Contents

Introduction

Background Information

Recommendations

Catalyst 1000/2960/3560/CDB and 4500 platforms

Catalyst 3650 and 3850 Platforms

Catalyst 6K Platforms

Engineering Special Releases

Introduction

This document describes a list of stable Cisco IOS® software for Catalyst 1000/2960/3560/CDB/4500, 3650/3850, and 6500/6800 series switches.

Background Information

The recommendations are the latest as of November 2024.

The information in this document is not meant to be exhaustive and is intended to serve as general guidance to you, especially in cases of mass deployments or upgrades.

If you are interested in software recommendations on Catalyst 9000 series switches, please refer to this page.

Recommendations

Catalyst 1000/2960/3560/CDB and 4500 platforms

Product Family

Product Details

Recommended

Cisco IOS release

End of Software

Maintenance

Passed (Y/N)

End of PSIRT/ End of HW Support (Y/N)

EOL Link

Catalyst 1000

Catalyst 1000 (all models)

15.2(7)E10

Y [Apr '26]

Y [Apr '30]

Click here

Catalyst 2960

Catalyst 2960X

15.2(7)E10

Y [Oct '23]

N [Oct '27]

Click here

Catalyst 2960XR

15.2(7)E10

Y [Oct '23]

N [Oct '27]

Click here

Catalyst 2960L

15.2(7)E10

Y [Oct '22]

N [Oct '26]

Click here

Catalyst 2960+

15.2(7)E10

Y [Oct '22]

N [Oct '26]

Click here

Catalyst 2960C

15.2(7)E10

Y  [Oct '21]

N [Oct '25]

Click here

Catalyst 2960CX

15.2(7)E10

N [Apr '25]

N [Apr '29]

Click here

Catalyst 3560

Catalyst 3560CX

15.2(7)E10

N [Apr '25]

N [Apr '29]

Click here

CDB

Catalyst CDB-8P

15.2(7)E10

Y [Apr '26]

Y [Apr '30]

Click here

Catalyst CDB-8U

15.2(7)E10

Y [Apr '26]

Y [Apr '30]

Click here

Catalyst 4500

(Modular)

Sup 8-E

3.11.10E

Y [Oct '21]

N [Oct '25]

Click here

Sup 8L-E

3.11.10E

Y [Oct '21]

N [Oct '25]

Click here

Sup 9-E

3.11.10E

Y [Oct '22]

N [Oct '26]

Click here

Catalyst 4500-X

(Fixed)

Catalyst 4500-X

3.11.10E

Y [Oct '21]

N [Oct '25]

Click here

* 15.2(7)/3.11 is the current active extended maintenance release.

Catalyst 3650 and 3850 Platforms

Product Family

Product Details

Recommended

Cisco IOS-XE release

End of Software

Maintenance

Passed (Y/N)

End of PSIRT/ End of HW Support (Y/N)

EOL Link

Catalyst 3650

3650 (all models)

16.12.12

Y [Oct '22]

N [Oct '26]

Click here

Catalyst 3850

3850-12XS, 3850-24XS, 3850-48XS

16.12.12

Y [Apr '23]

N [Apr '27]

Click here

3850 (all other models)

16.12.12

Y [Oct '21]

N [Oct '25]

Click here

Catalyst 6K Platforms

Product Family

Product Details

Recommended

Cisco IOS release

End of Software

Maintenance

Passed (Y/N)

End of PSIRT/ End of HW Support (Y/N)

EOL Link

Catalyst 6500

Sup 2T

15.5(1)SY13

Y [Oct '21]

N [Oct '25]

Click here

Catalyst 6800

C6840-X

15.5(1)SY13

Y [Oct '21]

N [Oct '25]

Click here

C6880-X

15.5(1)SY13

Y [Oct '21]

N [Oct '25]

Click here

Sup 6T

15.5(1)SY13

Y [Apr '23]

N [Apr '27]

Click here

*15.5(1)SY is the current active extended maintenance release.

Engineering Special Releases

In certain cases, critical bugs are made available on Engineering Special (ES) builds. These builds are not available on CCO (cisco.com). If you encounter any issues specific to your environment which is not already fixed in cisco.com releases that already exist, please contact Cisco Customer Experience (CX) to explore the possibility of an Engineering Special (ES) code. Engineering Special builds are meant to be deployed for a limited time frame and you are advised to move to the next maintenance rebuild as soon as it is available on cisco.com.  Engineering Special builds are fully supported by the Cisco Customer Experience (CX) and the Business Unit (BU).