So Drupal 8 is here and that has a significant impact on Drupal 7 users. Drupal 7 is no longer the latest and greatest version.

One question we often get now is this:

When will Drupal 7 reach end-of-life and no longer be supported?

The simple answer is, "We don't know".

The longer answer is, "We can have a good guess". That's what this blog post is about. We hope to give you more details so you can plan for the future of your Drupal 7 site.

Before you go any further, go and read "Understanding the Drupal 8 and 9 Release Cycle". That post will give you essential background on how Drupal's release cycle is set.

The current state of Drupal 7

Here's the overview of where we are at the beginning of 2017:

Drupal 7 is currently the "Long Term Support" version of Drupal. That means Drupal 7 will not get new features, but will continue to get bug fixes security support.

The future plans for Drupal 7

Drupal 7 will get bug fix and security support until Drupal 8 becomes the Long Term Support version.

OK, that's great! But when is the final version of Drupal 8 going to arrive? At the moment, there's no fixed date. The good news is that Drupal 8 may have years of development ahead.

After the final version of Drupal 8 is released, Drupal 7 will no longer get bug-fixes, but it will still get security support. That security support will continue until (bear with me, now!) Drupal 9 becomes the Long Term Support version.

Conclusion

Drupal 7 will likely get bug-fixes until October 2017, and official security support until 2019 or 2020 at least.

Update: When I originally wrote this post, it seemed that Drupal's release cycle policies were clear. However, I was wrong, judging by the comments below this post, and on Drupal.org issues such as this one. At the moment, the release cycles for Drupal 7. 8 and 9 seems to be in a state of flux. I'll update this post when firm decisions are made.

About the author Steve is the founder of OSTraining. Originally from the UK, he now lives in Sarasota in the USA. Steve's work straddles the line between teaching and web development.

: Finally, 18 months after I wrote this post, we have answers