ARender 2026.0.0 ships : two UIs, one shared backend, a seven-year horizon.
April 17, 2026 · Partner briefing · 7 min read
A major LTS release, built on a refreshed foundation.
v2026 sits on ARender Rendition with Spring Boot 4, JDK 25, and PDFOwl as the new default PDF renderer. CVEs have been patched across backend, frontend, and Docker images. The third-party tooling has been refreshed to LibreOffice 26.2.1.2, ImageMagick 7.1.2-15, and FFmpeg 8.0.1 for broader and more up-to-date format support.
Two product lines now run on one shared backend : ARender Classic, the maintained GWT UI your existing customers already know, and ARender Horizon, a new React-based Web Component for modern integrations. Both UIs share the same backend and evolve in parallel. Horizon is additive, not a Classic replacement.
The biggest under-the-hood shift : PDFOwl replaces JNIPdfEngine.
The end-user UI does not change. The infrastructure underneath does. The most consequential shift is the move from the legacy JNIPdfEngine to PDFOwl as the default PDF renderer. Available since v2023 as opt-in, it is now default in v2026. The benefits go well beyond "fewer crashes" : each rendering runs in its own sub-process, with crash isolation, a watchdog on hung renderings, a per-document memory cap of 1 GB by default, and document-level concurrency safety.
What used to crash the entire Rendition JVM now stays inside a sub-process. The service keeps serving every other document. A stuck native call that used to block a JVM thread indefinitely is now killed automatically by the watchdog after 10 seconds (configurable). One process per document means no risk of native state leaks between documents rendering in parallel. Full property mappings and timing details are in the v2023 to v2026 upgrade guide.
3 things to share with your customers this quarter.
We pulled the highest-value takeaways from the briefing into three points your sales and pre-sales teams can carry directly into customer conversations.
v2026 does not deprecate Classic. Under LTS 2026, Classic is supported through Q1 2030. Customers on v2023 still have Full Support until Q1 2027 and Maintenance until Q1 2028, so they have 2+ years of Full Support remaining and can plan the v2026 upgrade calmly within that window. There is no forced migration path to Horizon : both UIs are fully supported, both are maintained, both evolve in parallel.
Horizon is a Web Component you can embed in any framework : Angular, Vue, vanilla JavaScript, or React. At GA it covers viewing all supported formats (PDF, Office, images, email, CAD, video), full-text search, download, and print, with OAuth2 / JWT bearer-token authentication via Keycloak and FileNet / Alfresco connectors ready to run. Annotations, Document Builder, Compare, and Redact are on the near-term roadmap. Pitch it for view-only or lightweight integrations today ; keep Classic for workflows that require full annotation features.
Crash isolation, watchdog on hung renderings (10-second default), per-document memory cap (1 GB default), and document-level concurrency safety. A malformed PDF that used to crash the JVM and bring the whole service down now stays inside its own sub-process. The service keeps serving every other document. This is the single biggest stability gain in the release, and it ships on by default : no flag to flip.
Breaking changes to plan around.
Every breaking change is fully documented in the upgrade guide. Here is the short version your ops teams will care about.
WAR / EAR packaging removed
If your customer deploys ARender as a WAR or EAR inside Tomcat, WebSphere, WebLogic, JBoss, or Wildfly, that packaging is retired. The Spring Boot JAR replaces it and can run with java -jar, as a systemd service, or in Docker.
Spring Boot 2 to 4 property renames
A lot of renames. Full property mapping tables are in the upgrade guide. Plan a configuration review pass per environment before rollout.
Hazelcast 4 to 5 incompatibility
A rolling upgrade is not possible. A blue-green deployment or a full stop / start is required for clustered environments.
LibreOffice 26 / ImageMagick 7 / FFmpeg 8
Modern format support, usually transparent. Validate less-common formats during the upgrade window.
Legacy image-based redaction removed
The redact.flattenText property and image-based redaction feature are gone. The modern REST redaction API covers the same use cases more flexibly. Customers with highly custom legacy redaction flows should flag the specific pattern to us for a one-to-one replacement plan.
StatsD metrics exporter removed
Only StatsD is removed. Prometheus, Elasticsearch, Datadog, and CloudWatch exporters are still supported. For a customer on StatsD, migration is a property rename plus pointing to a new backend, typically about an hour of work for the ops team.
Docker is the recommended path. It is not the only one.
Docker is recommended for new installations, but it is not a requirement. Customers can run the Spring Boot JAR directly with java -jar on bare Linux or Windows, as a systemd service, or as a Windows service. Install scripts are shipped in the distribution for both.
For complex stacks (WebSphere SSO, WebSphere-specific monitoring agents, custom deployment automation, specific J2EE integrations), we recommend a one-on-one planning session with our Professional Services team lead. Engage by reaching out to your usual Uxopian contact.
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Support runway : where each LTS sits today.
Per the Uxopian Release Lifecycle policy, Full Support includes monthly stability updates, defect fixes, and incremental enhancements. Maintenance covers Critical and High CVE fixes plus production-blocking defects only, no new features.
Questions from the field.
The questions partners have already asked us, with the short answers. Click any question to expand.
If they have a view-only workflow or need to embed the viewer in a modern app (Angular, Vue, or any modern SPA), Horizon is ready today. If they depend on advanced annotations or Document Builder, keep them on Classic and plan the transition as Horizon matures.
Not in v2026 and not in v2028. Classic is fully supported in every LTS. It is maintained, modernized under the hood, and customers have years of support ahead.
Honest answer : it is guided, not "easy". The breaking changes are real and well documented. Most customers complete the migration in a few days of ops work, plus validation. Complex deployments benefit from a one-on-one Professional Services lead session.
The REST redaction API covers all legacy patterns. Flag the specific workflow to us : we may have a direct replacement or a custom pattern recommendation.
Q1 2028. Full Support ends Q1 2027. So 2+ years of Full Support remaining for any customer still on v2023.
Web Component, embed in any framework, REST API plus Swagger, public quickstart at doc.uxopian.com/docs/arender-horizon/quickstart. No contact form needed.
Help shape what ships next.
Your voice and your customers' votes actively shape what we build next. Please share the ARender Product Portal with your clients. Every vote is read and factored into prioritization. Please do not commit to specific dates for Horizon feature parity : the roadmap is iterative and priorities may shift based on customer signal from the portal.
Key resources, everything bookmark-worthy.
The four links your sales, pre-sales, and consulting teams will need most often through the v2026 cycle.
ARender 2026.0.0 release notes
Every change, every fix, every property migration in one place.
doc.uxopian.com/release-note/arender/v2026.0.0v2023 to v2026 upgrade guide
Step-by-step migration with property mapping tables and the "Migrating ARender Web UI" section.
doc.uxopian.com/docs/arender/guides/upgrade/2023-to-2026Release Lifecycle Policy
Full Support windows, Maintenance phase scope, and end-of-life dates for every LTS.
uxopian.com/en/releases-lifecycleARender Product Portal
Vote on what ships next. Submit ideas. Every vote is read and factored into prioritization.
portal.productboard.com/uxopian/2-arenderReady to brief your customers on v2026 ?
The release notes detail every change, every breaking item, and every property migration. For specific deployment questions, your usual Uxopian contact is the fastest path.