// guides/rds-mariadb-10-6-end-of-support

RDS MariaDB 10.6 end of standard support: Dec 31, 2026

Amazon RDS for MariaDB 10.6 reaches end of standard support on Dec 31, 2026. Unlike MySQL and PostgreSQL, MariaDB has no paid RDS Extended Support, so the practical answer is to upgrade, in place, to 10.11, 11.4, 11.8 or 12.3.

Last checked against AWS documentation: Oct 22, 2026

The dates

Version	Community end of life	RDS end of standard support
MariaDB 10.6	Jul 6, 2026	Dec 31, 2026
MariaDB 10.11	Feb 16, 2028	Feb 2028
MariaDB 11.4	May 2029	May 2029
MariaDB 11.8	Jun 2028	Jun 2028
MariaDB 12.3	Jun 2029	Jun 2029

Month-only dates are approximate per AWS. All 10.6 minor versions (10.6.x) share the Dec 31, 2026 date.

No RDS Extended Support for MariaDB

AWS's RDS Extended Support documentation covers RDS for MySQL and PostgreSQL (and Aurora); it does not include MariaDB. So there is no paid option to keep 10.6 in support past Dec 31, 2026.

What happens after the date: AWS's MariaDB version pages give the end date but do not say what happens to 10.6 instances afterwards. The general RDS FAQ says that when a major version is deprecated, AWS gives at least six months' notice after the deprecation announcement, then applies an automatic upgrade to the next major version during the maintenance window. We have not found a 10.6-specific announcement of that timeline, so watch AWS Health for your account and upgrade on your own schedule.

Find your 10.6 instances

aws rds describe-db-instances \
  --query "DBInstances[?Engine=='mariadb' && starts_with(EngineVersion,'10.6')].[DBInstanceIdentifier,EngineVersion]" \
  --output table

Run per Region. Valid upgrade targets for your exact version:

aws rds describe-db-engine-versions --engine mariadb --engine-version 10.6.28 \
  --query "DBEngineVersions[*].ValidUpgradeTarget[*].{EngineVersion:EngineVersion}" --output text

In-place upgrade targets

AWS supports in-place major upgrades from any MariaDB version to 10.11, 11.4, 11.8 or 12.3. Major upgrades are never applied automatically by default; you modify the instance yourself.

Upgrade checklist

Pick a target. 11.4 has the latest RDS end date (May 2029); 10.11 is the smallest jump but ends Feb 2028.
If you use a custom parameter group, create one for the new engine family; associating it needs a reboot after the upgrade.
Moving to 11.8 or later: require_secure_transport now defaults to 1, so non-TLS clients will fail unless you set it to 0.
Upgrade read replicas before the source instance.
Make sure backup retention is above 0 so RDS takes its pre-upgrade snapshots. You can't downgrade in place; rollback means restoring that snapshot to a new instance.
Expect downtime (Multi-AZ primary and standby upgrade together), or use RDS Blue/Green Deployments to cut it.
Test on a restored snapshot first.

Sources

FAQ

When does RDS MariaDB 10.6 reach end of support?

Dec 31, 2026, per the AWS supported MariaDB major versions table. The community end of life was Jul 6, 2026.

Is there RDS Extended Support for MariaDB?

No. AWS RDS Extended Support covers MySQL and PostgreSQL (and Aurora), not MariaDB.

Will AWS auto-upgrade my MariaDB 10.6 instance?

AWS has not published a 10.6-specific timeline. The general RDS FAQ says deprecated major versions get at least six months' notice, then an automatic upgrade to the next major version in the maintenance window.

What can I upgrade 10.6 to in place?

MariaDB 10.11, 11.4, 11.8 or 12.3.