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Drupal 12 is released in the week of 7 December 2026.
What is already certain today, what is still provisional, and why that shouldn't slow down your move to Drupal 11.
Drupal 12 comes out in the week of 7 December 2026 and isn't available yet today.
The calendar is fixed, the content isn't.
Everything you read about Drupal 12's features right now is provisional.
What determines your planning is the date, and what happens to Drupal 10 in that same week.
What's fixed about the release planning?
The week is fixed, not the day.
Drupal 12 is released in the week of 7 December 2026.
Until then, Drupal 11 is the current stable version, now in the 11.4 series.
Drupal 10 reaches end of life on 9 December 2026, and 10.6.0 is the last minor release in that line.
Drupal 9 has been out of support since November 2023, Drupal 8 since November 2021, and Drupal 7 since 5 January 2025.
Why Drupal 12 coincides with the end of life of Drupal 10
Those two dates fall in the same week, but they are two separate decisions.
Drupal fixed the end of life of Drupal 10 to the minor release window of December 2026, explicitly independent of Drupal 12's release date.
Drupal keeps a maximum of two majors in security support at once, but the oldest major doesn't automatically drop away the day a new one appears: Drupal 9 stayed supported for almost a year after Drupal 10's release.
For your planning it makes little difference: in practice you have one deadline here, 9 December 2026.
Your site keeps working after 9 December, but a vulnerability in core or contrib becomes your problem from then on instead of the security team's.
What that deadline means in practice and which routes you have, I set out in Drupal 10 loses support on 9 December 2026: what now?.
What a major release actually means today
A major release is an update, not a rebuild.
That's the difference with the jump from Drupal 7 to 8, where you rebuilt everything from scratch.
Since Drupal 9 the upgrade path sits in the code itself: a major removes the APIs that were already marked deprecated in the minors before it.
Going from 11 to 12, you work through that deprecated code, bump your dependencies and update your contrib modules.
Content types, fields, views and configuration carry over.
It isn't zero work.
The scope depends on your own code, the number of contrib modules and your patches, since every patch has to be checked against the new core again.
Why you move to Drupal 11 now instead of waiting for 12
Waiting for Drupal 12 gains you nothing and costs you support time.
Three reasons.
One: Drupal 10 drops away on 9 December, so waiting until 12 is contrib-ready means months without security releases.
Two: on release day, part of your contrib modules won't have a compatible version yet.
Three: it's largely the same kind of work, namely clearing deprecated code and keeping dependencies up to date.
Whoever is on the latest minor of Drupal 11 and keeps up with their deprecation notices will be closest to Drupal 12 when it lands, but exactly how big that step is isn't known today.
If your site is still running Drupal 7, this isn't an update but a migration to a new build, as I described in Still running Drupal 7? Here's what you need to know right now.
The target version stays the same: Drupal 11.
How to prepare your codebase now
Preparing for Drupal 12 is clearing deprecated code, and you can start that today.
- Stay on the latest minor of your major, since that's where the deprecation notices are.
- Run Upgrade Status for a list per module, core and contrib and custom together.
- Run your own modules and themes through drupal-check and fix the notices in the code.
- Let Drupal Rector handle what it can automatically, and check what it doesn't touch.
- Take stock of your patches: which ones exist, and whether the fix has since landed in a release.
- Limit contrib to modules with an active maintainer, because an abandoned module soon becomes your custom code.
That work doesn't lose its value if the planning shifts, because a codebase without deprecated calls is easier to maintain.
It's also the only preparation that doesn't depend on assumptions about that release's content.
Need extra hands for a while? You can hire me as a freelance Drupal developer for that.
What's still uncertain
I don't know what Drupal 12 will contain functionally.
I don't know which minimum PHP version it will require, which core modules disappear or move to contrib, and which of your modules will have a compatible release on day one.
That only becomes concrete in the run-up to the release candidate, so plan on the date, not on the features.
What this means for your planning
You have until 9 December 2026 to be off Drupal 10, and Drupal 11 is the target.
What that step means for your site in hours and risk, I map out in Drupal migration and upgrade: what needs to happen, what can wait, carried out within your existing Git flow.
What that kind of work costs per hour or per day, I break down in what a freelance Drupal developer costs in 2026.
For the maintenance afterwards there's technical management and consultancy, and if you want to outsource keeping up with minors and deprecation notices entirely, that runs through Drupal maintenance and support.
Send your version number and a link via contact, and you'll have an answer within 24 hours.
Frequently asked questions
When does Drupal 12 come out?
Drupal 12 will be released in the week of 7 December 2026 and is therefore not yet available at this time.
The week is fixed, the exact day within that week is not.
Until then, Drupal 11 is the current stable version, now in the 11.4 series.
Nothing is final yet about the functional content of Drupal 12, so plan on the date, not on the features.
What do we already know about the content of Drupal 12?
Nothing definite yet about the features.
I don't know what minimum PHP version Drupal 12 will require, which core modules will disappear or move to contrib, or which of your modules will have a compatible release on day one.
That will only become concrete in the run-up to the release candidate.
What is fixed is the calendar: the release falls in the week of 7 December 2026.
Everything you read about the features now is provisional.
Should I wait for Drupal 12 or move to Drupal 11 now?
Move to Drupal 11 now.
Waiting means you'll be on a Drupal 10 without security support after 9 December 2026, and you can read exactly what that means in my article Drupal 10 loses support on 9 December 2026.
In its first months, Drupal 12 will also still be waiting for compatible contrib releases, and it's largely the same kind of work: removing deprecated code and keeping dependencies up to date.
Whoever is on the latest minor of Drupal 11 and keeps up with their deprecation notices will later be closest to Drupal 12, but exactly how big that step will be isn't known today.
Is the step to Drupal 12 a rebuild of my site?
No, from Drupal 11 onwards it's an update.
Since Drupal 9, a major mostly removes APIs that were already marked deprecated in earlier minors, and raises platform requirements such as the minimum PHP version.
Your content types, fields, views and configuration come along.
The scope depends on your own code, your contrib modules and the number of patches.
From Drupal 7 to a current version is a real migration though, since that upgrade path doesn't exist there.
Does Drupal 11 go out of support as soon as Drupal 12 comes out?
Not automatically.
Drupal keeps a maximum of two majors in security support at the same time, but the oldest major doesn't drop away on the day a new one appears: Drupal 9 remained supported for almost a year after the release of Drupal 10.
A date for the end of support for Drupal 11 isn't known today, so after December 2026 you'll in all likelihood still have time to plan the step to Drupal 12, but you can't put a fixed deadline on that.
What can I already do now to be ready for Drupal 12?
Remove deprecated code, since that's the biggest part of any major upgrade.
Keep up with the latest minor of your major, since that's where the deprecation notices are.
Run Upgrade Status for a list per module, run your own modules and themes through drupal-check, and let Drupal Rector do what it can automatically.
Also take stock of your patches and limit contrib to modules with an active maintainer.
That work doesn't lose its value if the schedule shifts.
A question about this topic?
Briefly describe your situation, and I'll let you know what's going on and what it would cost. No sales pitch.
