Ubuntu 26.04 LTS and the Canonical Release Calendar
The numbering tells you the date
Ubuntu version numbers are the release year and month. 24.04 shipped in April 2024, 25.10 in October 2025, and 26.04 in April 2026. There is no ambiguity about which release is newer, and no guessing about when a version appeared.
Every second April release - those in even-numbered years - is designated Long Term Support.
| Release | Type | Standard support |
|---|---|---|
| 22.04 LTS | LTS | Five years from April 2022 |
| 24.04 LTS | LTS | Five years from April 2024 |
| 25.04 | Interim | Nine months |
| 25.10 | Interim | Nine months |
| 26.04 LTS | LTS | Five years from April 2026 |
Standard support, Ubuntu Pro and ESM
An LTS release receives five years of standard security and maintenance updates from Canonical, covering the main repository.
Beyond that, Ubuntu Pro extends coverage through Expanded Security Maintenance, taking the total to ten years and widening the scope to include packages in the universe repository. Canonical offers Ubuntu Pro free for personal use on a limited number of machines, which makes it practical for home labs as well as enterprises. Longer windows are available commercially for organisations that cannot move on a ten-year cycle.
Interim releases get nine months. That is deliberately short: they exist to move the platform forward and to give the next LTS a well-tested base, not to be run in production for years.
The freeze schedule
The six months before a release follow a published sequence of freezes, each narrowing what can change:
| Milestone | Effect |
|---|---|
| Feature Freeze | No new features or new upstream versions without an exception |
| User Interface Freeze | Visible strings and layouts settle so translators can work |
| Documentation String Freeze | Translation deadline |
| Kernel Freeze | The shipping kernel is fixed |
| Beta | Public testing milestone |
| Final Freeze | Only release-critical fixes |
| Release | Images published |
For an LTS the process is more conservative than for an interim release, since the result has to be maintained for a decade.
What an LTS baseline means in practice
Choosing 26.04 LTS is mostly a decision about the versions of everything else you will be living with. An LTS pins a kernel line, a toolchain, a Python version, a systemd version and thousands of library versions for the lifetime of the release. Security fixes are backported rather than delivered as version bumps, so the version numbers stay still while the content is patched.
Where that is too static, Canonical provides escape hatches:
- Hardware Enablement (HWE) kernels bring newer kernels from later releases to an LTS, which matters on recent hardware.
- Snap packages let individual applications track their own upstream releases independently of the distribution.
- Container images allow a newer userspace on an older host.
Upgrading between releases
do-release-upgrade handles in-place upgrades. By default, an LTS system is only offered the next LTS,
not interim releases, which is controlled by Prompt=lts in /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades.
Canonical does not enable LTS-to-LTS upgrades the moment the new version ships. The upgrade path usually opens with the first point release, typically 26.04.1 a few months later, once early issues have been shaken out. For fleets, waiting for that point release is the conventional advice.
Before upgrading, check third-party APT repositories: they are disabled during the upgrade and need equivalents for the new release, and they are the most common cause of a broken upgrade.
Choosing a release
- Servers and fleets: LTS, upgraded shortly after the first point release.
- Developer workstations: LTS if your toolchain is containerised, interim if you want newer desktop and hardware support and can reinstall or upgrade every six months.
- Derivative distributions: most, including Linux Mint, track the LTS rather than interim releases.
Conclusion
Ubuntu’s calendar has not changed in two decades: April and October, LTS every second April, five years of standard support with ten available through Ubuntu Pro. Ubuntu 26.04 LTS becomes the new long-term baseline in April 2026. For anything you intend to run for more than a year, the LTS is the release to build on - and the point release a few months later is the conventional moment to make the move.