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.
Roadmap
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.