Being a free and open-source project, Blender is not bound by the need to release annual updates to satisfy the expectations of subscribers or attract more sales. Still, to ensure the development doesn’t stretch indefinitely and to provide users with a predictable release schedule, Blender Foundation sticks to an internal release cycle: a new release every 4 months. Starting from November 2023, the major version has been Blender 4, with Blender 4.5 expected around July 15th, 2025. After that, the main focus of development will be moved to the long-awaited Blender 5.
Release Timeline
While Blender Foundation employs dedicated programmers, many volunteers contribute code to Blender releases as well. The development process is continuous, meaning that new features are never planned for specific releases; they are done when they are done. To keep track of it all, the main branch is open for submissions on a schedule, divided between the planned releases.
First, the version enters alpha; here, new features and changes are proposed, developed, and added. This is the longest period, as often adding crucial changes breaks existing functionality. After 4 months, the version enters beta: the developers focus only on fixing bugs to ensure the stability of the release. If a new feature fails to be added to the main branch during alpha, it is moved to the next version that has its alpha stage active. After a month of bug-fixing, the version goes to the release candidate stage, where the builds and documentation are prepared. On release, everything goes live and becomes available on the main Blender website.
The release timeline is regularly updated and has plans for versions more than a year ahead. As of June 2025, the milestones are scheduled until Blender 5.3, which is expected to be released in November 2026.
When Will Blender 5 Come Out?
Development of Blender 5 can be followed on the official git page: https://git.blender.org/blender/blender/milestone/20. This is the development workspace, where programmers share and track tasks to be included in the main release. The release plan can be found at the top of the page: Alpha will last until October 1st, Beta will end on November 5th, and the Blender 5 release date is set for November 11th, 2025.
Blender 5 Features
At the time of writing this article, Blender 5 just entered its alpha stage so the main new features have yet to be announced. However, it doesn’t mean we know nothing about what to expect. When this version entered alpha, the Blender 5 Release Notes page was created. As changes and new features are merged into the main branch, they are added to the database.
A big update will be the change to the blendfile format (.blend). Files created in Blender 5 can only be opened in Blender 4.5 or later versions. This was necessary to increase Blender’s storage capacity: now, it is possible to work with meshes with hundreds of millions of vertices, making it a viable tool for use by big teams in professional projects. In the same vein, the length of data-block names was increased from 63 to 255 bytes so Blender could fit into certain high-level workflows without losing data.
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