Upgrade a standalone server (Docker)

This example shows how to upgrade a Neo4j standalone server running on Docker to any 2025-2026 version.

If you are moving from 5.26 LTS to any 2025-2026 version, it is recommended to read the following pages before continuing:

For critical systems, it is recommended to:

Backup your server(s), including databases, configurations, licenses, encryption keys, and custom plugins to avoid losing data in case of failure. For details, see the Operations Manual Backup and Restore or Docker → Dump and load a Neo4j database (offline) .
Perform the upgrade in a test environment.

Prerequisites

The following steps assume that your old Neo4j Enterprise Edition (5.26 LTS or any 2025-2026 version) is running in a Docker container named neo4j-dbms, with the /data directory in the container mapped to the /path/to/data on the host machine as in the following example:

docker run -d \
    --name=neo4j-dbms \
    --publish=7474:7474 --publish=7687:7687 \
    --volume=/path/to/data:/data \
    --env=NEO4J_ACCEPT_LICENSE_AGREEMENT=yes \ (1)
    neo4j:<your-old-version>.enterprise \(2)

1	Only for Enterprise Edition.
2	Replace `<your-old-version>` with the version of Neo4j you are currently running, for example `2025.01.0`.

If you want to monitor the logs, you should also map the container’s /logs directory to a /path/to/logs directory on the host machine.

Upgrade steps

Stop the container neo4j-dbms by running:
```
docker stop neo4j-dbms
```
Remove the neo4j-dbms container:
```
docker rm neo4j-dbms
```

Start a new container, named neo4j-2026, with the /data directory in the container mapped to the same /path/to/data on the host machine:

docker run -d \
    --name=neo4j-2026 \
    --publish=7474:7474 --publish=7687:7687 \
    --volume=/path/to/data:/data \
    --env=NEO4J_ACCEPT_LICENSE_AGREEMENT=yes \
    neo4j:enterprise

The upgrade process takes place during startup.

Starting with 2026.01, the Neo4j image is available with either debian:trixie-slim, debian:bullseye-slim, redhat/ubi10-minimal:latest, or redhat/ubi9-minimal:latest as the base image. From 2026.01, the default base image is debian:trixie-slim (updated from debian:bullseye-slim). The Red Hat UBI10 variant images are only available from 2026.01.0 and onwards. The Debian 13 variant images are only available from 2026.01.0 and onwards.

Monitor the logs

The neo4j.log file contains information on how many steps the upgrade will involve and how far it has progressed.