Runtime · archived
RabbitMQ
RabbitMQ 4.2 stops receiving free community releases
left 31 Jul 2026
Quick answers
- Is it true that RabbitMQ 4.2 community support ends?
- Yes — and the date has already passed (31 Jul 2026). Community support for the 4.2 series ends: no further free patch releases, including security ones.
- When did it take effect?
- 31 Jul 2026 (already passed). Verified against the vendor's own announcement.
- What should I use instead?
- Upgrade to RabbitMQ 4.3, which carries community support to 30 November 2026.
What this means for you
Community support for the 4.2 series ends: no further free patch releases, including security ones. The series is not dead — commercial extended support runs to 30 June 2030 — so this is a date that costs money rather than one that breaks things. Open-source users are the ones affected.
Where to go
Upgrade to RabbitMQ 4.3, which carries community support to 30 November 2026. Within the 4.x line this is a rolling upgrade rather than a migration; check the release notes for feature-flag requirements before starting, since RabbitMQ gates some upgrades on required feature flags being enabled first.
- RabbitMQ 4.3 (community support to 2026-11-30)
- Commercial extended support for 4.2 (to 2030-06-30)
RabbitMQ’s release table lists two end dates per series, and they are almost four years apart: community support for 4.2 ends 31 July 2026, extended commercial support on 30 June 2030.
We record the first one, because it is the date that applies to anyone running the open-source distribution — which is most people running RabbitMQ. A support matrix that shows “2030” in one column is easy to read as reassurance, and for a paying customer it is. For everyone else the number that matters is the earlier one.
The upgrade to 4.3 buys four months. That is the rhythm of this series, and it is worth building an upgrade habit around rather than a calendar reminder.
Entry changelog
- — last reviewed.
- — Entry created from the official release-information table.
- — Community-support end date reached — RabbitMQ 4.2 stops receiving free community releases today, including security patches; commercial extended support continues to 2030-06-30. Open-source users should upgrade to 4.3 (community support to 2026-11-30). Status moved to passed. Re-verified against the release-information table, unchanged.
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