Node.js LTS vs Current: release lines, the new annual cycle and how to check your version

Node.js LTS vs Current, in one line: Current is a brand new major version in its first six months, and LTS (long-term support) is a version that gets critical bug fixes for about 30 months. The Node.js releases page says "production applications should only use Active LTS or Maintenance LTS releases." On 7 November 2026 the LTS lines are 26 (Lithium), 24 (Krypton) and 22 (Jod). Node.js 27 is in a new Alpha phase, so right now no line is in Current at all.

This explainer covers what each phase means, where every line stands today, how the yearly schedule that starts with Node.js 27 changes things, which version to pick, and the commands to check what you are running.

The short version for beginners

Node.js ships its big changes in numbered major versions, such as 22, 24 and 26. Each major version is a release line: it starts at x.0.0 and then gets smaller updates (26.1.0, 26.2.0 and so on) for as long as it is supported. Each line moves through a fixed set of phases:

If you only remember one rule: run an LTS line in production, and move off it before its end-of-life date.

Every Node.js line and its status today

This table shows the lines that are still supported or recently ended, as listed on the nodejs.org releases page on 7 November 2026. The end-of-life dates come from the Release Working Group schedule, which nodejs.org links to for full details and which notes that dates are subject to change.

The same page lists v26.13.0 as the latest LTS release. Odd-numbered lines (25, 23, 21 and earlier) show no codename: codenames label LTS lines, and under the old model odd lines never became LTS.

Active LTS vs Maintenance LTS

The nodejs.org table only says "LTS". The Release Working Group schedule splits it further for lines up to Node.js 26:

• Active LTS gets new features, bug fixes and updates the release team judges appropriate and stable.
• Maintenance LTS gets critical bug fixes and security updates, and occasionally features that help people move to a later line.

The Node.js announcement Evolving the Node.js Release Schedule gives the same plan for 26 in months: LTS in October 2026, Maintenance in October 2027, end of life in April 2029.

The annual cycle from Node.js 27

Up to Node.js 26, Node.js shipped two major versions a year. The nodejs.org releases page says that historically (up to Node.js 26), "odd-numbered releases (9, 11, etc.) become unsupported after six months, and even-numbered releases (10, 12, etc.) move to Active LTS status." According to the Release Working Group, even lines then had 12 months of Active LTS followed by 18 months of Maintenance.

The announcement says: "Starting with 27.x, Node.js will move from two major releases per year to one." Its reasons include that odd-numbered releases see minimal adoption, that the odd/even split confuses newcomers, and that security releases across four or five active lines had become hard to sustain. Node.js 26 is "the last release line under the current model."

The April and October cadence and the all Active LTS, no Maintenance detail come from the Release Working Group schedule. The announcement itself lists only Alpha, Current, LTS (30 months) and EOL.

The announcement adds that total support is "36 months from first Current release to End of Life," and that alpha versions use semver prerelease names such as 27.0.0-alpha.1. It also says the schedule "is not final and may be amended."

A worked example: the Node.js 27 timeline

Here is how the new cycle plays out for its first line, using the dates in the Release Working Group schedule:

1. Alpha starts 2026-10-28. nodejs.org lists the first 27 release on Oct 29, 2026.
2. Current starts 2027-04-22, with 27.0.0.
3. LTS starts 2027-10-20.
4. End of life is 2030-04-30.

For teams that already upgrade only to LTS, the announcement sums it up: "little changes beyond version numbering."

Which Node.js version should you use?

• A new production app: Node.js 26. It is the Active LTS line and has the latest end-of-life date of the LTS lines, 30 April 2029.
• An app on 24: you are on Maintenance LTS until 30 April 2028. You still get critical and security fixes, so there is time to plan a move to 26.
• An app on 22: Maintenance LTS ends on 30 April 2027. That is under six months away, so plan the upgrade now.
• An app on 20 or older, or on 25: these are end of life. Upgrade to an LTS line. The EOL page lists commercial support from OpenJS Ecosystem Sustainability Program partners, but calls it "a temporary solution."
• A library author or CI pipeline: test against the 27 Alpha builds to catch breaking changes early. Do not run them in production.

How to check your Node.js version

The Node.js command-line docs list -v, --version as "Print node's version." Run either in a terminal:

node -v
node --version

The output starts with a v, followed by major, minor and patch numbers. The first number is the release line, so output starting v24. means you are on the 24 line.

Check whether your build is an LTS release

The process documentation says process.release.lts is "a string label identifying the LTS label for this release," and that it is undefined for all other release types, including Current. The -p flag runs a script and prints the result:

node -p "process.release.lts"
node -p "process.version"

On an LTS release the first command prints the line's codename, such as Lithium for 26. A 26.x build from before its LTS promotion on 28 October 2026 prints undefined, because it was a Current release. process.version returns the Node.js version string, the same information as node -v.

Switching versions with nvm

On macOS and Linux, many developers use nvm to keep several versions side by side. Its README shows these commands:

nvm ls-remote --lts   # list available LTS versions
nvm install --lts     # install the latest LTS release
nvm install 24        # install a 24.x release
nvm use 22            # switch this shell to 22.x
nvm current           # show the version active in this shell

A .nvmrc file in your project can hold a version number or a string such as lts/*. When you run nvm use or nvm install with no version, nvm reads it from the current directory or a parent. The README says nvm "also supports Windows in some cases," mainly through WSL. Native Windows version managers exist, but the nvm project does not support them.

Tell npm which versions your project supports

The npm docs describe an engines field in package.json:

{
  "engines": {
    "node": ">=24"
  }
}

npm says this field is "advisory only" unless the engine-strict config flag is set, and otherwise produces warnings when your package is installed as a dependency.

The 11 November 2026 security release

The release schedule matters most when a security fix ships, because only supported lines get it. On 3 November 2026 the Node.js project updated its security release pre-announcement. It is the same idea as a phone's Android security patch level: the fix only helps if your version is one that receives it.

What is confirmed vs not yet known

In practice: if you run 26, 24 or 22, watch for the new patch release and update to it. If you run 20, 25 or anything older, there will be no fix for your line. The pre-announcement also points to the low-volume nodejs-sec mailing list for future security notices.

For more explainers like this one, see the Dexaloop Tech hub.

Questions

Sources

• Node.js Releases (nodejs.org) (accessed 7 November 2026)
• Evolving the Node.js Release Schedule (Node.js blog, Node.js Releasers) (accessed 7 November 2026)
• Release schedule (Node.js Release Working Group, nodejs/release on GitHub) (accessed 7 November 2026)
• Wednesday, November 11, 2026 Security Releases (Node.js blog) (accessed 7 November 2026)
• End-Of-Life (nodejs.org) (accessed 7 November 2026)
• Command-line API, Node.js v26.13.0 documentation (accessed 7 November 2026)
• Process, Node.js v26.13.0 documentation (accessed 7 November 2026)
• nvm README (nvm-sh/nvm on GitHub) (accessed 7 November 2026)
• package.json engines (npm Docs) (accessed 7 November 2026)

Written from the sources above and checked against them before publishing. Found a mistake? Email support@dexaloop.com and we will correct it.

More in Software and development

• Go JSON v2 vs v1: what changes in Go 1.27, and how to migrate