.NET 8 end of life and end of support
Support for .NET 8 ends on 10 November 2026. After that date Microsoft issues no more security fixes for it, and the supported version to move to is .NET 10.
Status on 3 October 2026
- .NET 8
- Ending within a year
- Security fixes
- Ends 10 November 2026, in 38 days
- Released
- 14 November 2023
- Security fixes end
- 10 November 202638 days from today
Dates come from the Microsoft .NET support policy; check there before relying on them for a decision.
What ends, and what carries on
Modern .NET has a new version every November. Even-numbered versions are long-term support releases, supported for three years. .NET 8 is one of those: released on 14 November 2023, with support ending on 10 November 2026. .NET 9 ends on the same day, so moving from 8 to 9 gains nothing.
From the end date Microsoft issues no further fixes for the .NET 8 runtime or the libraries that ship with it. Applications built on it carry on running.
Do not confuse .NET 8 with .NET Framework 4.8, a different product that follows the support dates of Windows. Our .NET dates page lists both.
What it means for the applications built on .NET 8
- The change itself is usually small. Update the target framework, update the package references, fix a small number of breaking changes and run the tests. Microsoft publishes the breaking changes for each release, so there is a list to work through.
- The tests decide the risk. With a good set of automated tests, the upgrade can be made and checked quickly. With none, the application compiles and starts, and nobody can say whether a calculation, a date format or a sort order now behaves differently. The work then becomes manual testing by people who know the business process.
- One stale package can hold everything up. Most libraries support a new .NET version promptly. One that its author has stopped maintaining may not, and replacing it can be the largest part of the job.
- Hosting moves on. Cloud platforms eventually stop offering an unsupported runtime. Container base images for it stop being updated, so a container built on one also stops receiving fixes for the layers beneath the application.
Your options
Move to .NET 10. The current long-term support release, supported until 14 November 2028.
Write tests first, then upgrade. For an application with no automated tests, a modest set covering the calculations and workflows the business relies on is written against .NET 8 and run again on .NET 10. It turns the upgrade from a guess into a check.
Run on past the date for a short, planned period. The application keeps working. The exposure grows with each vulnerability found in the runtime, and it is greatest for anything reachable from the internet.
There is no paid extension to buy from Microsoft.
What we would check first
We would check four things. Does the application build from source on a clean machine? Are there automated tests, and do they pass? Which packages does it use, and is each still maintained? Where is it hosted, and how is a release made?
Our .NET upgrade assessment answers those questions at a fixed price. Because a long-term support release needs replacing every two to three years, the upgrade is best treated as routine upkeep, which is what our software maintenance service is for.
Get a reminder
.NET 8 stops receiving security fixes on 10 November 2026. Put the date where you will see it.
Add a reminder to your calendarNot sure where .NET 8 is still running?
Most organisations find more copies than they expected. Two ways to find out, depending on how much you want to know.
Check which version you have
A server can have several .NET versions installed side by side. What matters is the version each application is built for, not the newest one on the machine.
How to check every productFor modern .NET, this command lists every runtime installed. For .NET Framework, the version is recorded in the registry, and our free script reads it for you.
dotnet --list-runtimesWhen it is not yours to upgrade
Applications are held on an old .NET version by the components they were built with: a grid or reporting control bought years ago, a payment or document library whose vendor has stopped trading, or a component for which nobody holds the source code.
Find these before estimating an upgrade. Each one has to be upgraded, replaced or wrapped, and they decide how large the job is far more than the amount of your own code.
Making the case for the work
An upgrade nobody outside IT can see is easy to defer. These are the reasons that tend to move it up the list.
- Cyber Essentials
- The scheme requires software in scope to be supported by its vendor. Anything past its end-of-support date has to be removed, or cut off from the internet, before you can certify or renew.
- Cyber insurance
- Proposal forms commonly ask whether you run unsupported software. Check what yours asked, and what you answered.
- Customer questionnaires
- Larger customers ask the same question of their suppliers. An honest "yes, and here is the plan" is a better answer than a late discovery.
- Personal data
- UK data protection law expects appropriate technical measures to protect personal data. Software that can no longer be patched is hard to square with that.
- The cost of waiting
- An upgrade done to a deadline, after something has failed, costs more than the same upgrade planned. Where Microsoft sells a paid security extension, its price has risen each year it runs.
- Official guidance
- The National Cyber Security Centre is blunt: "The only fully effective way to mitigate this risk is to stop using the obsolete product." See its guidance on obsolete products.
What we do and do not sell: we do not sell Microsoft licences or Extended Security Updates, so we have no stake in which version you choose. Our part is the application: finding what depends on the old version, testing it against the new one and fixing what breaks.
Supported versions to move to
How long each would keep you in support. All .NET and .NET Framework versions
| Version | Released | Security fixes end | Status today |
|---|---|---|---|
| .NET 10 | 11 November 2025 | 14 November 2028 | Supported |
Questions we are asked
When does .NET 8 reach end of life?
Support for .NET 8 ends on 10 November 2026. It is a long-term support release that came out on 14 November 2023, and .NET 9 goes out of support on the same day.
Will .NET 8 stop working after November 2026?
No. An application built on .NET 8 keeps running. What stops is security fixes for the runtime, and hosting platforms and container base images eventually stop offering the version.
Is there extended support for .NET 8?
No. Microsoft does not sell a paid extension for .NET 8. Once support ends on 10 November 2026, the way to keep receiving fixes is to move to .NET 10.
Should we move from .NET 8 to .NET 9 or to .NET 10?
To .NET 10. .NET 9 goes out of support on 10 November 2026, the same day as .NET 8. .NET 10 is a long-term support release and is supported until 14 November 2028.
Is .NET 8 the same as .NET Framework 4.8?
No. .NET Framework 4.8 is the older framework that is part of Windows, and it is supported for as long as the Windows version it is installed on. .NET 8 is a version of modern .NET with its own fixed end date, 10 November 2026.
Running a version that is out of support?
Tell us which version, what depends on it and how it is hosted. We will set out the upgrade route and what it is likely to involve.