KNIME Analytics Platform Now Releases Every 6 Weeks

Resources Announcements
1

Hello Everyone,

KNIME Analytics Platform will now be updated every 6 weeks. The first version in this new cycle, KNIME Analytics Platform 5.6, is available today. It is the first standard release and not a long term support (LTS) release. The last LTS release continues to be 5.5.

Why This Change?

More frequent releases allow us to:

  • Deliver new features and improvements to you more quickly
  • Collect your feedback earlier and respond faster
  • Keep pace with ongoing developments in AI and data science

This means you can benefit from our updates as soon as they’re ready.

How to Access Frequent Updates

This faster release track is opt-in for now. To try it, you can:

  • Download KNIME Analytics Platform 5.6 using the link below, or
  • Configure your existing KNIME Analytics Platform install to receive updates from the update site https://update.knime.com/analytics-platform/latest as described in our documentation.

Starting with version 5.7, the latest 6 week release will be the default option on the download page. KNIME Team and Pro plans will always use the latest available version.

Long-Term Support (LTS) Continues

For enterprise environments that require more robustness and long-term maintenance, we continue to offer LTS versions twice a year with two years of support. These versions will now be clearly labeled as LTS.

Installations up to version 5.5 will continue to receive bug fix releases as before, and show upgrade suggestions whenever a new LTS version is released, but will not start to receive updates every 6 weeks automatically.

Which Version Should You Use?

  • Standard Release (every 6 weeks):
    Recommended if you want the latest features as soon as they are available and are comfortable updating more frequently.
  • LTS Release (twice a year):
    Recommended for environments that require extended validation, compliance, or reduced update frequency

Both options are production-ready and support backward compatibility. Workflows created in an LTS version will run in the standard release without issue. Workflows built with standard releases will be compatible with future LTS versions, but not previous LTS versions. This is because features added in a standard release will only appear in a future LTS version.

Standard releases do not receive bug or security fixes, instead we will include these in the next standard release. Older LTS versions continue to receive fixes and patches for a limited time (currently two years), even after a newer LTS is released.

Try It Today

KNIME Analytics Platform 5.6 is now available. You can install it alongside an existing version, such as 5.5, to explore the new updates.

:backhand_index_pointing_right: Download KNIME AP 5.6

The AP 5.6.0 changelogs list all changes in detail.

Try it out and leave your feedback in the thread below.

The KNIME Team

15 Likes
2

Hi Swaraj!

Thank you for this update. I look forward to download the lastest version shortly. A couple of questions related to these upcoming versions:

  1. If I update from a version (I think I have) 4.6, will that cause issues regarding data?
  2. I am a mac user and thus interested in how these new versions work in the context of macOS 26 Tahoe. Have there been reports of early issues for those on the Apple beta testing program? Im currently on the latest iteration of macOS 15 Sequoia.
    I look forward to downloading these exciting updates!

~Cole K.

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3

Hello Everyone,

We fixed a bug in the new Agent Chat View node and and updated the download links to 5.6.1.

The KNIME Team

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4

Here’s what’s on your download page.

Download
Download1347Ă—551 109 KB

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5

Yes @rfeigel, we first wanted to announce it here on the forum to explain our new release cadence before we confuse everyone on the download page :slight_smile: That page will be updated shortly.

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6

Hey @Cole_Kingsbury,

Thanks for your questions!

  1. No, you will not loose data. Being backwards compatible (=loading workflows created with earlier versions of KNIME AP) is something that we value very highly!
  2. I don’t think anybody tried macOS 26 Tahoe yet, but we have a lot of people using it on macOS15 Sequoia. Usually macOS updates don’t cause issues, so I’d hope that KNIME AP works there just as it does now – and if not we’ll make sure to fix that soon (but probably closer to the macOS26 release).

Best, Carsten

2 Likes
7

What happens to Community contribution builds? These currently are branched for each release version (e.g. 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5 etc) and time spent validating that branch and updating etc - I can’t see how that is going to be practical or to happen with this new release cadence?

Also, trusted community contributions are required to support the last two versions (so v5.5, v5.4 under the old cadence, which gives users some stability guarantees going back some time) - if we apply the same that will reduce to 12 weeks of support effectively?

Steve

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8

@carstenhaubold
I have the 5.6.1 installation files [- Thanks but Is there a link to the Offline versions of the extensions Please ?

As my 5.4.2 Installation on the works PC just failed after an extension installation ( knime.ini file gone ) I will need to get a new install done by my IT team, and rather than do this twice it would be great to run straight to 5.6.1

Given the issues I just had with the AI / Python extensions with 5.5 this would be a good test to see if the problems persist

Thanks

9

Docker images for the hub are also missing: knime/knime Tags | Docker Hub
I do not know if non-LTS versions are going to used heavily on the hub but somebody may miss it.

10

Any estimation of when 5.6 will be available?

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Hmm I’m on it already:

image

And that’s not the nightly.

I checked for updates in my 5.5.1 and installed that way.

12

Does this overwrite 5.5.1? I don’t want to do that. Also, it doesn’t appear as an update to 5.5.1 in my installation.

13

yes it does… that is a bit weird as indeed 5.6 is not available for download (unless it’s just that the text hasn’t been updated…)

One way to do it: Grab a fresh 5.5.1 ZIP Install and then update via settings…

14

I see in the first post the downloads seem to be linked:

…and right I added the update site manually the other day:

15

Got it. Thanks. Not very elegant not to change the standard download page.

16

Hey,

let me clear up a few things here.
5.6.0 is already and this is the first release that follows our new release cadence. 5.5.0 will not out of the box get an update for that version as 5.5.0 is considered an LTS and therefore will not move automatically to this new release cadence.
Our Download page is currently still missing the 5.6.0 release and we are currently working on that, but wanted to get 5.6.0 already out there so that our users can already make use of it :slight_smile:

I agree that there are currently still a few moving pieces and we are doing our best to sort them out as soon as possible. Thanks!

Greetings,
Daniel

4 Likes
17

Hi @DanielBog can you explain more about the current LTS policy? Thanks!

18

Good points, Steve! I’ve been wondering the same thing.

I’m trying to understand the best way to manage Python-based extension releases across both the Hub and a custom update site, especially with the new 6-week cadence. As a developer, I currently publish to both, with the Hub handling version differences automatically, but for the custom update site, I bundle separately for each version track. This workflow could become unsustainable fast.

Do you know how the Hub actually handles this? Does it build for every version track and somehow detect the correct KNIME version, or does it simply bundle for the latest one?

Are there any best practices or recommendations from KNIME for managing extension releases in the future, especially when we also want to support a custom update site alongside the Hub?

Any thoughts at all would be super appreciated—even just a quick pointer or your gut feeling.

3 Likes
19

Hey,

We have created a FAQ document hopefully explaining the most important questions.

Essentially if you want to stay on the LTS release, nothing changes for you. You will still receive updates twice a year as before this new cadence.

Let me know if there are still things unclear :slight_smile:

@lorenzhab there is also a section for community extensions. Hopefully this answers your question.

Greetings,
Daniel

3 Likes
20

Hello KNIME Team Member,

Are the Standard Release Date and versions structured like the following?

Version Release Date
5.6 2025/8/12
5.7 2025/9/23
5.8 2025/11/4
5.9 2025/12/16
6.0 2026/1/27
6.1 2026/3/10
6.2 2026/4/21

What will be the version number of the LTS released this December?

Thanks,

2 Likes