Node.js is changing its release cadence starting with version 27 in October 2026, moving from two major releases per year to one. Every release will now become LTS, eliminating the odd/even versioning distinction where odd-numbered versions were short-lived and rarely adopted by enterprises. A six-month Alpha channel will be introduced for early testing using semver prerelease formatting. Version numbers will align with the calendar year of their initial Current release. LTS support windows remain at approximately 30 months, and teams already on LTS will see minimal disruption beyond version numbering changes. The change was driven by maintainer burnout from managing multiple concurrent release lines and backporting fixes for versions with minimal adoption.
