Published
February 3, 2026
February 3, 2026
Reading time
6 minutes
6 minutes
Does this feel familiar?
If you’re an Umbraco customer on version 13, this probably doesn’t feel like a new conversation.
For a lot of organizations, the last few years have been spent catching up just to get back onto a supported version of their CMS. So, when the topic of another upgrade comes up, the reaction is often some version of, “Here we go again.” Another project. Another budget discussion. Another thing that doesn’t feel like it’s going to change what customers see.
That fatigue is understandable. CMS upgrades are easy to deprioritize because they don’t look exciting on paper. They rarely come with a clear story about the immediate business impact.
The issue is that organizations that don’t stay current on a long-term support version of their CMS usually don’t feel the pain right away. It shows up later, when the business needs to change, and the team can’t move at the speed they expect. At that point, the constraint isn’t the idea or the urgency. It’s the CMS, and by then, it’s often too late to treat it as a simple upgrade.
That’s the context most organizations are in when they start asking questions about what to do with Umbraco 13.
Why this conversation is happening now
Umbraco 13 reaches end of life on December 14, 2026. After that date, it’s no longer supported.
That doesn’t mean your site suddenly stops working. Pages will still load. Content is still there. Nothing immediately breaks.
What changes is the risk profile. Once a version is out of support, you’re no longer receiving fixes or security updates unless you purchase extended support directly from Umbraco. At that point, the decision stops being about software features and starts being about organizational risk and tolerance.
Most organizations aren’t comfortable running a public-facing platform indefinitely in an unsupported state. Not because something is guaranteed to go wrong, but because when something does, there’s no safety net.
This doesn’t mean an upgrade has to happen immediately. It does mean the decision needs to be made intentionally, with enough time to plan and budget, rather than being forced by a deadline later.
Should I upgrade to Umbraco 14, 15, or 16?
Once organizations accept that they need to move off Umbraco 13, the next question is usually about scope.
Upgrading to Umbraco 14, 15, or 16 can sound like a smaller step. It feels less disruptive and easier to justify than jumping straight to a new long-term support release.
The issue is that those versions are already at the end of life. They don’t put you in a better position than staying on Umbraco 13. You still end up on an unsupported version, facing the same risk and the same conversations.
Because of that, many organizations decide that if they’re going to do the work at all, it makes more sense to land on Umbraco 17 and avoid repeating the process again in the near future.
Is Umbraco 17 the right version for my business?
For many organizations, moving to Umbraco 17 is a straightforward decision. They want to be on the current long-term support version of their content platform, with a clear support window and fewer unknowns.
For others, the decision is more about speed. Umbraco 17 is where new capabilities are being introduced, and for organizations trying to shorten time to market, that matters. This can show up in different ways depending on the situation. Some teams are looking at newer features that support artificial intelligence. Others are taking advantage of newer options around external search providers. Others are focused on integrating multiple systems through Umbraco Compose or connecting to their environment through MCP.
These are different use cases, but they point to the same thing. Umbraco 17 is where the platform is moving forward, and it gives organizations more room to adapt as business needs change.
Staying on Umbraco 13 after December 14, 2026, is still possible, but only by purchasing extended support directly from Umbraco. Choosing that path means intentionally deciding that the goal is to buy time, not to move the platform forward.
Extended support is a way to buy time, not avoid an upgrade.
That can be the right choice in certain situations. It’s just important to be clear about what decision is actually being made.
The cost of doing nothing is not zero
When organizations delay an upgrade, it often feels like a cost-saving decision. The investment required to upgrade gets pushed out of the current fiscal year, and on paper, that can look like progress.
What’s easy to miss is that nothing is standing still during that time.
While an organization remains on Umbraco 13, Umbraco continues to release updates, fixes, and changes in newer versions. Umbraco 17 keeps moving forward. Eventually, 18, 19, and beyond do too. The distance between where the platform is and where your site lives increases over time.
That distance doesn’t stay flat. It grows and compounds the longer it’s left alone.
A helpful way to think about it is health. If your knee hurts and you ignore it, you may avoid a doctor’s visit in the short term. But the problem doesn’t stay the same. Over time, it gets worse. What could have been addressed with something simple eventually turns into a much larger intervention.
The same thing happens with CMS upgrades. Waiting doesn’t freeze the problem. It lets it grow. And when the organization finally has to act, the work no longer looks like an upgrade. It looks like a rebuild.
That’s why the cost of doing nothing is rarely zero. It’s just deferred, and usually higher by the time it shows up.
Getting started and getting help
CMS upgrades are technical by nature, and many organizations carry some baggage from past upgrade efforts. It’s often unclear what is actually changing, what stays the same, whether content needs to be migrated, or whether the work is closer to an upgrade or a rebuild. That uncertainty is usually what makes these projects feel risky before they even begin.
If you have an existing implementation partner, this is a conversation to have with them early. They should be able to walk you through what an upgrade to Umbraco 17 looks like in your environment, how scope is determined, and where the real decisions are. If this hasn’t been raised with you yet, it’s reasonable to bring it up and ask for that clarity.
This is where having experience with Umbraco upgrades makes a difference.
If you don’t have a partner, or if your current partner hasn’t navigated these upgrades before, you don’t have to sort it out alone. Many organizations talk with more than one agency to understand different approaches, pressure-test assumptions, and reduce uncertainty before committing to a path forward.
If it’s helpful, we’re always happy to be part of that conversation. Sometimes that means validating a plan you already have. Other times, it means helping frame the decision internally, so it doesn’t become reactive later. The goal isn’t to rush the upgrade. It’s to understand the path ahead while you still have room to plan.
