No. Django 4.2 LTS is unsupported. The Django project's download page says extended support ended on 7 April 2026, and lists 4.2.30 under unsupported releases. It no longer receives security fixes. The current long term support release is 5.2, supported through April 2028.
How Django support works
Django has feature releases roughly every eight months. Each gets mainstream support, then extended support. The project's page says extended support covers only security fixes and data loss bugs, while mainstream support also covers crashes and major functionality bugs. Every few years, one release is marked LTS and gets longer coverage.
| Release | Status | Extended support ends |
|---|---|---|
| 4.2 LTS | Unsupported | 7 Apr 2026 |
| 5.2 LTS | Supported | Apr 2028 |
| 6.0 | Supported | Apr 2027 |
| 6.1 | Supported | Dec 2027 |
The page also says a 6.2 LTS is planned for April 2027. Django has said that from 2028, every feature release will get the same three year support period.
What to target
If you value a stable base, go to 5.2 LTS. If you can upgrade often, a newer feature release is fine, but it will need another move sooner. For most teams with a quiet application, the LTS is the better choice.
How to move from 4.2
A safer path is to upgrade one feature release at a time, fixing deprecation warnings at each step. Jumping several versions at once makes failures hard to trace.
- Make sure you are on the latest 4.2 patch release first.
- Run your tests with
python -W error::DeprecationWarning manage.py testto expose deprecated calls. - Fix those, then bump to 5.0, then 5.1, then 5.2, running tests at each stop.
- Check third party apps. Many Django packages declare which versions they support, and an abandoned one is often the real blocker.
- Check your Python version. Newer Django releases drop older Python versions.
- Deploy behind a feature flag or canary first.
When a package blocks you
If a dependency does not support the newer Django, look for a maintained fork, replace it or carry the code yourself. Our post on when to fork an abandoned dependency covers the tradeoffs.
Try it yourself
Click through the demo and look at how a fixed version is suggested for a vulnerable package.
Click through it at your own pace, or open it full screen.
Quick check
Does Django 5.1 still get security fixes?
Per endoflife.date it reached end of life in December 2025. Check the Django download page for the current table before you decide.
Can I stay on 4.2 and apply my own patches?
You can, but you then own every fix, including finding out about the flaws. For most teams, upgrading costs less.
Where Safeguard fits
Safeguard's dependency scanning shows which Django version each project pins and which packages depend on it. Try the free scan.
Sources
Last reviewed: 19 October 2026.
