LTS stands for “Long Term Support” and means exactly that. A long-term supported release is a version of software that is designed to receive long-term support and maintenance for several years after its release. This guarantees a stable and reliable version for a minimum period of time that users can expect to continue using. Naturally, this is ideal for clients and end-users, as they can focus on giving their customers amazing digital experiences without worrying about compatibility issues or unexpected changes in functionality.

Short term versus Long term support

For standard versions of software, only a short term support period is in place. The upside is that the developer would implement new features and functionalities that may have some slight issues. It is not uncommon for users to lose compatibility or features as a result.

For LTS, reliability is the top priority and patches or updates will be infrequent but guaranteed. How the software is supported for this length of time varies depending on the developer. Typically, LTS software will receive important updates to address any technical issues or broken functionalities, but do not receive brand-new features.

What to expect from LTS

As the update schedule for LTS is announced clearly to users, they can expect to continue using the software reliably for an extended period of time. Updates are conducted and tested on short term support versions first, which provides an extra layer of safety for those using LTS versions.

Users of LTS versions will need to plan carefully for when support ends, the benefit to this is that they will have ample time to consider their options for upgrading. However, this also means they have to go through the upgrade phase, which could be timely and expensive.

Some software developers have ended this type of support, instead opting for subscription-based models. Subscription-based software is similar to STS, as updates come often and are automatically applied when users access the network to use the software.