, but a newer LTS is always live first — no gap.
Versioning & release strategy
How OpenSSL versions its releases.
OpenSSL's versioning scheme has evolved into a semantic versioning system (Major.Minor.Patch) adopted from version 3.x onwards. A Major release allows for incompatible changes that may break existing code, a Minor release adds functionality without breaking backward compatibility, and a Patch release is strictly for bug or security fixes and must not impact existing code. This system was implemented to provide more clarity and predictability compared to the older, non-standard scheme used before version 3, which used letters for patch releases (e.g., 0.9.8a).
A key strategic shift is the team's recent agreement to increase the frequency of major releases. A slow major release cadence in the past led to technical mistakes and debt persisting in the codebase for long periods. With this new approach, the team has established a forward-looking roadmap, with specific dates for future major versions, such as OpenSSL 5.0, now planned for October 2027. The current long-term support (LTS) release is OpenSSL 3.5, supported until 8 April 2030, with the 4.2 LTS release confirmed for April 2027.
Support timeline
Every release, on one timeline.
Two LTS lines always overlap, so there is always a supported, stable release to target. Once standard support ends, commercial Extended Support keeps older releases patched.
2021202220232024202520262027202820292030203120322033203420352036
1.0.2
1.1.1
3.0 LTS
3.4
3.5 LTS
3.6
4.0
4.1
4.2 LTS
5.0
5.1
5.2
5.3 LTS
LTSNormalExtended support
Release plan
Dates you can plan around.
VersionTypeReleasedSupported until
3.0LTSLTS07 Sep 202107 Sep 2026
3.1Non-LTS14 Mar 202314 Mar 2025
3.2Non-LTS23 Nov 202323 Nov 2025
3.3Non-LTS09 Apr 202409 Apr 2026
3.4Non-LTS22 Oct 202422 Oct 2026
3.5LTSLTS08 Apr 202508 Apr 2030
3.6Non-LTS01 Oct 202501 Nov 2026
4.0Non-LTS14 Apr 202614 May 2027
4.1Non-LTSOct 2026Nov 2027
4.2LTSLTSApr 2027Apr 2032
5.0Non-LTSOct 2027Nov 2028
SupportedPlannedEnd of lifePast releases (3.1–3.3) remain available with commercial Extended LTS. Dates subject to change.