# January 2026 Releases

**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/january-2026-releases/393903
**Category:** Announcements
**Tags:** release-notes
**Created:** [January 28, 2026, 5:35pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/january-2026-releases/393903 "2026-01-28T17:35:34Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Showing post:** 4

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### Author: ![david](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/david/32/157490_2.png) [@david](https://meta.discourse.org/u/david)
#### Post date: [January 28, 2026, 10:26pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/january-2026-releases/393903/4 "2026-01-28T22:26:43Z")

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> [@elmuerte](#):
>
> For people on the previously existing _stable_ branch (which is now aliased to esr), will go from 3.5.3 to 2026.1.0; and not 3.5.4

Yes, unless they are using the `v3.5.4` tag to keep themselves on 3.5.

> [@eisammy](#):
>
> all this changes is a little confuse

The diagram on the homepage of [https://releases.discourse.org/](https://releases.discourse.org/) is the best way to visualise things.

Whatever release stream you choose, you’ll always need to update regularly for critical security fixes. The question is whether you also want to pull in new features & other changes along with the security fixes (if so, use `release` or `latest`), or whether you prefer to have a 6-monthly-ish cadence for those (if so, use `esr`).

It’s still early days for this new numbering scheme, so the documentation & tooling will continue to evolve as we grow into the new system.

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_[View the full topic](https://meta.discourse.org/t/january-2026-releases/393903)._