Every Plesk version comes in a variety of tiers that become available over time, one after another. Each tier comes with its own advantages and peculiarities, detailed below. Read the descriptions to understand which tier works best for you.

• Testing release. Before the official release of the upcoming Plesk version, public previews of this version start becoming available. The previews are usually released on a monthly basis and include the new features developed up to the moment of the latest preview release.

  Choose this tier if you want to test the new features of the upcoming Plesk release. Be prepared to encounter bugs. Some features may be incomplete, missing, or they may not operate properly. We do not recommend using this tier in production.

• Early adopter release. The RTM (Release to manufacturing) date for the latest Plesk release coincides with the early adopter release becoming public. This tier is fully functional, contains all features included in the latest Plesk release, and has been extensively tested and certified by the Plesk QA team. However, hiccups are possible.

  Choose this tier if you are willing to sacrifice some stability to get the newest Plesk features and be among the first to offer these features to your customers. We do not recommend upgrading production servers to this tier without testing the upgrade in staging first.

• General release (recommended). The availability of this tier is linked to the GA (General Availability) date for the latest Plesk release. This tier is fully functional, contains all features included in the latest Plesk release, and comes with a number of updates released after RTM that include bugfixes, as well as stability improvements and security patches.

  Choose this tier if you favor a balanced approach. You will get the newest features sooner than the late adopters, and will enjoy greater stability than the early adopters.

• Late adopter release. By the time this tier becomes available, the latest Plesk version has been out long enough to have most of its nagging issues discovered and fixed. You can be certain that the Plesk version you are about to install has already been used in production environments for some time, and there are no major issues that could compromise the stability of your Plesk servers.

  Choose this tier if you prefer stability over new features, and you are willing to delay going to market with the latest Plesk features and improvements to get a rock-solid stable performance.