One platform has a hard end-of-life date. One had a sunset announced and withdrawn within the year. One has been "legacy" by its own vendor's word since 2008 and still sells add-ons. A glossary, and the one question that cuts through all of it.
Vendors have a vocabulary for products they are no longer excited about, and every word in it is chosen to sound more decided than it is. Here is what each one actually commits them to, with examples from this industry in the last two years. The vendors aren't named because the pattern matters more than the names, and because the names change.
The only phrase with a date attached. End of life means support stops, patches stop, and after the date you are running unsupported software at your own risk. When it is real, it is in writing with a day and a year. One platform's government edition has exactly that: support ended December 31, 2025, and end of life is December 31, 2026, stated in a filing with a state attorney general. That is a deadline. Plan to it.
Softer. A sunset is an intention, usually announced with a long runway and often without a date. It can be extended, and it can be withdrawn. One vendor announced a sunset for the agency edition of the very platform above, then withdrew it the same year and kept hiring engineers for it. Customers who had started planning were left holding a decision the vendor had un-made. A sunset with no date is a mood, not a commitment, and it can change with the next owner.
Borrowed from software engineering, where it means "still works, don't build on it." In a vendor announcement it usually means the product is being retired in favor of another one the vendor would rather sell you, and every customer will be moved. One platform acquired in December 2025 was deprecated by its new owner within a month, with all customers to be converted to the owner's product at no charge and no date given. Deprecated is a sunset with a destination attached. See our post on forced conversions before you accept the destination.
The vaguest word of all, and the one that lasts longest. Legacy means the vendor is building something else now. It does not mean support ends, or that the product stops selling. One platform was described as legacy by its own vendor in 2008. In 2024 and 2025 it still received new integrations and a payments add-on, while the vendor's investment went to a cloud platform launched in 2024. Legacy can go on for decades. The risk isn't a date; it's that the people who know the product retire before it does.
Some of the most important signals never get a label. A user conference that ran every year for four decades and then didn't. A community forum that goes quiet. Headcount estimates that drop by a fifth. A roadmap page where your product's name is missing. None of these commit the vendor to anything, which is exactly why they are worth more than the announcements.
What is in writing, with a date?
Ask it about support, about the product, and about your contract. If the answer is a date, plan to it. If the answer is a word from the list above, plan to the possibility, and start pricing the alternative while it's still your choice. Our migration guides at resolvah.com/migrate note, for each platform, which of these words applies and what is actually in writing.
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