SUMMARY:
Liferay DXP 2026.Q1 is the next LTS release, introducing a new CMS and deprecating several legacy features to plan around.
Table of contents
Liferay DXP 2026.Q1 Is Here — And It’s a Big One
If you’ve been waiting for the right moment to upgrade your Liferay environment, 2026.Q1 is a compelling reason to stop waiting. This release is the next Long-Term Support (LTS) version of Liferay DXP, meaning you’ll get three full years of support to build on a stable, well-maintained foundation. For teams running older versions, the upgrade path to 2026.Q1 warrants serious planning time — not just for the new capabilities, but also because of significant changes to features you may be relying on today.
Let’s dig in.
The Big Picture: A New Liferay CMS
The headline story in 2026.Q1 is the introduction of the new Liferay CMS — a modern, headless content management system designed to replace several legacy content tools that have been part of the platform for years. This isn’t a minor reshuffle; it’s a clear signal of where Liferay is heading, and it has real implications for how you architect your solution going forward.
What’s Being Deprecated
Segments (DXP Local Authoring)
Local segment authoring inside Liferay is now deprecated. New installations are read-only by default, and while existing installations can continue using local segments during a deprecation window of at least one year, the writing is on the wall.
The recommended path forward is to move your segmentation work into Liferay Analytics Cloud, which is now the designated home for building and managing audience segments. If your personalization strategy depends heavily on DXP-local segments, it’s time to start planning that migration.
Note: DXP Segments can still be activated during the deprecation period via a feature flag (LPD-78863) in System Settings if needed.
What’s Going Into Maintenance Mode
Maintenance mode means a feature will continue to work for now, but won’t receive further development, and Liferay is pointing you to an alternative. Here’s the rundown:
Liferay Publications
Liferay hasn’t announced a direct replacement for Publications just yet, but here’s the important thing to know: Publications will continue to work just fine. Maintenance mode means the lights stay on—your content teams won’t lose the staged publishing workflows they depend on overnight.
As for what comes next, Liferay doesn’t make moves like this without something better in mind. Given the direction they’re heading with the new CMS and their broader platform vision, it’s a safe bet that a more capable, modern publishing workflow is in the works. We’re optimistic. In the meantime, if Publications is a core part of how your editorial process runs, it’s worth keeping an eye on Liferay’s roadmap announcements—and having a conversation about what a future-state workflow might look like for your team.
Liferay Web Content
Liferay Web Content is moving to maintenance mode, with the new Liferay CMS as the recommended replacement. If you’re building net-new content structures, you’ll want to start there rather than investing further in Web Content. While Web Content has long been the standard for structured data like news articles and announcements, Liferay is shifting toward the new CMS for modern, headless delivery and more flexible content modeling.
The introduction of Liferay CMS marks a significant shift from the “portal with widgets” model to a composable digital experience platform. For existing implementations, features like bulk permission updates for web content remain available to streamline access control management during this transition period. However, to ensure future-proofing and better runtime performance, organizations are encouraged to move towards the new Liferay CMS.
Liferay Blogs
Same story—Liferay Blogs enter maintenance mode, and Liferay CMS is the recommended path for new blogs. The new Liferay CMS comes with native support for building blogs, allowing teams to leverage modern site-building fragments and style book tokens for a more consistent and visually rich presentation. This transition is part of Liferay’s broader shift toward a composable digital experience platform that prioritizes modern, headless delivery. While the legacy Blogs module remains functional, organizations can now utilize the platform’s latest architectural direction.
Liferay Documents and Media
Documents and Media is going into maintenance mode as well. The Liferay CMS handles asset management in the new model, so consider this when evaluating your digital asset strategy. Recent updates in version 2024.Q2 have already introduced UI button changes and bulk permission updates for Documents & Media to aid current administrators, but long-term investment should favor the new CMS-based asset model.
Liferay Knowledge Base
The Knowledge Base module joins the maintenance mode list, with Liferay CMS again as the recommended alternative for structured content and documentation use cases. Organizations can now utilize the new architectural framework to create more branded, immersive, and informative documentation experiences. This shift enables better alignment with modern site-building tools, such as style book tokens, ensuring that technical documentation and help centers maintain visual consistency with the rest of the digital experience.
Liferay Asset Libraries
Liferay Asset Libraries are also moving into maintenance mode with the release of 2026.Q1. If your current strategy relies on Asset Libraries to centralize and share content across multiple sites, the new Liferay CMS approach is the designated long-term destination. Transitioning to Liferay CMS not only aligns your infrastructure with the platform’s future-state for multichannel content delivery but also enables a much deeper, more seamless integration with Liferay Analytics Cloud. This move is part of a broader evolution toward a composable digital experience platform that prioritizes modern, headless delivery and more flexible content modeling across your entire ecosystem.
What This Means for Your Team
None of these changes require you to rip and replace everything on day one — maintenance mode means these features still work. But they do require honest conversations about your roadmap:
- Are you investing in features that won’t get better? New development will flow into Liferay CMS, not the maintenance-mode tools.
- Is your personalization strategy ready for Analytics Cloud? Segment migration takes time and coordination.
- Is your team equipped with the expertise needed to manage the move to Liferay CMS? While the shift is significant, it is a journey you can take at a manageable pace.
The good news is that 2026.Q1, being an LTS release, gives you a stable target to upgrade to and three years to execute your modernization plan thoughtfully — not in a panic.
Coming Soon: A Deeper Dive into the New Liferay CMS
The new Liferay CMS deserves more than a mention in a deprecation roundup—it’s a topic all its own. Stay tuned for upcoming posts where we’ll take a closer look at what the new CMS brings to the table, how it differs from the tools it’s replacing, and how you can start planning your content strategy around it. If you’re not already following the XTIVIA blog, now’s a great time to start.
Need Help Navigating the Upgrade?
This is a lot to absorb, and we know that “maintenance mode” can mean very different things depending on how deeply those features are woven into your implementation. At XTIVIA, we’ve been helping organizations get the most out of Liferay for years, and we’re ready to help you assess your current footprint, plan a smart upgrade path to 2026.Q1, and position your implementation on the right side of Liferay’s new architecture.
👉 Learn more about XTIVIA’s Liferay consulting services
Whether you’re just starting to think about the upgrade or you’re already mid-planning, we’d love to talk.
One of the most exciting opportunities in 2026.Q1 is getting ahead of the curve with the new Liferay CMS. Rather than simply migrating what you have today, this is a chance to rethink how your organization creates, manages, and delivers content—and to build something better than what you started with. Our team can help you:
- Evaluate your current content architecture and identify what maps cleanly to the new CMS versus what needs to be reimagined
- Design content models and structures in Liferay CMS that are cleaner, more flexible, and built for headless delivery
- Integrate the new CMS into your broader digital strategy, whether that means multichannel content delivery, deeper personalization through Analytics Cloud, or streamlining workflows for your content teams
- Train and enable your team so developers and content authors alike hit the ground running on the new platform
This isn’t just a migration — it’s an upgrade in every sense of the word. Let XTIVIA help you make the most of it. At XTIVIA, we specialize in helping businesses unlock the full potential of Liferay DXP, including harnessing cutting-edge AI integrations. Whether you’re looking to optimize your content creation process or develop a custom solution tailored to your needs, our team of Liferay DXP experts is here to support you every step of the way.
Contact XTIVIA today to explore how we can help you elevate your digital strategy and achieve your business goals. Let’s create something extraordinary together!