Kentico Xperience 13 end of support: your options before December 31, 2026

Kentico Xperience 13 reaches end of support on December 31, 2026. Your site will not switch off on January 1, but it will stop receiving fixes of any kind, including security fixes. This guide explains what changes, the four options you realistically have, how to compare them over three years, and a timeline you can still meet if you start now.

What changes on January 1, 2027

Kentico's product support lifecycle sets the end of technical support for version 13.x at December 31, 2026. Throughout 2026, Kentico still provides remote technical support, but it ships security hotfixes only. From January 1, 2027, Kentico stops all support, maintenance, updates, hotfixes and patches for Kentico Xperience 13, including security repairs. Kentico also states that any use of the product after that date is at the customer's sole risk.

Kentico describes this as end of support, not end of life. The software keeps running. What you lose is the vendor's safety net: new vulnerabilities in the product stay open, and nobody at Kentico will help when something breaks in production.

The .NET deadline comes first

A second date arrives sooner. The Xperience 13 release notes point out that .NET 8 and .NET 9 reach Microsoft's end of support on November 10, 2026. Kentico Xperience 13 Refresh 14, released December 4, 2025, added support for .NET 10 for live site applications.

If your live site runs on ASP.NET Core with .NET 8 or .NET 9, moving it to .NET 10 keeps the framework patched while you decide what to do with the CMS itself. It does not extend Kentico's own support for Xperience 13. If your live site still runs on ASP.NET MVC 5 on .NET Framework, the framework question is different, and so is the migration path described below.

Your four options

Every organization on Kentico Xperience 13 faces the same four choices. None of them is wrong in every case. The right one depends on how much custom code you carry, how your content is modelled, and how much risk your security and compliance teams will accept.

Option 1: upgrade to Xperience by Kentico

Xperience by Kentico is Kentico's current product. Kentico describes it as evergreen, with monthly updates, so the platform as a whole has no fixed end-of-support date. Kentico's lifecycle page says the move from Xperience 13 happens on mutually agreed terms, so licensing is a conversation with Kentico rather than a published upgrade fee.

Kentico provides the Kentico Migration Tool to move content and data from Xperience 13. It migrates structured content and Page Builder content. Three points matter for planning:

• The source instance must run Kentico Xperience 13 Refresh 5 (13.0.64) or newer. Older instances need a hotfix first.
• If your live site runs on ASP.NET MVC 5 (.NET Framework), Kentico says to modernize it to ASP.NET Core before you use the tool.
• The tool moves data. Your developers still adapt or rebuild templates, widgets and custom modules, since Xperience by Kentico stores some components in new formats.

Option 2: extended or third-party support

Kentico's lifecycle page does not list a paid extended support program for Xperience 13. The upgrade FAQ says Kentico does not plan to extend full product support, including security updates and critical fixes, past the end date. For migrations that will run past December 31, 2026, Kentico advises talking to its Partnership Team about ways to reduce risk.

Third-party support from an agency or maintenance provider is still an option. It can cover monitoring, infrastructure hardening, fixes in your own code and incident response. It cannot ship official Kentico product hotfixes. Treat it as a bridge with a defined end, not a destination.

Option 3: replatform to another CMS

If your Xperience 13 site needs a large rebuild anyway, compare the alternatives before you commit. Moving to Xperience by Kentico and moving to Umbraco, Sitecore, Optimizely, Contentful or Storyblok all involve content modelling, template work and migration. The differences sit in licensing, hosting model, editor experience and the skills your team already has. Our comparisons of Kentico vs Umbraco and Kentico vs Sitecore lay out those trade-offs.

Replatforming makes the most sense when the current content model no longer fits your business, when you plan to go headless, or when another platform already runs elsewhere in your organization.

Option 4: stay temporarily with risk controls

Staying on Xperience 13 for a few months past December 31 is a legitimate choice if a migration is already scheduled and funded. It becomes a problem when "temporary" has no end date. If you stay, put these controls in place:

• Apply the latest Kentico hotfix and move the live site to .NET 10 before November 10, 2026.
• Put a web application firewall in front of the site and restrict the administration interface to known networks or a VPN.
• Remove unused modules, accounts and integrations to shrink the attack surface.
• Write down the decision, the risk owner and the exit date, and review them with your security team every quarter.
• Keep tested backups and a recovery plan you have actually rehearsed.

Decision table

Your situation	Most likely fit	Watch out for
Mostly standard content, a team that knows Kentico, live site on ASP.NET Core	Upgrade to Xperience by Kentico	Rework for custom widgets and modules
Migration funded but it cannot finish before December 31, 2026	Stay temporarily with risk controls, plus third-party support	An exit date that keeps slipping
Live site still on ASP.NET MVC 5 (.NET Framework)	Upgrade or replatform, after comparing both	The extra step to ASP.NET Core before the Kentico Migration Tool applies
Content model no longer fits, or a headless move is planned	Replatform	Content clean-up, URL redirects and bilingual parity
Another CMS already runs in your organization	Replatform to the shared platform, or justify keeping two	Licensing and team skills on each side
Strict security or compliance requirements	Upgrade or replatform before the deadline	Audit findings for unsupported software

Three-year cost drivers to compare

We do not put prices in articles. Licensing for Xperience by Kentico is agreed with Kentico, and project costs depend on your code base. What you can compare are the drivers that push a three-year total up or down for each option.

Cost driver	Upgrade to Xperience by Kentico	Third-party support	Replatform	Stay with risk controls
Licensing	New terms agreed with Kentico	Existing license plus a support contract	New vendor license or subscription	Existing license
One-time project work	Data migration with Kentico's tool, plus template, widget and module rework	Small at first	Full rebuild: content model, templates, integrations and migration	Hardening work only
Ongoing updates	Monthly product updates to apply and test	None from Kentico	Depends on the new vendor's release model	None from Kentico
Security exposure	Covered by vendor patches	Partly covered for your code, not for the product	Covered by the new vendor's patches	Grows every month
Team skills	Builds on existing Kentico knowledge	No change	Training for developers and editors	No change
Cost of moving later	Low	You still pay for an upgrade or replatform	Low	You still pay for an upgrade or replatform, often under more pressure

One pattern stands out. The two waiting options delay spending, but they do not remove it. Within three years you will almost always pay for an upgrade or a replatform anyway, so the real question is how long the bridge lasts and how much risk you carry while you are on it.

A realistic timeline from today

With about eleven weeks left in 2026, this sequence works for most teams:

• Next two weeks: inventory custom code, widgets, modules, integrations and the .NET version of your live site. Confirm you are on Refresh 5 or newer.
• By November 10, 2026: move the live site to .NET 10 on the latest refresh, or document why you cannot.
• By December 31, 2026: choose your option, sign any third-party support contract you need, and put the risk controls in place.
• First half of 2027: run the upgrade or replatform in phases, starting with a pilot section, with URL redirects and French and English content in scope from day one.

How a platform assessment helps

Sengo is a bilingual EN/FR team in Canada that works across Kentico, Sitecore, Optimizely, Umbraco, Contentful, Storyblok and Coveo. Because we work on all of them, we can say plainly when staying on Kentico is the right call and when another platform fits better. Our free Kentico assessment reviews your Xperience 13 code base, content model and integrations, then gives you a recommendation with the effort drivers listed, before you commit budget.