Totara Product Release and Support Lifecycle Policy

Release cadence

Totara currently releases patch updates monthly (these used to be called ‘minor’ releases), feature releases (now called ‘minor’ releases) within the year, and one major release (full version change) every calendar year.   

Monthly patch releases include important bug fixes and security patches only. Feature releases are optional and include changes that will not break existing site functionality but add to the experience with new features and functionality, performance improvements, and smaller updates. Yearly major releases include breaking changes, architecture updates, or major adjustments to existing features. 

All releases undergo extensive quality assurance and are audited by an independent security vendor. 

There will be one optional feature (minor) release in 2025, version 19.1, and this will be available in July 2025. Leading up to this, please watch the Technical and Product Updates Workspace for more information. 

Release preview

As part of the release management process, Platinum Alliance Partners will be able to access a release preview around four months prior to the annual release.  This provides an opportunity to evaluate changes and provide feedback directly to the Totara product team ahead of the final release being made available to all Partners. 

Release Candidate

A Release Candidate, or RC, will be made available to all Alliance Partners several weeks prior to the official major release. Release Candidates are feature complete, non-production versions of a major release which provide a good representation of what the final release will be.

Important Note: Release Previews and Release Candidates have NOT undergone a complete Quality Assurance process and are NOT suitable to be used in production. Totara Product Support does not extend to issues encountered in Release Previews and Release Candidates run in a production environment.

Mobile app release

The Totara Mobile app feature release schedule will closely align with feature releases of the Totara Suite. Patch releases of the app are not aligned with patch releases of the Totara Suite but will occur no more frequently than once per month, unless to address a ‘Critical’ issue. Customers should always upgrade to the latest version of the app. 

We are standardising mobile app versioning to make it easier for partners to understand the type of release: 

• Patch releases (e.g., 3.0.1) – Bug fixes only. 
• Minor releases (e.g., 3.1.0) – New features added.
• Major releases (e.g., 4.0.0) – Breaking changes, architecture updates, or major adjustments to existing features. 

For partners with customised versions of the app, most feature and breaking changes releases will be optional. Partners can decide whether to upgrade based on the changelog details we will provide.  

Support types

We appreciate that Totara’s Lifecycle policy has an impact on our customers’ business. Therefore, we have developed a product support policy that provides our customers with maximum flexibility; Official Support, Limited Support, and Unsupported.  

Official Support is provided for a minimum of four years for all Major Version Releases. Versions under Offical Support benefit from proactive measures Totara make to ensure active versions are secure, performant, and bug-free. 

Totara offers Limited Support (previously referred to as Extended Support), also known as Beyond End-of-Life (EOL), for obsolete versions of Totara products. Limited Support commences once the indicated version is officially end-of-life (see version support table below). This means that the indicated version of Totara software is at the end of its product lifecycle. We strongly recommend upgrading to the latest Official Support version.  

During Limited Support, Totara provides security and critical bug fixes only. Limited Support intends to keep a site secure while it prepares to be upgraded to a current Official Support version of Totara product. Totara Limited Support terms and conditions differ from standard Totara Support terms and conditions; notably, Totara has ultimate discretion over applying constraints to security and critical bug fixes it makes available for versions on Limited Support. Totara reserves the right to end Limited Support at any time. Updates to Limited Support timelines will be posted here.

Once a version leaves Limited Support, it will be marked as Unsupported. In such a case, Totara will make no provisions to ensure the version remains secure or operational.

Disclaimer: Totara Learning Solutions Ltd may review and change this policy from time to time and makes no representation with this policy statement. Any changes to this policy will be posted here. This policy statement is for informational purposes only and may not be incorporated into nor supersede any contract.

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