What is the difference between Cisco End-of-Sale and End-of-Life?

End-of-Sale (EoS) is the last date you can order a product from Cisco; End-of-Life (EoL) is the overall process Cisco follows to retire it, which culminates in the Last Date of Support (LDoS) after which Cisco provides no support at all.

What is the Cisco Last Date of Support (LDoS)?

The Last Date of Support is the final date Cisco provides any support for a product, including Cisco TAC and hardware replacement. After LDoS the product is fully unsupported and should be replaced.

How long after End-of-Sale is a Cisco product supported?

It varies by product and is defined in the bulletin, but for hardware the Last Date of Support is commonly about five years after End-of-Sale. Always confirm the exact date on the product's own Cisco bulletin or our Cisco EoL lookup.

Where can I check a Cisco product's end-of-life dates?

Use the Uniqcli Cisco EoL lookup to find the End-of-Sale, Last Date of Support, and recommended replacement for any product, then request a TAA-compliant refresh quote.

Cisco End-of-Sale & End-of-Life (EoS/EoL) Policy, Explained

Last updated: June 17, 2026

A plain-English summary of how Cisco retires products through its End-of-Sale (EoS) and End-of-Life (EoL) process, what each milestone date means, and what it means for your refresh planning. This is Uniqcli's reference summary; Cisco's official End-of-Sale/End-of-Life policy and the individual product bulletins are authoritative.

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1. How Cisco retires a product

When Cisco discontinues a hardware or software product it follows a structured, published lifecycle rather than stopping support abruptly. Cisco issues an End-of-Life announcement and then steps the product through a series of milestone dates that give customers a predictable window to plan, procure replacements, and migrate. Every affected product gets its own End-of-Sale/End-of-Life bulletin listing these dates.

This page explains the standard milestones in plain language so you can read any Cisco bulletin, or our Cisco EoL lookup, and know exactly where a product sits in its lifecycle.

2. The lifecycle milestone dates

Each Cisco End-of-Life bulletin publishes a consistent set of milestones:

End-of-Life (EoL) Announcement — the day Cisco publicly announces the product is being discontinued and publishes the bulletin with the dates below.
End-of-Sale (EoS) — the last day you can order the product from Cisco through normal channels. After this date it is no longer orderable as new.
End of Software Maintenance Releases — the last date Cisco delivers routine software maintenance and bug-fix releases.
End of Vulnerability / Security Support — the last date Cisco provides security fixes for newly discovered vulnerabilities. Running past this date is the main security risk of aged gear.
End of Routine Failure Analysis — the last date Cisco performs routine failure analysis on the product.
End of New Service Attachment — the last date you can attach a new SmartNet/Solution Support contract to a unit that is not already covered.
End of Service Contract Renewal — the last date you can renew an existing support contract.
Last Date of Support (LDoS) — the final date Cisco provides any support, including Cisco TAC and hardware replacement. After LDoS the product is fully unsupported.

3. Typical timeline

The milestones follow a fairly consistent cadence, though the exact intervals vary by product and are always defined in the specific bulletin:

End-of-Sale typically takes effect about 6 months after the End-of-Life announcement.
Software maintenance and security support generally continue for a period after End-of-Sale.
For hardware, the Last Date of Support is commonly about 5 years after End-of-Sale.
Software-only products and subscriptions can follow a different, often shorter, schedule.

Always read the specific bulletin: the dates on the product's own notice are what govern, not these typical intervals.

4. What it means for buyers

Where a product sits in this timeline drives the decision:

Before End-of-Sale: you can still buy it new, but a successor usually already exists, so weigh buying the current generation instead.
After End-of-Sale, before LDoS: still supportable with an active contract, but no longer orderable as new. Plan the refresh and confirm coverage.
Past Last Date of Support: no Cisco TAC, no hardware replacement, and no security fixes. This is a security and compliance liability and should be replaced.

Use our Cisco EoL lookup to check any product's dates and see the Cisco-recommended replacement.

5. How Uniqcli helps

As an authorized Cisco partner, Uniqcli helps you act on the policy: we identify end-of-life and end-of-support gear in your estate, map each item to its current Cisco replacement, and return a TAA-compliant, GPC-payable refresh quote, then plan a low-risk cutover. We can also renew SmartNet or Solution Support where staying on the current platform makes sense. Build a refresh quote or renew SmartNet.

Trademarks & legal notice

Cisco, the Cisco logo, Cisco Systems, Catalyst, Nexus, Meraki, Cisco Meraki, Webex, IOS, IOS XE, and NX-OS are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and certain other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Uniqcli LLC is an independent authorized Cisco partner and reseller; it is not Cisco Systems, Inc. Use of these marks is for identification and reference only and does not imply endorsement by or affiliation with Cisco beyond Uniqcli's partner authorization.

Product names, images, specifications, datasheets, and lifecycle dates shown on this site are provided for identification and reference and are sourced from manufacturer materials; the manufacturer's official information and policies govern. End-of-Sale and End-of-Life dates are summarized from Cisco's published End-of-Life bulletins for general reference only and may change without notice. Cisco's official bulletins and End-of-Sale/End-of-Life policy are authoritative; verify all dates against Cisco's official sources and your support contract before acting.