Every piece of software has a sell-by date, but most CMSs are cagey about admitting it. Drupal, bless its open-source heart, just walked up and taped the date to the front door: December 9, 2026, Drupal 10 is done. Cue the sound of agency project managers quietly opening a new spreadsheet.

The Countdown Is Now Official

Drupal's core release schedule confirms the roadmap: Drupal 12.0.0-beta1 and Drupal 11.5.0-beta1 are slated for the week of September 14, 2026, with all beta-blocking requirements due by September 11. Drupal 12 itself ships the week of December 7, 2026, with Drupal 10 reaching official end-of-life two days later on December 9.

Drupal 10.6.0 will be the last minor release the version ever sees, meaning no more security patches, no more bug fixes, nothing, once the clock runs out. If your site is still on Drupal 10 after that date, you're not "a little behind," you're unsupported.

Why This Isn't Just a Version-Number Shrug

Running an unsupported CMS is like driving without insurance: fine right up until it very much isn't. Drupal core patches critical vulnerabilities regularly (we've covered a few doozies this year), and once Drupal 10 stops getting them, every unpatched site becomes a standing invitation to anyone scanning for easy targets.

The upside most people miss: this deadline is actually a gift of lead time. Three-plus months to plan a Drupal 12 migration is generous compared to how these things usually go, provided you don't spend all of it in denial about how many custom modules need auditing first.

Translation: the "we'll deal with it later" folder just got a hard deadline written on it in Sharpie.

If your site's still humming along on Drupal 10 and you'd rather not find out what "unsupported" feels like the hard way, let's talk through your Drupal 12 migration path while there's still runway to do it right.

Source: TheDropTimes