Visual Studio Channels and Release Rhythm

We continually enhance the capabilities of Visual Studio with monthly feature updates according to our Roadmap and servicing releases. We introduce most new features and bug fixes first on the Insiders Channel so that you can provide early feedback. When these new features are ready for widespread use, we release them on the Stable Channel. We also sometimes include preview features in the Stable Channel, which give you an opportunity to try out new features and share your feedback without doing another install.

Stable and Insiders Channels

You can control when to adopt feature updates by selecting a channel. There are two options for installing and updating Visual Studio. You may have any combination of these on a single machine:

1. Stable Channel - The Stable Channel replaces the "Current Channel" that was available with Visual Studio 2022. The Stable Channel will not be available until Visual Studio 2026 is generally available later this year.
2. Insiders Channel - The Insiders Channel replaces the "Preview Channel" that was available with Visual Studio 2022.

You can determine which edition, channel, and version of Visual Studio update you are using by opening Help > About.

Installing, updating, and switching channels

You may select a channel by either installing a release of Visual Studio from that channel or, in some cases, by configuring the source ___location for updates. If your installation is managed by your IT administrator, they may also control the channel selection. The sections below link to the installation ___location for each channel.

You may install multiple channels side-by-side on the same machine. For example, you may install and use the Insiders Channel side-by-side with the Stable Channel. Note that some shared components, for example Windows SDK, are used by all channels on a machine and will be updated to whichever channel has the latest version.

Updates are delivered independently to each channel, and you will receive a separate notification within each Visual Studio instance if there's an update available on its channel. You may also update each channel by using the Visual Studio Installer.

Note that you may also change the channel of an existing installation of Visual Studio by "channel hopping". You can change the channel used for future updates of a specific installation by modifying the update channel in the Update Settings dialog. For more information, see Configuring source ___location of updates.

Stable Channel - [Not Yet Available]

Stable Channel keeps you up to date with the features ready for widespread mainstream production use. The updates released to the Stable Channel fall into the following two categories:

• Monthly Updates deliver new features every month to the Stable Channel, after being available in the Insiders Channel. Some features may appear directly in the monthly update. These updates also include bug fixes, support for new AI models, and changes to adapt to platform updates (for example, changes in Windows, Azure, Android, or iOS).
• Servicing Updates are releases of targeted fixes for critical quality, performance, reliability, or security issues.

We announce monthly updates through the Visual Studio blog and the Stable Channel release notes. Visual Studio also alerts you that a new update is available by the notification icon in the bottom right corner of the IDE, by an entry in the notification hub, and by text in the Visual Studio Installer.

All releases on the Stable Channel are cumulative. When you update your install of Visual Studio on the Stable Channel, you will also receive the latest servicing fixes.

Insiders Channel

Insiders Channel is meant for those who are eager to try out the very latest Visual Studio features and fixes. It provides you with an early peek of what's coming in the next monthly update of the Stable Channel. Sometimes we also release servicing updates to the Insiders Channel. You can learn about the features and fixes in the Insiders Channel release notes and the Visual Studio blog.

You can install both Insiders and Stable Channel versions of Visual Studio side-by-side on the same machine. At any given point, the Insiders Channel will contain the same or newer features and fixes compared to the Stable Channel. Visual Studio will notify you as newer versions are available for install.

Even though the Insiders Channel is not intended for use in production, it is at a sufficient quality level for you to generally use and provide feedback. We service only the latest Insiders Channel release.

Preview Features

Although the Insiders Channel is recommended for trying out new features, we also encourage users in the Stable Channel to try out new features via Preview Features. Preview Features differ from the Insiders Channel in that each specific feature can be turned on or off by going to Tools > Manage Preview Features. The Preview Features dialog includes description for each feature to help you determine if the feature is relevant to you. We sometimes also run experiments with Preview Features, turning them on for a portion of customers to compare the impact against a control group. Finally, we hope that you will provide feedback on these features so that we can improve them before they are rolled out for all customers.

LTSC - Long-Term Servicing Channel - [Not Yet Available]

We strongly encourage everyone to try Insiders Channel to see what's coming and adopt the Stable Channel to stay current with the latest updates including security fixes, performance improvements, and new features. LTSC Channel for users of the Professional, Enterprise, and Build Tools editions of Visual Studio 2026 is currently not available. More details to come once it becomes available.

Servicing Releases for Older Versions of Visual Studio

We will continue to service older versions of Visual Studio while they are under support according to their product lifecycles. For more information, see Visual Studio 2022 Product Lifecycle and Servicing and Product Lifecycle Search.

Update Notifications

You will receive notification of updates to the currently running Visual Studio through the notification icon in the IDE, through posts to the Visual Studio blog, and from the Visual Studio Installer. The Stable Channel release notes and Insiders Channel release notes will document the features and fixes available in that release to help you make an informed decision about when to install it. Lastly, we will update all the relevant feedback items on the Developer Community portal to let you know in which version an issue was fixed.

Feedback & Suggestions

We would love to hear from you! You can Report a Problem or Suggest a Feature by using the Send Feedback icon in the upper right-hand corner of either the installer or the Visual Studio IDE, or from Help > Send Feedback. You can track your issues by using Visual Studio Developer Community, where you add comments or find solutions. You can also get free installation help through our Live Chat support.