Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) 6.5 is End of Life in Less Than 1 Year: Is It Time to Panic?

There are a few reassuring constants in the Adobe Experience Manager world. The iconic red logo. Experts dropping the decades-out–of-date “CQ” to demonstrate street cred. The rock-solid confidence that the heat death of the universe would occur before Adobe would change the AEM 6.5 version number.

Seriously, AEM’s previously annual dot releases of 6.x stopped incrementing in 2019. That’s a long time in technology. Adobe kept releasing quarterly Service Packs, but AEM as a Cloud Service has been the clear future direction for years.

But all good things must come to an end, and Adobe has announced that AEM 6.5 has an end-of-life date. In fact, it has three different dates depending on how you count:

• Adobe Managed Services customers must be off the platform by September of 2026.
• On-premises customers have Core Support through February of 2027, and Extended Support at an additional cost through February of 2028.

This post will explain the reason for the change and three options for customers on AEM 6.5.

Why is Adobe Retiring AEM 6.5? Why Can’t Things Stay the Same Forever?

This is a pretty simple answer. AEM 6.5 relies on Oracle Java Version 11. Oracle is ending Extended Support for Java Version 11 in September of 2026. The next step is “Sustaining Support,” which will mean no new security patches, bug fixes, or updates. If you’re asking yourself, “How is that even support?”, then you’re understanding Adobe’s dilemma and why AEM 6.5 is end of life.

If Adobe Managed Services continued to support AEM 6.5 on an unsupported version of Java beyond September, they would run the risk of a serious security vulnerability or technical issue in Java that would expose Adobe to massive liability with no real fix.

If 11 months seems like a quick migration, consider doing the same migration with zero notice and your AEM system down the entire time. That’s the alternative if you wait until September 2026.

Option 1: Do Nothing. Roll the Dice. YOLO.

Ok, real talk: DO NOT DO THIS.

For companies using Adobe Managed Services, this is not even a theoretical option. See the point about massive liability in the preceding section. Adobe will NOT support your software or your infrastructure if you fail to migrate.

For companies still on the rare on-premises license, Adobe does not have the access into your systems to force the issue. Theoretically, you could ignore all the urgent warnings and hope there is no zero-day security vulnerability that allows hackers to completely compromise your system without meaningful support from Adobe.

Maybe you have lived such a charmed life that nothing bad has ever happened to you, and if that’s the case, please contact us with stock tips. But for everyone else, please see Option 2 or Option 3 below.

Option 2: Migrate to AEM 6.5 Long Term Support (LTS)

This is the easiest option with the shortest timeline for implementation. AEM 6.5 LTS is as similar to AEM 6.5 as Adobe could manage with the underlying Java change. Adobe really focused on backward compatibility.

Adobe supports an in-place upgrade, so there’s no need to migrate content or code to a new repository. However, there are several issues to consider:

• The Java upgrade may impact customizations.
• There are some bundles that are automatically uninstalled.
• Your implementation may depend on a small list of deprecated features.

Migrating to AEM 6.5 LTS is basically like a Service Pack on steroids. You should test very thoroughly in lower environments and expect to find some issues that require remediation before you can go to production.

Adobe also provides a tool called AEM Analyzer that reviews and flags potential issues with your implementation moving to AEM 6.5 LTS. Be aware that this is a technical tool, requiring AEM development skills to deploy and to consume the output.

The short-term benefit of an easier migration is somewhat offset by two long-term uncertainties. First, how long will LTS be an option? The Java issue has forced Adobe’s hand, but the focus on AEM as a Cloud Services has been clear for years. Second, how committed is Adobe to innovating on the LTS platform? The first two service packs are scheduled six months apart rather than quarterly, which isn’t signaling rapid innovation.

If LTS seems like the right option for your organization, contact us to discuss a potential migration.

Option 3: Move to AEM as a Cloud Service

Northern has never met a company still on AEM 6.5 that is not considering a move to AEM as a Cloud Service. There are real benefits. Patches are more seamless. Infrastructure is more scalable. New features are more plentiful.

But this is a real migration and requires a real project to migrate code and content. There is also a license change that has to happen with Adobe.

Many companies have seen the benefit of tackling this change and have already moved to AEM as a Cloud Service.

Some have held back, waiting for the right time, a need-to-have feature, or a sign from above.

This end-of-life crisis might be the opportunity your company needs to make the change.

Since the migration to LTS requires investment, and most companies see a migration to Cloud Service somewhere in their future, there’s a strong argument that moving to AEM as a Cloud Service is the lower total-cost-of-ownership option. Do you want to do two migrations in the next three years, or just one?

Northern has helped many other companies with this transition. Contact us to discuss a potential migration to AEM as a Cloud Service for your organization.