Introducing the CKEditor 5 Long-Term Support Edition

CKEditor offers cutting-edge releases multiple times per year. Yet, some organizations need long-term predictability with minimal changes to their software.

These organizations value stability, security, and minimal overhead more than having the most cutting-edge features. For instance, businesses in regulated industries can simplify their workload by using a single stable version of their editor over a long period of time. In other cases, enterprises may find updates costly due to their complex, interconnected infrastructure, so simplifying might make more sense.

That’s why we’re proud to release our new long-term support (LTS) edition. The CKEditor 5 LTS Edition lets you maintain a single, secure, and stable release for up to two years (with three full years of support).

#What was the CKEditor 5 LTS Edition and who should use it?

The CKEditor 5 LTS Edition offers a single, long-term, stable release. Released every two years, this edition emphasizes stability and security, without requiring extensive updates throughout the year. For large organizations, software updates can be time- and resource-intensive, so using a product built for long-term support minimizes their administrative overhead.

Here’s how releases and development are handled for the CKEditor 5 LTS Edition:

• Active development: For the first six months, we continue offering the newest features, performance enhancements, and non-breaking changes. This gives you a strong window for implementing the latest CKEditor features.

• Maintenance: For the following 2.5 years, we focus on maintenance only, ensuring you have the latest security and compatibility updates, letting you use a single, stable option.

While you won’t get the latest and greatest features for the full three years, you will have long-term stability, security, and greater predictability. This makes it ideal for organizations such as:

• Enterprises with complex deployment pipelines

• Companies in highly regulated industries such as healthcare, finance, legal, education, or government

• Teams using self-hosted or on-premises deployments

#Why choose the CKEditor 5 LTS Edition?

Security and stability are primary drivers for users of the LTS Edition. Because of this, we emphasize these in our development work by providing customers with the following:

• Security vulnerability assurance: With the LTS Edition, you benefit from CKEditor’s rigorous security standards. We follow a Secure Software Development Lifecycle (SSDLC) and are SOC 2 Type 2 certified, ensuring enterprise-grade protection. The LTS Edition provides a single, stable release with continued updates that address any discovered vulnerabilities.

• Third-party API changes: Sometimes, third-party software can cause breaking changes. Browsers might modify rendering output, operating systems could undergo major changes, or third-party integrations could change their APIs. With the LTS Edition, we handle these updates for you so you don’t have to fix anything on your end.

• Predictable maintenance cycles: When a software provider releases new features, your IT strategy may need to shift. With this edition, you only need to update versions once every two to three years, with a one-year overlap between editions. This lets you plan your infrastructure and workload accordingly. No surprises, no guesses.

• Focus on core business work: By cutting your maintenance overhead, you can deploy your engineering team to value-added projects. Instead of upgrading, your team can focus on creating innovative new features or improving the user experience.

• Get support when you need it: You’re never alone. If you want additional help, our support team can assist based on the terms of your contract.

#When is the first LTS Edition released?

Our first LTS Edition is CKEditor 5 v47.0.0, which was made available in October 2025. The maintenance-only period begins in April 2026, which means this edition will include the option to use our new CKEditor AI suite when it’s fully available following early access. We’ll continue supporting this version for three years (with the next LTS edition slated for 2027 release).

You can switch any time, but we recommend switching earlier to maximize your stability window.

#How can I access the LTS Edition?

If you don’t already have a CKEditor account, you can start immediately with the LTS Edition. If you’re already a customer, you can switch any time, as this is an add-on to your contract.

Either way, to get a plan tailored to your organization’s needs, contact our sales team to get started.