Microsoft announced an extension to its .NET Standard Term Support releases from 18 months to 24 months, as reported on the company’s official development blog. The policy change, effective with .NET 9, will extend support for the latest release until November 10, 2026, matching the end-of-support date for .NET 8, a Long Term Support version.
As stated by Microsoft, the company will maintain its established annual release schedule each November. Even-numbered releases will continue receiving Long Term Support status with three years of updates, while odd-numbered releases are designated as Standard Term Support versions. Under the previous policy, STS releases received updates for 18 months, concluding six months after the next version’s release.
The technology company identified dependency management challenges as the primary motivation for this modification. As stated in the announcement, out-of-band releases such as .NET Aspire, Microsoft.Extensions.AI, and C# Dev Kit occasionally require updated package versions from newer annual releases. This situation created complications for enterprises adhering to LTS-only policies, as they could inadvertently incorporate STS components when installing these out-of-band releases, potentially reducing their support timeline.
Microsoft also stated in its announcement that when organizations committed to LTS releases install out-of-band releases requiring newer package versions, they inadvertently transition portions of their runtime from LTS to STS status. The extended support period addresses this issue by ensuring packages from .NET 9 receive support through the same date as .NET 8 components.
(Source: Official Microsoft DevBlogs)
Regarding the community developer feedback, as observed in the comment section from the original announcement, it revealed varying perspectives on the announcement. Several developers noted that the extended support period increases the viability of STS releases for production environments. As one commenter stated, the change makes it difficult to justify not beginning new projects on the latest version, regardless of its STS or LTS designation.
Some community members proposed alternative solutions in their responses. Multiple developers suggested Microsoft consider extending its release cycle to 18 months rather than maintaining annual releases. As noted by one commenter, the maturity of the framework has reduced the impact of new features, making longer release cycles more acceptable to development teams.
The policy modification particularly benefits enterprises with strict requirements for LTS-only deployments while promoting adoption of newer .NET capabilities. As stated by Microsoft, organizations currently planning migrations from .NET 9 to .NET 10 should proceed with their upgrade schedules, as the upcoming release will deliver performance enhancements and additional features.
Library maintainers will continue supporting multiple versions concurrently under the new policy. The extended STS lifecycle may simplify version compatibility planning for these developers. As reported, the change also addresses a misconception among some developers who incorrectly perceived STS releases as preview or beta quality software, despite their production-ready status.
The revised support model became effective immediately with .NET 9, released November 12, 2024. Microsoft confirmed it will maintain its existing three-year support commitment for all Long Term Support releases.
