Unity 6.5 or 6.3 LTS — Which Version Is Recommended for Production?
Unity LTS Version — Recommended or Not? Long-Term Support (LTS) releases were always the go-to choice for production, but Unity 6 generation of releases changes the paradigm.
We have 2 official comments from Unity Staff (watch video above):
- 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.
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, you need to use Unity LTS 6.3 or 6.7 LTS to have 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.
