November 2022 closed regular support for Adobe Commerce (Magento) versions 2.4.0 through 2.4.3. If you were still running one of those, 2.4.4 or later became the plan.
What extended support actually means
The platform does not stop working. You can keep running 2.4.0-2.4.3 indefinitely. What changes is what you get from Adobe: critical security patches only — no bug fixes, no feature updates.
The upgrade path
2.4.3 to 2.4.4 is straightforward. No breaking changes for standard extensions, a few hours of work, and immediate benefits: PHP 8.1 support, complete B2B GraphQL coverage, and performance improvements.
Why bother
Support status is the obvious reason, but the practical one is cost. PHP 8.1 performance improvements compound over time, and lower operational cost keeps paying long after the upgrade weekend is forgotten.
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