Wait. If you’re hunting for ".NET 9 release candidate news today," we need to have a quick reality check about what year it is. It's January 2026. If you're still looking for a "Release Candidate" for .NET 9, you’re basically looking for a ghost.
Honestly, .NET 9 isn't the new kid on the block anymore. It's the middle child.
Microsoft actually pushed .NET 10 out the door back in November 2025. Right now, the real "news" isn't about a release candidate—it’s about the fact that .NET 9 is officially a Standard Term Support (STS) release that is rapidly approaching its expiration date. If you’re running production workloads on it today, you have exactly until May 12, 2026, before the security patches stop coming.
That's only a few months away.
The State of .NET 9 in 2026
Most developers I talk to are kinda torn. On one hand, .NET 9 brought some legendary performance tweaks. We’re talking about Dynamic Adaptation to Application Sizes (DATAS) being turned on by default in the Garbage Collector. It was a game-changer for cloud-native apps that used to hog memory.
But here’s the kicker: .NET 9 was always meant to be a bridge.
Because it's an STS release, it only gets 18 months of support total (though Microsoft recently nudged that to 24 months for some components to align with .NET 8). If you’re looking for the "latest" bits today, you should actually be looking at .NET 9.0.12, which just dropped as part of the January 2026 servicing update.
It’s not a release candidate. It’s a patch.
Why the "Release Candidate" Search Still Happens
Usually, when people search for "RC" news late in the game, they’re actually seeing old documentation or they’re stuck on a specific bug that was fixed back in the RC1/RC2 days of late 2024. Or, maybe you’re using Visual Studio 2022 and wondering why .NET 10 isn't showing up properly.
Here is the awkward truth: To fully embrace the successor (.NET 10), you basically have to move to Visual Studio 2026.
Microsoft has been pushing the AI-native features of the new IDE hard. If you're still clinging to .NET 9, you're likely doing it because your enterprise hasn't cleared the budget for the VS 2026 rollout yet. I get it. Corporate migration is a nightmare.
What’s Actually New in Today's Servicing Update?
Since it’s January 15, 2026, the big news is the January Servicing Release. This isn't about shiny new features like the "TensorPrimitives" we saw in the .NET 9 launch. It’s about boring, essential stability.
- Non-Security Fixes: The 9.0.12 update addresses a few lingering issues in the JIT compiler and some edge-case crashes in ASP.NET Core's SignalR.
- Security Baseline: This update is the recommended baseline for anyone still on .NET 9 who isn't ready to hop to the .NET 10 LTS (Long Term Support) version.
- MAUI Stabilization: If you're building mobile apps, the .NET 9.0.12 runtime includes the latest fixes for iOS 19 and Android 16 compatibility.
The .NET 10 Shadow
It's impossible to talk about .NET 9 today without mentioning that .NET 10.0.2 is already out. .NET 10 is an LTS release. That means it’s supported for three years—all the way into 2028.
Why does this matter for your .NET 9 search?
Because the "news" is that .NET 9 is now officially the "legacy" choice for new projects. If you’re starting a greenfield project today, January 2026, and you’re picking .NET 9, you’re setting yourself up for a forced migration in four months. Don't do that to yourself.
Key Differences You’ll Notice
- AI Integration: .NET 10 refined the
Microsoft.Extensions.AIabstractions that were just "experimental" back in the .NET 9 days. - C# 14 vs C# 13: You’re missing out on field-backed properties and better span conversions if you stay on the 9.0 branch.
- Support Window: Again, May 2026 is the "end of life" for .NET 9.
Actionable Steps for Today
If you’re currently on .NET 9 and saw "release candidate" news that confused you, here is what you actually need to do right now:
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- Check your SDK version. Run
dotnet --versionin your terminal. If you aren't on 9.0.100 or higher, you’re behind on security. - Download the January 2026 Patch. Grab .NET 9.0.12 from the official Microsoft download page. This is the latest "today" news.
- Audit your MAUI apps. .NET MAUI 9 support ends exactly when the runtime does. If you have apps in the App Store, you need to start the move to .NET 10 now to avoid being stuck with an unpatched framework during the summer.
- Ignore the "RC" noise. Any site telling you about a .NET 9 Release Candidate "today" is likely using outdated or AI-generated content from 2024.
The move from .NET 9 to .NET 10 is actually pretty smooth—it’s basically a "low-effort hop" compared to the old .NET Framework to .NET Core migrations. But you can't ignore the clock. May is coming fast.