Unity 6.5 or 6.3 LTS — What Is the Best Unity Version Recommended for Production Use?

Several Unity Versions are supported in parallel at the same time. But which Unity Version is the best choice right now? In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to select the Best Unity Version that is most suitable for your project.

What is the Best Unity Version?

Unity LTS (Long-Term Support) versions have always been recommended for production use, but the Unity 6 release cycle changes that paradigm.

We have 2 official comments from Unity Staff:

• Use an LTS version, such as 6.3 or 6.7, for projects that are in production or about to ship.
• Use Supported Updates, such as 6.5 or 6.6, for New Projects. These Versions are still production verified (when they are not in Alpha/Beta) and recommended for development as Unity Hub says this year.

I personally prefer LTS versions for long-term development because every Unity version upgrade has always been a challenge. So, LTS releases are the Best Unity Versions for me and My Unity Assets.

Jumping between Patches like 6000.3.17 → 6000.3.18 usually aren’t a big challenge, although they can still break something. If you find a patch that works well for your specific project, don’t update until game release 😅

Unity LTS Releases and Support Periods

1. On the one side, Unity 6.3 LTS is recommended for production as any other LTS version — it’s been like this for many years now. LTS conditions:

• Released once a year.
• Supported for 2 years (until December 2027).
• Additional year of support for Enterprise & Industry users.
• Regular patches for bug fixes, critical platform updates.

With the release of Unity 6.3 LTS, Unity 6.2 is no longer supported.

2. On the other side, Unity wants Devs to test the new 6.5 version, so Hub recommends 6.5, but the support period is significantly less and in version 6.6 some features and APIs that appeared in 6.5 can be removed, and it’s legal.

That’s the point of “Supported Updates” like 6.4, 6.5, and 6.6 — that were formerly known as “Tech Streams”.

They give you the option to use all of the latest in-progress features and updates. These versions are intended for pre-production, prototyping and experimentation, before committing to full project development. Conditions:

• Multiple Update releases a year
• Supported until the next release is published
• Same level of support as LTS with weekly patches
• Fully production-ready with the same QA testing as LTS.

If you are already in production or close to launching your project, then the Best Unity Version for you is Unity LTS 6.3 (or 6.7 LTS) that provides predictable behavior, consistent updates and features, maximum stability, and optimum performance.

Even the Unity Asset Store doesn’t provide any indications for LTS versions and recommendations as well, leaving users in the dark.

Compare Unity Versions with Release Notes

For years, Unity has been silently updating the web service called Unity Release Notes, and I recently noticed new filtering options:

• Topics (categories such as different parts of the Unity Engine),
• Types of Changes (Added, Updated, Fixed, Changed, Deprecated, Improved, Known Issues, etc.).

Unity Release Notes let you compare releases and see what has changed between Any Unity Versions.

Selecting a Version on Unity Learn

Developers use Unity 6.5 to take the Unity Learn course because Hub currently recommends this version. Then they complain when something doesn’t work — and that’s not surprising.

The latest version Unity Essentials Pathway (for example) is intended for is Unity 6.3 LTS. You must select this version on Unity Learn for the course and use the same version in Unity Hub to successfully complete it.

Verifying the course for a new Unity version is a lengthy and demanding process. As you may have noticed, only LTS versions are available in the version selector (2022.3, 6.0, and 6.3) for this Pathway. Therefore, the next possible version will be Unity 6.7 LTS, which is expected to be released later this year.