The Support Length for .NET LTS and STS versions

This article clarifies the support policies for .NET Long Term Support (LTS) and Short Term Support (STS) releases. It addresses the common misconception that STS versions are experimental or lower quality, emphasizing that all releases share the same quality. Historically, STS releases had only 1.5 years of support, which discouraged upgrades. Since .NET 9, STS support has been extended to 2 years, aligning the end dates of LTS and STS versions. This change allows developers to upgrade to newer STS releases without losing support time, gaining access to the latest .NET and C# features. The article provides examples with .NET 8, 9, 10, and 11, and references official Microsoft documentation.