Keeping your Ghost version up to date is the best way to ensure that you have access to all the latest features of the platform.

As a Ghost(Pro) customer we handle updating your site for you with each minor version release, every week. For major version releases, such as Ghost v6, there are some responsibilities that are up to you to manage as the site owner.

If you haven’t upgraded already, check out what’s new in Ghost 6.0.

How to upgrade Ghost versions

  1. Log in to Ghost Admin as the publication owner.
  2. Click the link in the upgrade banner at the top of the dashboard and follow the prompts.
  3. Ghost will run a compatibility check to ensure your site is ready to upgrade.
  4. After the check, confirm the upgrade to proceed.
  5. Once started, Ghost will create a full backup of your publication’s data, and then your site will go offline during the upgrade — which may take up to 15 minutes to complete.
⚠️
Major version updates contain breaking changes by design. While most sites are compatible without issue, we strongly recommend reviewing the breaking change list before upgrading if you’re using custom integrations, heavily modified themes, or Ghost as a headless CMS.

What happens if I don’t upgrade?

Your site will continue to work as normal, but will only receive critical bug fixes and security updates. You won’t have access to any new features or improvements in Ghost.

If your site hasn’t been upgraded by November 4, 2025, we’ll automatically upgrade any sites on Ghost(Pro) that are still using version 5.