Rails end of life: support dates for every version
Each Rails release series gets bug fixes for a limited time, then security fixes only, then none. Once a series reaches end of life, no new versions of it are released, even when a vulnerability is found. The table below gives the published dates for every series from Rails 5.2 on, with the minimum Ruby each one needs. Rails 8.0 reaches end of life on 7 November 2026.
Rails support dates
| Series | Released | Bug fixes until | Security fixes until | Minimum Ruby | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rails 8.1 | extended until the next series ships | 3.2 or newer | Maintained | ||
| Rails 8.0 | 3.2 or newer | Security fixes only | |||
| Rails 7.2 | Not published | 3.1 or newer | End of life | ||
| Rails 7.1 | Not published | 2.7 or newer | End of life | ||
| Rails 7.0 | Not published | 2.7 or newer | End of life | ||
| Rails 6.1 | Not published | 2.5 or newer | End of life | ||
| Rails 6.0 | Not published | 2.5 or newer | End of life | ||
| Rails 5.2 | Not published | 2.2.2 or newer | End of life |
Status on . Rails dates checked against rubyonrails.org/maintenance on .
Ruby support dates
| Ruby | Released | Security fixes only from | End of life | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ruby 4.0 | — | Not published | Maintained | |
| Ruby 3.4 | — | Not published | Maintained | |
| Ruby 3.3 | expected | Security fixes only | ||
| Ruby 3.2 | End of life | |||
| Ruby 3.1 | End of life | |||
| Ruby 3.0 | End of life | |||
| Ruby 2.7 | End of life |
Ruby dates checked against ruby-lang.org on .
How to read the table
Each row is one Rails release series, such as 7.2 or 8.0. Patch releases within a series, such as 8.0.3, share its dates.
- Released is the date of the series’ first release.
- Bug fixes until is the last day the Rails team fixes ordinary bugs in the series. Not every older series had a published bug-fix date. If no new series has been released by that date, the policy extends bug fixes for the newest series until the next one ships.
- Security fixes until is the date the series reaches end of life. After it, no new versions of the series are released.
- Minimum Ruby is the oldest Ruby version the series runs on.
The status beside each series is worked out from these dates on the day you read the page. “Maintained” means bug and security fixes, “security fixes only” means what it says, and “end of life” means neither.
What end of life means in practice
An application on an end-of-life series does not stop working. The change is in what happens when a problem is found. The Rails maintenance policy says that for an unsupported series “it’s your own responsibility to deal with bugs and security issues”, and that no new versions are released.
The longer an application stays on an unsupported series, the more the work of upgrading grows. Gems drop support for old Rails versions, the Ruby version underneath reaches its own end of life, and each missed step is another one to take later.
Ruby has its own schedule
Ruby and Rails are maintained by different teams on different calendars. A new Ruby version comes out each year on 25 December. Each Ruby branch gets normal maintenance first, then security maintenance only, then reaches end of life.
Newer Rails series raise the minimum Ruby. Rails 7.2 needs Ruby 3.1 or newer, and Rails 8.0 and 8.1 need Ruby 3.2 or newer. Ruby 3.2 itself reached end of life on 1 April 2026, so an application can be on a supported Rails series and an unsupported Ruby at the same time. Check both.
Planning an upgrade from an older series
An older starting point means more steps, not a different method. The official upgrade guide moves one minor version at a time, and so do we. Some steps are larger than others:
- 5.2 to 6.0 is often the largest single step in an old application, because 6.0 makes Zeitwerk the default autoloader.
- 6.1 to 7.0 removes classic autoloading altogether and opens up the choice of JavaScript set-up.
- 7.1 to 7.2 raises the minimum Ruby to 3.1, which often means upgrading Ruby first.
- 8.0 to 8.1 is one of the smaller steps. The Rails 8.0 end-of-life page covers it in detail.
Where these dates come from
The Rails dates come from the Rails team’s maintenance policy and its end-of-maintenance announcements. The Ruby dates come from ruby-lang.org. An automated check compares them with those sources every week, and the tables change when the sources do. Under each table is the date its data was last confirmed against the source. The same data is published in machine-readable form at /rails-versions.json.
Common questions
What does end of life mean for a Rails version?
It means the Rails team no longer releases new versions of that series, not even for security issues. The application keeps running, but any bug or vulnerability found after that date has to be handled by the application's own team, or by upgrading to a supported series.
How long is a Rails version supported?
Under the current maintenance policy, a series gets bug fixes for one year and security fixes for two years after its first release. Older series had different dates, and the published dates do not always fall on the release anniversary, so check the date for your series rather than calculating it.
Which Rails versions still receive security fixes?
On 16 October 2026, only Rails 8.1 and Rails 8.0. Rails 8.0's security fixes end on 7 November 2026, and Rails 8.1's on 10 October 2027. Every series up to and including 7.2 has reached end of life.
How do I find out which Rails version my application uses?
Look for the line that starts with rails in the application's Gemfile.lock, or run bin/rails --version in the project. From the outside, our free check reads one public page and names a likely Rails era, but not the exact version.
Do we have to upgrade one version at a time?
The official upgrade guide recommends it: move to the latest patch of your current series, fix its deprecation warnings, then move to the next minor version. Each step brings its own configuration defaults and removals, and taking them one at a time keeps every change easy to trace.
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