Laravel 7 is officially the end of life as of March 3rd, 2021, and it will not receive any more security fixes. Apps on Laravel 7 are encouraged to upgrade to Laravel 8.
Here's what the Laravel support policy is shaping up to look like with Laravel 9 on the horizon as the next long-term support (LTS) version:
| Version | Release | Bug Fixes Until | Security Fixes Until |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 (LTS) | September 3rd, 2019 | September 7th, 2021 | September 6th, 2022 |
| 7 | March 3rd, 2020 | October 6th, 2020 | March 3rd, 2021 |
| 8 | September 8th, 2020 | March 1st, 2022 | September 6th, 2022 |
| 9 (LTS) | September, 2021 | September, 2023 | September, 2024 |
| 10 | September, 2022 | March, 2024 | September, 2024 |
Laravel 7 introduced some awesome new features into the Laravel ecosystem that set the stage for further enhancements in more recent versions:
- Laravel Sanctum
- First-party HTTP Client
- Custom Eloquent Casts
- Blade Component Tags & Improvements
- Route Caching Speed Improvements
If you are unfamiliar with how Laravel releases work, our How the Laravel Release Process Works article should bring you up-to-speed. Laravel also moved to a yearly major release cycle (for example, Laravel 9 to Laravel 10), which means major versions happen annually instead of every six months. Laravel 9 is scheduled to release in September 2021, followed by Laravel 10 in September 2022.
Also, don’t forget about Laravel Shift if you want an easy way of updating.
Full stack web developer. Author of Lumen Programming Guide and Docker for PHP Developers.
