Node.js 26 will become LTS in October 2026. Until then, it is intended mainly for testing, development, migration checks and early adoption. Production systems should usually stay on an active LTS release unless there is a clear reason to upgrade early.
What is Node.js?
Node.js is a JavaScript runtime that allows developers to run JavaScript outside the browser. It is widely used for:
- web servers
- APIs
- backend applications
- command-line tools
- automation scripts
- real-time applications
- development tooling
What is new in Node.js 26?
The biggest changes in Node.js 26.0.0 include:
- Temporal API enabled by default
- V8 JavaScript engine updated to 14.6
- Undici updated to 8.0.2
- several deprecated APIs removed
- modernization of old HTTP, stream and module behavior