Confluence Upgrade Matrix



Need help deciding which version of Confluence is best for your team? Use this matrix to compare version features, critical bug fixes, supported platforms, and technical upgrade procedures. We've also outlined specific upgrade paths to make your upgrade as seamless as possible.

Ready to upgrade? Head to Upgrading Confluence for a step-by-step guide. 

About Long Term Support releases

A Long Term Support release is a feature release that gets backported critical security updates and critical bug fixes during its entire two-year support window. If you can only upgrade once a year, consider upgrading to a Long Term Support release. Learn more

Long Term Support releases were originally referred to as Enterprise Releases.

On this page:

Top features

8.8

  • Delete multiple attachments at once
  • New REST APIs for easier content management
  • Encrypted user directory server passwords
  • New health checks in the ATST app
  • New infrastructure metrics for in-product diagnostics
  • More accessibility improvements
Release Notes

8.7

  • Sort your tables in the editor
  • More accessibility improvements
  • See more information about trash items
  • Introducing HashiCorp vault
  • Introduced support for Pgpool-II
Release Notes

8.6

  • Say more with image captions
  • A faster way to create text links
  • Paste without formatting using Ctrl+Shift+V
  • Use the forward slash command to add macros
  • More accessibility improvements
  • Use AWS Secrets Manager to manage your database credentials
Release Notes

8.5 (LTS)

8.5 is a Long Term Support release.

Release Notes
8.4
  • Align table content vertically
  • Add your own emojis (custom emojis)
  • Administer custom emojis
  • Save time with space reindexing
  • New REST APIs for user management
  • Improvements to copy space
Release Notes
8.3
  • Manage inline comments in the editor
  • Never miss an inline comment again
  • Faster, simpler, and more reliable: a new way to backup and restore
  • Copy spaces and their settings at scale
Release Notes
8.2
  • New emoji autocomplete
  • Automate user management tasks with REST APIs
Release Notes
8.1
  • Express yourself with over 3000 new emojis
  • Move pages without breaking or losing attachments
  • Introducing support for Amazon S3 object storage
  • New diagnostic metrics are available through JMX monitoring and log file
  • New Cloud migration log
  • Accessibility improvements and fixes
Release Notes
8.0
  • Introducing the emoji menu
  • Improvements to search ranking logic
  • Easier workflows for license usage management
  • Accessibility improvements and fixes
  • Several platform and library upgrades
  • Support for Java 17
Release Notes
7.20
  • Edit and browse with greater accessibility using skip links
  • Add your Advanced Roadmaps in Jira to Confluence
  • Create feedback reports to troubleshoot content problems
  • Troubleshoot effectively with more diagnostic tools
Release Notes
7.19 (LTS)

7.19 is a Long Term Support release. Learn more

Release Notes
7.18
  • Select cluster node on logging and profiling screen

  • New /scan REST API endpoint

Release Notes
7.17
  • Make your integrations more secure with OAuth 2.0
  • Keep your site running like clockwork with new application metrics
  • Encrypt your database password for greater security
  • Updated VPAT documents for accessibility improvements
Release Notes
7.16
  • Use retention rules to clean up historical data automatically
  • Use multiple identity providers (IdPs) for single sign-on
  • Block basic authentication
  • Faster permissions checks for complex sites
  • Exclude spaces from the data pipeline
Release Notes

Critical bug fixes

8.8

Key Summary T Created Updated Due Assignee Reporter P Status Resolution
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All 8.8.x bug fixes
8.7

Key Summary T Created Updated Due Assignee Reporter P Status Resolution
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All 8.7.x bug fixes
8.6

Key Summary T Created Updated Due Assignee Reporter P Status Resolution
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All 8.6.x bug fixes
8.5 (LTS)

T Key Summary Assignee Reporter P Status Resolution Created Updated Due
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All 8.5.x bug fixes
8.4

T Key Summary Assignee Reporter P Status Resolution Created Updated Due
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All 8.4.x bug fixes
8.3

T Key Summary Assignee Reporter P Status Resolution Created Updated Due
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All 8.3.x bug fixes
8.2

T Key Summary Assignee Reporter P Status Resolution Created Updated Due
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All 8.2.x bug fixes
8.1

T Key Summary Assignee Reporter P Status Resolution Created Updated Due
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All 8.1.x bug fixes
8.0

Summary
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All 8.0.x bug fixes
7.20

Summary
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All 7.20.x bug fixes
7.19 (LTS)

Summary
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All 7.19.x bug fixes
7.18

Summary
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All 7.18.x bug fixes
7.17

Summary
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All 7.17.x bug fixes
7.16

Summary
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All 7.16.x bug fixes

Supported platforms changes

8.8

No changes

Supported Platforms
8.7

Added support for:

  • Microsoft SQL Server 2022
  • Pgpool-II


Supported Platforms
8.6

Added support for:

  • PostgreSQL 15
Supported Platforms
8.5 (LTS)

No changes

Supported Platforms
8.4

No changes

Supported Platforms
8.3

Added support for:

Java 17 bundled with Confluence

Supported Platforms
8.2

No changes

Supported Platforms
8.1

No changes

Supported Platforms
8.0

Added support for:

  • Java 17

Ended support for:

  • MySQL 5.7
  • PostgreSQL 11
  • H2 embedded database
  • JNDI datasource connections
  • Java 8
  • UTF8 encoding for MySQL
Supported Platforms
7.20

Ended support for:

