Expansion ensures business continuity without major upgrades
Today, Canonical announced the extension of the Legacy add-on to Ubuntu Pro, increasing the total coverage for Ubuntu LTS releases to 15 years. Starting with Ubuntu 14.04 LTS (Trusted Tahr), this extension brings the full benefits of Ubuntu Pro to long-running production systems – including continuous security patching, compliance tooling, and support for your OS.
In highly regulated or hardware-dependent industries, upgrades risk disrupting tightly controlled security and compliance. For many organizations, maintaining production systems for more than a decade is complex, but it is a more sensible option than a complete upgrade.
That’s why, in 2024, we introduced legacy add-ons for Ubuntu Pro for the first time, starting with Ubuntu 14.04 LTS (Trusty Tahr). The Legacy Add-on extended the total maintenance window for Ubuntu LTS releases to 12 years: five years of standard security maintenance, five years of Extended Security Maintenance (ESM), and two years of additional coverage with the Legacy Add-on – with full optional support. Due to positive reception and growing interest in longer lifecycle coverage, we are now excited to extend the Legacy Add-on to 5 years, bringing a 15-year security maintenance and support window to Ubuntu LTS releases.
During this 15-year window, Ubuntu Pro provides ongoing security maintenance across the entire Ubuntu base, kernel, and key open source components. Canonical’s security team proactively scans, triages, and backports critical, high, and select moderate CVEs for all maintained LTS releases, ensuring security without disruptive major upgrades that break compatibility or require re-certification.
Break/fix support remains an optional add-on. When production issues arise, you can reach our support team through this service and troubleshoot with experts who contribute to Ubuntu every day, who have seen similar problems before and know how to resolve them quickly.
The scope of the legacy add-on itself is unchanged, but the commitment is longer, giving users an additional year to manage transition timelines and maintain compliance.
This update coverage applies from Ubuntu 14.04 LTS forward. With this extension, Ubuntu 14.04 LTS is now supported until April 2029, a full 15 years after its launch.
By committing to a 15-year lifecycle, Canonical gives users:
- Realistic timeline for planning and executing major migration
- Continuous security and compliance coverage for long-lasting systems
- Flexibility to modernize infrastructure strategically rather than reactively
Infrastructure is complex, and upgrades carry real costs and risks. This extension acknowledges those realities and gives you the support period you need for your deployment.
Current Ubuntu Pro subscriptions will continue uninterrupted. No re-enrollment, no resettlement, no surprise migration projects.
The Legacy add-on is available after the first 10 years of coverage (standard security maintenance plus ESM, and optional break/bug fix support), which costs 50% more than standard Ubuntu Pro. This applies whether you’re reaching that milestone with 16.04 LTS or already using legacy add-ons with 14.04 LTS.
To activate coverage beyond ESM, contact Canonical Sales or contact your account manager.
For more information about legacy add-ons, visit our Ubuntu Pro page.
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