Lua

Lua

Language

Lua 5.5 is the newest actively maintained release, currently at patch 5.5.1. 2 of 15 tracked cycles remain supported.

Latest version

5.5.1

Aug 3, 2026

Actively maintained cycles

2

of 15 tracked

Total cycles tracked

15

since Jul 8, 1994

Support pattern

How Lua has behaved across the cycles tracked here, rather than what its policy documents state. Useful for judging how much runway a version is likely to have before you commit to it.

Typical support window

12 months

median of 13 completed cycles

New cycle roughly every

14 months

median gap between releases

Compared with language

−4 mo

shorter than the language median

Support windows are getting longer: the most recent cycles run about 31 months longer than the earlier ones.

Computed from release and end-of-life dates tracked for Lua. Medians are used rather than averages so one unusually short or long release does not skew the figure. Cycles with no recorded end-of-life date are excluded from the support window.

Release lifecycle

Actively maintainedSecurity support onlyEnd of life
Today
5.5Latest
5.5.1 · Aug 3, 2026
5.4
5.4.9 · Aug 25, 2026
5.3
EOL Sep 25, 2020
5.2
EOL Mar 7, 2015
5.1
EOL Feb 17, 2012
5.0
EOL Jun 26, 2006
4.0
EOL Jul 4, 2002
3.2
EOL Feb 22, 2000
3.1
EOL Jul 8, 1999
3.0
EOL Jul 11, 1998
2.5
EOL Jul 1, 1997
2.4
EOL Nov 19, 1996
2.2
EOL May 14, 1996
2.1
EOL Nov 28, 1995
1.1
EOL Feb 7, 1995
19951996199719981999200020012002200320042005200620072008200920102011201220132014201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026

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