The headline: Elements and the new Library

The biggest change in Umbraco 18 is the introduction of Elements, along with a new Library section in the backoffice.

Elements are reusable pieces of non-page content. For example, site-wide settings, footer information, opening hours, promotional content or other content that you want editors to manage separately from the main page tree. Previously, it was common to model this sort of content as documents and put it somewhere in the content tree, even though it wasn't really a page and didn't have a URL of its own. Umbraco 18 gives this content a proper home.

Editors can create and manage Elements in the new Library, with familiar CMS features such as permissions, publishing, scheduled publishing, rollback, audit information, recycle bin and reference tracking. Elements can then be selected and associated with pages using the new Element Picker.

Day to day, that means updating content like your opening hours or a site-wide promotion once and having every page that uses it update automatically. And because Umbraco tracks where each Element is used, editors can check which pages a change will affect before they make it, rather than finding out afterwards.

It's a useful change because it turns a pattern developers have often had to build themselves into a native part of Umbraco, and it gives editors a clearer, safer way to manage the content that doesn't belong to any one page.

One important distinction

Elements in Umbraco 18 are phase one of a bigger piece of functionality.

The next stage is planned for Umbraco 19, with Elements being integrated more deeply into the Block Editor. That's where the "create it once, reuse it across multiple pages, then update it in one place" experience really comes into its own for reusable blocks.

If you're excited about the idea of fully reusable blocks, Umbraco 19 is the version to keep an eye on. For now, Umbraco 18 provides the Library and the foundations for that functionality.

What else is new?

There are also several changes that will be more interesting to developers than editors.

Typed OpenAPI schemas for the Delivery API – Umbraco 18 can now generate more precise OpenAPI schemas for your Document Types, Element Types and Media Types. It's opt-in, and particularly useful if you're generating TypeScript, C# or other client code from the API specification. The actual Delivery API responses haven't changed as a result of this feature, so it's mainly a developer benefit rather than something editors will notice.

A change to the OpenAPI tooling – Umbraco has replaced Swashbuckle with Microsoft's built-in Microsoft.AspNetCore.OpenApi. Developers maintaining packages or custom extensions should check the upgrade notes, as some integrations will need updating.

Performance and backoffice improvements – Umbraco 18 also includes improvements that have been introduced across the Umbraco 17 minor releases, including performance work, accessibility improvements and a range of smaller backoffice enhancements.

Breaking changes for developers – as with any major Umbraco release, some deprecated APIs and code have been removed or changed. Custom code, packages and integrations should be checked for compatibility before upgrading.

Do you need to upgrade to Umbraco 18?

Umbraco 18 is a Standard-Term Support (STS) release, while Umbraco 17 remains the Long-Term Support (LTS) version. Umbraco is continuing to release updates for 17 roughly every six weeks, and many of the improvements included in 18 have also arrived through the 17.x releases.

In practical terms:

  • If you're already on Umbraco 17 LTS and don't need Elements yet, there's no particular reason to rush to 18.

  • If you want the new Library and Elements functionality, 18 is the version to look at.

  • If your main interest is fully reusable content within the Block Editor, it may be worth waiting for Umbraco 19.

  • If you're still on Umbraco 13, that's a bigger conversation. More on that below.

The version to pay attention to: Umbraco 13

If your website is still running on Umbraco 13, this is the part of the release cycle that deserves your attention.

Umbraco 13 reaches the end of its Long-Term Support period on 14 December 2026. After that, regular support and security updates stop. Umbraco does offer Extended Long-Term Support (XLTS) for Umbraco 13, running until 14 December 2028, but security and compliance patches during that period require an XLTS contract.

For most organisations, the sensible approach is to start planning the move well before December rather than waiting for the deadline to force the decision.

Umbraco recommends Umbraco 17 LTS as the stable destination for sites coming from Umbraco 13.

An upgrade from 13 to 17 is more involved than a routine minor version update, particularly where a site has custom code, integrations or third-party packages. The earlier you assess what needs changing, the more options you have and the less likely the upgrade becomes a last-minute scramble.

If your site is still on Umbraco 13, now is a good time to start the conversation about your upgrade path.