Kyle Brigham, Chief Strategy Officer, explains what Umbraco 13 End of Life means for your website and why waiting to upgrade could create bigger risks down the road.
From security and support concerns to .NET timelines and future AI capabilities, now is the time to start planning your upgrade strategy.
Umbraco 13 reaches End of Life on December 14, 2026.
And no, your site won’t suddenly disappear overnight. Hackers aren't going to hack your website.
But what it does mean is this:
No security updates.
No bug fixes.
No safety net.
And that’s where things can start to get uncomfortable.
Because most teams assume they’ll “deal with it later.”
But later turns into a rushed upgrade, tighter budgets, and way more complexity than expected.
Especially if your site has integrations, custom features, or a Frankenstein architecture that hasn’t been addressed since pre-COVID.
There’s also a timing catch. Umbraco 13 runs on .NET 8, which actually loses support before Umbraco does.
So you’re not watching one clock… you’re watching two.
The smarter move is to treat the upgrade as a strategic window, not a last-minute fix.
Because when you plan it right, you can not only stay supported, you can improve performance, modernize your stack, and set your site up to actually scale with your business.
As opposed to just keeping it alive.
Not to mention the fact that some of the most exciting updates for Umbraco - like Umbraco AI - require version 17 for implementation. So if you want to stay at the cutting edge, an upgrade is in order.
Bottom line: this upgrade is happening either way.
The only question is whether it’s controlled and intentional… or rushed and reactive.
If you’re on Umbraco 13, now’s the window where you still have options.
