What’s New in Umbraco 18, and Should You Upgrade?

Last updated: 3 November 2026

Umbraco 18 introduces a new home for reusable content, alongside improvements for developers and content editors. But does that mean your website needs an upgrade?

For most of our clients, our recommendation is to stay with a supported Long-term Support version unless a newer release offers something they specifically need or want.

At Absurd, we generally plan major upgrades around LTS releases. They provide a longer support window and help organisations budget for platform development with greater predictability.

Umbraco 18 is a Standard-term Support release. It deserves consideration where its features solve a real problem, with the shorter maintenance cycle factored into the decision.

Here is what has changed and how we would assess whether moving makes sense.

What is Umbraco 18?

Umbraco 18 was released on 25 June 2026. It is an STS release, while Umbraco 17 remains the current LTS version.

The difference matters when planning ongoing maintenance:

Moving to Umbraco 18 therefore means accepting an earlier deadline for your next major upgrade. See Umbraco’s official support schedule.

That may be worthwhile for the right project. The benefit needs to justify both the immediate work and the maintenance commitment afterwards.

What’s new in Umbraco 18?

A dedicated Library for reusable content

The headline addition is the Library, a new section in the backoffice for managing content that does not need its own page URL.

The first content entities available there are Elements. These are independently managed pieces of content created from Element Types, with an Element Picker for referencing them elsewhere.

For teams already managing reusable information through special folders or template-free pages in the content tree, the Library provides a dedicated alternative. Umbraco’s release announcement introduces Library and Elements.

For example, a website might contain shared promotional information or repeated calls to action. During implementation, the team can assess whether those items would be easier to manage as Elements.

The potential value comes from making content ownership and reuse clearer. Installing the release alone does not reorganise an existing website; content models and templates still need configuring to use the feature.

Management controls for Elements

Elements come with capabilities including permissions, scheduled publishing, rollback, reference tracking, audit logs and a recycle bin.

That gives reusable content management controls beyond simply storing a shared piece of text.

For a busy editorial team, those controls can help answer practical questions: who maintains an item, where it is referenced and how a previous version can be recovered. See Umbraco’s overview of the Elements feature.

Whether this improves your current setup depends on how your website already handles shared content.

Typed schemas for the Delivery API

Umbraco 18 adds an opt-in option to generate typed OpenAPI schemas for your Document Types, Element Types and Media Types.

This is particularly relevant to headless websites and applications that consume content through the Delivery API. Generated clients can reflect the project’s actual content models more precisely.

For organisations using Umbraco to supply content to several digital products, this is worth discussing with the development team. The benefit is primarily in how those applications are built and maintained. Umbraco explains the typed schema support.

Changes for packages and custom extensions

Umbraco 18 replaces Swashbuckle with Microsoft.AspNetCore.OpenApi and removes several deprecated APIs.

These are mostly developer-facing changes, but they affect upgrade planning. Custom extensions and third-party packages may need updating before a website can move successfully.

Umbraco also updates its UI Library, so extensions using those components need appropriate checks. The technical release overview explains the changes developers should assess.

Does Umbraco 18 include fully reusable blocks?

It is important to distinguish the released functionality from the roadmap.

Umbraco 18 introduces Library, Elements and the Element Picker. Deeper integration with the Block Editors is planned for Umbraco 19.

If your main requirement is to manage a block centrally and reuse it directly across page layouts, assess that precise editing experience before choosing a version. Umbraco’s release announcement distinguishes the initial foundation from the planned next stage.

Avoid basing an upgrade on an assumption about functionality that has not yet reached a stable release.

Will staying on Umbraco 17 mean missing improvements?

Many improvements are shared across the supported releases.

For example, the Umbraco 18.3 release notes include numerous interface and developer improvements also marked for Umbraco 17.8. These include changes to pickers, user access views and editing interfaces. See the Umbraco 18.3 release notes.

Before recommending a major upgrade for a particular improvement, we check whether it is already available in the client’s supported LTS version.

Staying on LTS still requires maintenance. Relevant patches and minor updates need reviewing, testing and applying.

When would we recommend upgrading to Umbraco 18?

We would consider it where a client has a clear requirement that the release can meet.

That could include:

• A content team that would benefit substantially from Library and Elements.
• A headless implementation with a specific need for typed Delivery API schemas.
• A planned project where an Umbraco 18 capability avoids significant custom development.
• A client who actively wants the newer functionality and understands the ongoing upgrade commitment.

The assessment should compare the benefit with implementation effort, package compatibility, testing and future maintenance.

A useful question is: what will the organisation be able to do after the upgrade that it cannot do effectively today?

If the answer is clear and valuable, an STS release may be appropriate.

When would we recommend staying on Umbraco 17?

For a website already running well on Umbraco 17, with no specific need for the newer features, we would usually recommend maintaining the LTS platform.

That gives the team more time to plan the next major move and direct its budget towards improvements with an immediate purpose.

Those improvements might include clearer customer journeys, better accessibility, faster publishing or stronger integrations. Their value depends on the website’s needs, rather than its version number.

This reflects our usual approach: plan around LTS, and adopt a newer STS release when there is a convincing client requirement.

What if you are on an older version?

Your starting point changes the decision.

If your website runs on Umbraco 13, its end-of-life date is 14 December 2026. The immediate priority is a supported destination and a realistic delivery plan. Umbraco 17 LTS is our usual starting point for that assessment. Check the official lifecycle dates.

For Umbraco 7 or 8, the move requires a broader migration assessment covering application code, content, packages and integrations.

In either case, identify the business requirements first, then choose the destination that supports them.

Should you wait for Umbraco 19?

Umbraco 19 is scheduled to launch on 10 December 2026, with further reusable-content functionality planned. It will also be an STS release. See Umbraco’s release schedule.

If that functionality is central to your project, review it once the stable release and compatible dependencies are available.

Waiting should also account for your existing platform’s support deadline. A future release does not resolve an approaching support gap.

How Absurd can help

At Absurd, we assess upgrades against what your website and team actually need.

We review the current implementation, identify relevant new capabilities and explain the cost and maintenance implications of moving. Our usual recommendation is a supported LTS release, with STS considered where a client has a specific reason to adopt it.