The latest and greatest long-term active (LTA) version of SonarQube Server is available for you to update your instance.  You can learn about all the new features and enhancements on the 2026.5 LTA What's New page.

As a SonarQube Server administrator, you are probably wanting to put together the best plan to update your organization's instance to the 2026.1 LTA. This guide will help ensure you've covered all the bases for a smooth update.

Before you start

There are a few resources to review and items to evaluate in your instance before you begin:

• Read the update docs:  The SonarQube Server 2026.5 LTA update documentation will provide you with details and the technical steps you'll be performing during the update.
• Plan your update path: If you're on a version older than the 2026.1 LTA such as the 2025.1 LTA, you will need to perform a multi-step update. Read up on how to determine your update path.
• Review the release notes: We've collected all of the functional changes in the updates from the last 2026.1 LTA in one place for you to dig into the details of the release.
• Review the update notes: Ensure you carefully review the update notes, as SonarQube Server software requirements (e.g., Node.js and Java versions) may have changed for your SonarQube Server or the supporting software.
• Review the compatibility of your plugins:  If you use third-party plugins, review them to ensure they still provide value and will not cause problems after your update. If your instance has plugins with incompatible versions or plugins that are no longer in use, you should update them or remove them from your installation before your update. Refer to the plugin compatibility matrix to determine if your plugin is supported in the 2026.5 LTA.
• Review your API usage:  If you use the Web API for reporting or automation, review the update notes as some functions have been changed, deprecated, or removed.
• Fetch the 2026.5 LTA:  You can find the latest download for the 2026.5 LTA on the SonarQube Server Downloads page or the SonarQube Docker Hub. Alternatively, if you are using a command line to run the Docker image, or Docker Compose, or a Helm chart, make sure you’re using the right image tag for the 2026.5 LTA and your edition, such as “sonarqube:2026.5-enterprise” or "sonarqube:2026-lta-enterprise". The downloads page and the SonarQube Docker Hub will always contain the latest patch release of the SonarQube Server 2026.5 LTA which includes the latest important security and bug fixes.

Test the update

The following steps will help you set up a testing environment that you can use to practice your update:

1. Copy your production database: Every SonarQube Server update will alter the database. You should back up your current production database and store it in a test environment where you can test the update process. It's a good idea to take note of the duration of the backup and restore to help with your production update timeline.
2. Setup your test environment: Your test environment should have specs as close as possible to the production environment so you can get a good idea of how long the update will take. Start with the same version of SonarQube Server that you are using in production.  If you plan on introducing other changes to your production environment during the update process, try them out in your test environment.  For example, changing your authentication provider or migrating to a cloud environment can increase the steps needed to get your new system up and running.
3. Request a test license: A license is not required to start and update SonarQube Server. However, installing one allows you to run analyses to validate that everything is running as expected. If you are running Enterprise Edition or Data Center Edition or have a support contract, you are entitled to an additional license for testing purposes. Contact your sales representative or support to obtain a test license and apply it to the test environment before performing the test update. If you’re running Developer Edition and don’t have a support contract, you can still test the update without a license except for the last step of testing the first analysis after the update.
4. Run the test update: Now that your test environment is running, you're ready to perform the update. In addition to rehearsing your process, keep notes on how long the process takes to complete.
5. Performance tuning: If you'd like to decrease the time needed to execute the update, you can make some adjustments to improve performance. An excellent place to start is your database. The update process temporarily consumes database resources beyond what you see during day-to-day SonarQube Server operation, and poorly tuned databases often create issues during updates, especially for large instances.  Check out the database maintenance information relevant to your database in our docs.   If you are running the Enterprise or Data Center Edition, temporarily increasing the number of Compute Engine workers can also speed up the update process.  See the Compute Engine performance documentation for more information.
6. Execute test scans: It's a good practice to perform a few analyses with key projects with your test environment to ensure everything is running as expected.  All SonarQube Server releases feature new rules, updated rules to improve detection, and bug fixes that enhance results from previous versions. Therefore, expect new findings to be discovered in scans after the update. However, this is not an absolutely necessary step of the update. You can still perform all the other steps of the test in a test instance without a test license. A test license is only required to perform this step.

Refer to this useful LTA to LTA dependency list to ensure compatibility.

During the update

• Notify your team: Make sure your developers know about the update, the timing of it, and what to expect during the SonarQube Server outage while you perform the update. In addition to setting expectations, this is a great way to inform users that new SonarQube Server features are coming. 
• Backup your database: It is recommended to backup your database right before running the update. If there are any issues with the update, this will help you roll back to the previous version.
• Run the Update: Now it's time to execute the update.

After the update

• Perform some post update checks: After the update is complete there might be some cleanup tasks you should make, such as verifying the latest SonarScanner versions or doing some post-update database cleanup. There is a helpful post-update checklist in our documentation for you to follow.
• Review your quality gates: Check the status of your quality gates after performing your first post-update scan.  If needed, you can make adjustments to your quality gates.
• Activate and configure the agentic components: consult this helpful guide and the below video tutorial to enable Sonar Vortex, SonarQube Remediation Agent, and SonarQube Hunter Agent for your instance.

Need more help?

If you need assistance during your update process, the Sonar Community is here to help. If you have a commercial support contract with SonarSource, we will be happy to assist you with updating to the latest 2026.5 LTA so you get the maximum value out of SonarQube Server.