[PROPOSAL] Update 2026 Release Schedule to 9-Week Release Cadence

Hi All,

We plan to have an update on our release cadence for 2026, after practicing with the 8-week release cadence this year:

• [PROPOSAL] Change OpenSearch release cadence for 2025 #234

Based on feedbacks from previous years, we plan to make some adjustments and apply what we have learned to improve the overall release experience.

• Freeze OS/OSD core features early on before plugins feature freeze
• Teams would have more time to prepare the features and onboard the release
• More and quicker release of patch versions to address CVEs, Bugs, Issues

Therefore, we have made the following changes:

• OS/OSD Core feature freeze 3 weeks before release, 1 week before RC1 (bug fixes can still go in)
• All Plugins feature freeze 2 weeks before release, 1 day before RC1 (bug fixes can still go in)
• Increase 3.x minor release cadence from 8 weeks to 9 weeks
• Reduce 3.x minor release number from 6 to 5 per year
  • Have 3.x patch release on demand if there is significant bug fix / cve fix to onboard
• Reduce 2.19.x patch release from 4 to 3 per year

Since we want to get community feedbacks on this proposal, we present 3 different schedules for you to review:

Option 1 (Recommended):

9-week Release Cadence, core freeze 3 weeks before release, plugin freeze 2 weeks before release:

Option 2 (less free time between each release cycle):

8-week Release Cadence, core freeze 3 weeks before release, plugin freeze 2 weeks before release:

Option 3 (Same as 2025):

8-week Release Cadence, core freeze 2 weeks before release, plugin freeze 2 weeks before release:

Let us know what you think.
We plan to update our release page with the new schedule by end of this year.

Thanks.