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Introducing the WordPress Versions Support Period chart. The chart displays the support period (in days), the time between the release date and the end-of-life date.

Source

The chart is based on the version support period. Support period is the difference between the release date and the version end-of-life date. Support period defined as the time the version receives regular updates.

Insights

In the past, when a new major version was released, the previous major version reached its end-of-life and was no longer supported.

In October 2013, when WordPress 3.7 introduced “Automatic Updates”, everything changed. Now major WordPress versions no longer reached their end-of-life as new minor version automatically fixed security vulnerabilities.

Until WordPress 3.7 the support period was equal to version lifespan – the period between two major WordPress versions.

Since WordPress 3.7 the support period is larger than version lifespan – the period between the release day until today.

In the future, when WordPress stop supporting older versions, they will publicly release the end-of-life date for each major version.

Have other insights? Share them in the comments area below!