HashiCorp Consul 1.18 end of life
Consul 1.18 reached end of support on 30 April 2026. It was a Consul Enterprise long-term support release, and its last build was 1.18.22+ent in March 2026. The last Community Edition release on the line was 1.18.2, in May 2024. Consul 1.18 is licensed under the Business Source License, and 1.21 is now the last LTS line.
- End of life
- 30 April 2026
- Released
- Feb 2024
- Final release
- 1.18.22+ent (Community Edition: 1.18.2)
- Successor
- Consul 1.21 (LTS) or 2.0
Date published by HashiCorp Consul Enterprise support policy. We do not publish a lifecycle date we cannot source.
What actually stops on 30 April 2026
- Enterprise LTS fixes on the 1.18 branch. 1.18.22+ent, published on 26 March 2026, was the last.
- Community Edition builds, which stopped much earlier. The 1.18 line had three public releases, the last being 1.18.2 on 17 May 2024.
- The LTS model itself. From the April 2026 (2.x) release, Consul Enterprise follows IBM's Support Cycle-2 model, and 1.21 is the last LTS release.
What actually breaks in the upgrade
1.18 to 1.21 is one hop for Enterprise
Consul Enterprise LTS releases support direct upgrades to the next three major versions, which is how one LTS reaches the next. 1.18 can move straight to 1.21, which is supported until 30 April 2027.
2.0 changes the support model and the version numbers
Consul 2.0 follows IBM's Support Cycle-2 model: two years of base support, one year of critical extended support and three years of sustained support. Versioning moves to IBM's V.M.F scheme. End of support for 2.0.x is planned for 30 April 2028.
The licence does not change back
Consul moved from MPL 2.0 to the Business Source License from 1.17.0. The 1.18 LICENSE names Consul 1.17.0 or later as the licensed work, so staying on 1.18 does not return you to MPL terms. The last MPL 2.0 releases are 1.16.0 to 1.16.3.
Your options, costed honestly
Including the ones that do not involve buying anything from us.
| Option | What it is | Effort | Cost | Our view |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Upgrade to 1.21 LTS | A single Enterprise upgrade to the last LTS line. | Weeks | Consul Enterprise subscription | Buys a year, to 30 April 2027, then the 2.0 decision comes round again. |
| Upgrade to 2.0 | The current line, under IBM's support cycle. | Weeks to quarters | Consul Enterprise subscription | The longest runway from IBM, with new versioning to plan around. |
| OSSeva supported upgrade and operations | OSSeva runs the upgrade or the migration and operates the clusters. | Weeks | Subscription | For teams that want the move done and the clusters run by engineers who know Consul. |
| Migrate the workload | Move service discovery and key-value use to etcd or platform-native tooling. | Quarters | Engineering time | Right when the BSL terms or the IBM support model are the real problem. |
What OSSeva does for HashiCorp Consul 1.18
OSSeva supports this line
OSSeva provides supported upgrades, migration and operations for Consul 1.18 clusters today, on the Assure and Operate tiers. Consul 1.18 is under the Business Source License, so OSSeva does not redistribute modified 1.18 code. For the MPL 2.0 Consul 1.16 line (1.16.3 and earlier), OSSeva ships patched builds.
HashiCorp Consul extended supportWhat your auditor will say
Consul's ACL system and its service mesh certificate authority control which services can reach each other. A cluster on an unsupported line is a component without applicable security patches.
Auditors ask for evidence that production systems receive security fixes. After 30 April 2026 that evidence has to come from an upgrade, or from a documented plan with a named supplier.
HashiCorp Consul 1.18: common questions
When did Consul 1.18 reach end of support?
On 30 April 2026, according to HashiCorp's Consul Enterprise support page. 1.15, the previous LTS line, ended on 30 April 2025.
Which Consul versions are supported now?
2.0.x, 1.22.x until 31 October 2026, and 1.21.x (LTS) until 30 April 2027. The latest GA release is 2.0.4, published on 10 September 2026.
Is Consul 1.18 open source?
Not under an OSI licence. Consul 1.17.0 and later are under the Business Source License 1.1, which converts each version to MPL 2.0 four years after it is published. The last MPL 2.0 releases are 1.16.0 to 1.16.3.
Can Consul 1.18 upgrade directly to 1.21?
For Consul Enterprise, yes. LTS releases support direct upgrades to the next three major versions, so 1.18 can move to 1.21 in one step.
Still running HashiCorp Consul 1.18?
Tell us the versions and the estate size. We will tell you honestly whether to upgrade or to buy cover — and we say 'upgrade' more often than you would expect.