Umbraco 4 is still being actively maintained and will continue to be until the end of 2016!

While most of the development resources have moved to v5, we're fully committed to keeping v4 up to date with patch releases for at least until the end of 2016 - four years after v5's release. This means that you can put any fears away and relax knowing your existing v4 installation is safe and will continue to be nursed.

The upgrade myth

One frequent topic that we're approached with by people nervous regarding the future of v4 is "what about upgrades - what about getting access to the latest features?" To be honest,  it's really a waste of time wondering about that, let us tell you why.

The chance that you actually do upgrade is slim. That's a fact. As in the old fashioned one which is backed by empirical evidence. Since 2008 we've been tracking upgrades of Umbraco and while people are generally good at upgrading to the latest patch releases, less than 1% upgrade to a minor version (for instance from 4.5.0 to 4.7.0).

So our recommendation is that you spend time enjoying what you have, instead of worrying if you'll get new features you really won't miss. Let's get honest and once and for all bury the myth that everyone upgrades.

Going from v4 to v5

As v5 is completely re-written you can't upgrade a v4 site to v5 easily. However, we'll be releasing a special version of Courier - our deployment tool - that will be able to move data (Content and Media) from a v4 installation to a v5 installation. Any custom logic and implementation however, will need to be re-written.