At Laracon 2013 in Washington D.C., Taylor announced the first official release cycle for the framework.
The way releases are set up is that a new version of Laravel is released every six months, one around June and another at the end of each year. Bug fixes are provided for six months and security fixes for one year.
By having an official release cycle, it allows us end users to plan around when we need to perform upgrades and also the dev team a way of knowing what is coming and when. Since this announcement, all new releases have followed this schedule.
With the release of Laravel 5.1, a new cycle was added to offer long-term support. It includes bug fixes for two years and security fixes for three.
This means 5.1 will be the only LTS version available until the two-year mark ends, June 2017. At that point, another LTS version will be announced. Here is an outline for the release schedule:
Proposed Release Schedule
5.1 LTS – Jun 9, 2015
Bug fixes until June 2017, and security fixes until June 2018.
Laravel 5.2 – Dec 21, 2015
General release of 5.2 which includes 6 months of bug fixes, 1 year of security.
Laravel 5.3 – Aug 23, 2016
6 months of bug fixes, 1 year of security.
Laravel 5.4 – January 24, 2017
6 months of bug fixes, 1 year of security. Here is a look at the new features of Laravel 5.4
Laravel 5.5 LTS – August 30, 2017
This is the current LTS release. At this point, Laravel 5.1 will no longer receive bug fixes but will continue getting security fixes until June 2018. Check out the what’s new in Laravel 5.5 series to see all the new features in this release.
Laravel 5.6 – February 7th, 2018
6 months of bug fixes, 1 year of security. what’s new in Laravel 5.6.
Laravel 5.7 – September 4th, 2018
6 months of bug fixes, 1 year of security. Check out the what’s new in Laravel 5.7series to see all the new features in this release.
History of Laravel Releases
| Version | Release | Bug Fixes Until | Security Fixes Until |
|---|---|---|---|
| V1 | June 2011 | – | – |
| V2 | September 2011 | – | – |
| v3 | February 2012 | – | – |
| v4 | May 2013 | – | – |
| 5.0 | Feb 4th, 2015 | Aug 4th, 2015 | Feb 4th, 2016 |
| 5.1 (LTS) | Jun 9th, 2015 | Jun 9th, 2017 | Jun 9th, 2018 |
| 5.2 | Dec 21st, 2015 | Jun 21st, 2016 | Dec 21st, 2016 |
| 5.3 | Aug 23rd, 2016 | Feb 23rd, 2017 | Aug 23rd, 2017 |
| 5.4 | Jan 24th, 2017 | Jul 24th, 2017 | Jan 24th, 2018 |
| 5.5 (LTS) | Aug 30th, 2017 | Aug 30th, 2019 | Aug 30th, 2020 |
| 5.6 | Feb 7th, 2018 | Aug 7th, 2018 | Feb 7th, 2019 |
| 5.7 | Sep 4, 2018 | Feb 4th, 2019 | Sep 4th, 2019 |