  • Oracle 12c
Supported Platforms
7.19 (LTS)No changesSupported Platforms
7.18

Ended support for:

  • PostgreSQL 10
Supported Platforms
7.17

Added support for:

  • PostgreSQL 12
  • PostgreSQL 13
  • PostgreSQL 14

Ended support for:

  • Microsoft SQL Server 2016
Supported Platforms
7.16

Added support for:

  • Microsoft SQL Server 2019
Supported Platforms

When upgrading from an older Confluence version, where there is no crossover between supported platforms, you may need to upgrade via an intermediary version that supports both your current platform version and future one. For example, if you're running Confluence 5.4 with Oracle 11g and want to upgrade to Confluence 6.x which only supports Oracle 12c, you will need to upgrade via Confluence 5.7 where both Oracle 11g and 12c are supported:

  1. Upgrade to Confluence to 5.7
  2. Upgrade Oracle to 12c and check things run smoothly
  3. Upgrade to Confluence to 6.x 

Technical upgrade notes

This table is a high level summary of the upgrade notes, you should read the full upgrade notes before upgrading. 

8.8
  • Struts Action Parameter Changes (major breaking)
  • Struts OGNL Allowlist (breaking)
  • Changes to app uploads via the Universal Plugin Manager
  • Encrypted user passwords
  • Required upgrade to Questions for Confluence
  • Database attachment storage — startup error
  • Removal of rarely used rendering methods in Confluence
  • End of support for Server licenses
Upgrade notes
8.7
  • End of support for Server licenses
Upgrade notes
8.6
  • End of support for Server licenses
  • Faster permissions service enabled by default
  • New emoji audit logs
  • Changes to Jira Issues Macro total count display
Upgrade Notes
8.5 (LTS)

8.5 is a Long Term Support release.

Upgrade Notes
8.4
  • Changes to backup and restore behavior during a rolling upgrade
  • New backup and restore scheduled jobs
  • Improvements to Analytics rate limiting
Upgrade Notes
8.3
  • Removed option to 'Restore from backup' in Confluence Setup Wizard
  • Changes to XML space exports in Space tools
  • Known issues with TinyMCE Editor upgrade
  • Removed character encoding configuration in admin console
  • Re-authenticate mail apps with OAuth2.0
Upgrade Notes
8.2
  • Migration of attachment data
  • Changes to blog display
Upgrade Notes
8.1
  • Changes to blog display
  • Migration of attachment data
  • Removed timeout from moving page trees
  • Extending OAuth 2.0 support for mail plugins
Upgrade Notes
8.0
  • Recommended upgrade paths to Confluence 8
  • Upgrading to 8.0 requires downtime
  • H2 database support removed
  • UTF8MB4 encoding for MySQL databases
  • Changes to table and macro display in the editor
Upgrade Notes
7.20
  • Greater security with IMDS v2 implementation

  • Changes to the order of items in the admin navigation
Upgrade Notes
7.19 (LTS)

7.19 is a Long Term Support release.

Upgrade Notes
7.18
  • No upgrade notes for this release
Upgrade Notes
7.17
  • Change to JMX monitoring
  • Invalid license check
Upgrade Notes
7.16
  • Changes to page and attachment version numbering

Upgrade Notes

Collaborative editing with proxies and/or SSL

Collaborative editing is powered by Synchrony which synchronizes data in real time. Synchrony is executed as a separate process by Confluence Server and managed by Confluence automatically. Under normal circumstances, it should not need to be managed manually by an administrator.

You may, however need to make changes to your proxy configuration. We made significant improvements in Confluence 6.1, so recommend upgrading to that version or later if you plan to use collaborative editing. 

Upgrading to Confluence 6.0...

If you're ready to implement Collaborative editing, we recommend jumping to 6.1.0 or above. We've made significant changes in 6.1 to make it easier to configure Synchrony with proxies and/or SSL.

If you do plan to upgrade to 6.0.x:

Upgrading to Confluence 6.1 or later...

Have a look at Proxy and SSL considerations to find out whether you need to make any changes to your reverse proxy or SSL configuration. There are a number of configurations to choose from, but only some will require a change to your proxy configuration.

If you experience problems, see Troubleshooting Collaborative Editing.


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Upgrade path

Upgrading from 6.0 or later

You can upgrade to any 8.x version at any time! Check the upgrade notes above to make sure everything is compatible, and you're prepared for the transition.

Use the table below to determine the most efficient upgrade path from your current version to the latest versions of Confluence.

Your Version

Recommended upgrade path to Confluence 8

2.7 or earlierUpgrade to 2.7.4 then upgrade to 3.5.17, and follow paths below.
2.8 to 3.4Upgrade to 3.5.17, and follow paths below.
3.5

Upgrade to 5.0.3, and follow paths below.

4.0 to 4.3 

Upgrade to 5.10.x, and follow paths below.

5.0 to 5.10Upgrade to 7.19.x, and follow paths below.
6.0.5 to 8.xUpgrade directly to the latest version of Confluence 8.

(warning)  Before you begin, it's critical that you follow all of the steps in Upgrading Confluence. Confluence 8.x is a major upgrade, so it is important that you take a full backup, and test your upgrade in a non-production environment before upgrading your production site.



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Post upgrade checklist

Once you have completed the steps required to upgrade your Confluence installation, check all the items on the Confluence post-upgrade checklist to ensure that everything works as expected. If something is not working correctly, check for known Confluence issues in the Upgrade Notes and try troubleshooting your upgrade as described.

Last modified on Oct 30, 2018

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