Cloud SQL extends PostgreSQL 9.6 version support beyond end-of-life

Our mission with Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL is compatibility; we want our users to be able to run their applications unchanged while using Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL as their relational database management system (RDBMS). 

The final release for PostgreSQL 9.6 is slated for November 11th, 2021. This is a good time to consider upgrading to a more recent version of PostgreSQL. Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL strives to maintain compatibility with the latest releases, and currently supports 10, 11, 12 and 13. You can find more information in the release notes. We realize, however, that your timelines may not allow you to upgrade before this final release date for 9.6, and there may be concerns on supportability moving forward.

For these reasons, Cloud SQL will continue to support the final release of PostgreSQL 9.6 for at least one year after the general availability of Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL in-place major version upgrade. The final update for PostgreSQL 9.6 will come in November 2021, and Cloud SQL will make it available shortly after, and support it as is. While we won’t be able to provide patches, we will provide platform-level support. We hope this will give you peace of mind as you contemplate your upgrade options.

In order to provide simple upgrade paths, we are working on features like support for Cloud SQL to Cloud SQL in the database migration service (DMS) and in-place major version upgrades for Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL.

Read more about PostgreSQL versions on Cloud SQL here.