Runtime · signalled, not confirmed
Python
Python 3.10 stops receiving security fixes
departs Date not announced · signalled, not confirmed
What this means for you
After its end-of-life, Python 3.10 stops receiving security fixes. Projects pinned to 3.10 should plan to move to a supported release (3.11+) before then, especially anything internet-facing. Python publishes the month — October 2026 — but not a day, so treat it as "some time in October" rather than a deadline you can schedule a change freeze around.
Where to go
Upgrade to Python 3.11, 3.12, 3.13 or 3.14. Most 3.10 code runs unchanged; check C-extension wheels and any deprecations flagged in the "What's New" notes for the target version.
- Python 3.11 (security fixes to October 2027)
- Python 3.12 / 3.13 / 3.14 (supported)
Python follows a fixed five-year support window per release, published on the developer guide’s version-status page — which makes these among the most predictable sunsets on the calendar. What it does not make them is precisely dated.
Correction (21 July 2026). This entry originally read “4 October 2026”, derived by adding five years to 3.10’s release date. That is an inference, and inferring sunset dates is the one thing this registry promises never to do. The primary sources do not support a specific day:
- The version-status table lists 3.10’s end of life as 2026-10 — month only, where other columns in the same table carry full dates.
- PEP 619, the release schedule for 3.10, says security releases are provided “irregularly on an ‘as-needed’ basis until October 2026”, and describes the window as running until approximately five years after 3.10’s final release.
So the honest status is: October 2026, day not announced. Widely-used aggregators list 31 October 2026 for this release; that date does not appear in Python’s own sources either, and we do not repeat it as fact.
This matters more than four weeks of uncertainty might suggest. A precise-looking date gets pasted into migration tickets and compliance spreadsheets, where it stops being a guess and starts being a requirement. If you need something to plan against, plan against the start of October and treat anything more specific as unconfirmed.
We will update this entry the day Python states one.
Entry changelog
- — last reviewed.
- — Entry created from the official version-status table.
- — Correction: this entry previously gave the end-of-life date as 4 October 2026. That day was not published by Python — it was inferred from the five-year support window. The official sources state only the month (October 2026), so the entry now carries no specific date and a watch flag until one is announced.
Spot an error or a changed date? Tell us and it’s corrected the same night.