Python 3.14 is out now, bringing t-strings, deferred annotations, better error messages, and plenty more to explore. As developers start adopting the new version, Python 3.15 begins its alpha phase, and Python 3.9 officially retires. Meanwhile, Django 6.0 enters beta, new PEPs propose lazy imports and changes to the assert syntax, and the PSF makes waves with a notable funding decision.
Here’s what’s been happening in the world of Python!
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Python Releases
Last month’s headline news was the release of Python 3.14—a milestone update that introduces significant enhancements to the language itself and its runtime. Meanwhile, hot on its heels, the core team has begun development of Python 3.15. As Python continues to evolve, we must also bid farewell to an older release. Python 3.9 has reached its end of life, reminding everyone to keep their environments up to date for safety and support.
Python 3.14 Final Released
Python 3.14.0 was released on October 7, 2025, delivering a packed set of improvements and new capabilities. This is a major release that the community has been eagerly awaiting, and it doesn’t disappoint. Some of the most notable features of Python 3.14 include:
- Deferred annotations by default: Following years of work on PEP 563, PEP 649, and PEP 749, Python now evaluates type annotations lazily. Forward references in annotations no longer need a special
__future__import, and a newannotationlibmodule provides tools to introspect annotations as real objects instead of strings. - Template strings (t-strings): PEP 750 introduces t-strings, a new string literal prefix
t""that returns aTemplateobject, capturing both static and interpolated parts of the string. This feature enables custom processing of string templates and safer substitution patterns, offering a more controlled alternative to f-strings. - Modernized REPL and error messages: Building on improvements from Python 3.13, the interactive Python REPL gets real-time syntax highlighting and smarter auto-completion. Syntax and runtime errors are also more informative and user-friendly, helping developers diagnose issues faster.
- Multiple interpreters in the standard library: PEP 734 adds a
concurrent.interpretersmodule, finally exposing Python’s long-existing multiple interpreter support to Python code. This allows spawning isolated interpreters within a single process, unlocking new concurrency models and multi-core usage without separate processes. - Free-threaded Python: An officially supported build variant allows running Python without the Global Interpreter Lock (GIL), paving the way for true multi-core parallelism.
In addition to these headline features, Python 3.14 comes with numerous smaller enhancements and optimizations. There’s a new compression.zstd module for Zstandard compression (PEP 784) and support for UUID versions 6-8 with faster generation for existing versions. Additionally, there are optional brackets in except statements (PEP 758) and built-in HMAC implementations from the HACL* project for improved security.
The standard library tools like unittest, argparse, json, and calendar now produce colored output on the terminal, and the new zero-overhead debugger interface (PEP 768) lays the groundwork for more powerful debugging tools. Official installers for Python 3.14 even include an experimental JIT compiler enabled by default, hinting at performance boosts on the horizon.
With so much new in Python 3.14, now is a great time to experiment with it. Many of these features, like t-strings and annotation changes, are fully available by default, while others, such as the no-GIL build or JIT, may require special opt-in. You can read more in the official What’s new in Python 3.14 document for a comprehensive overview.
As always, be sure to check that your critical third-party libraries support Python 3.14 before upgrading in production, but initial support is strong with many popular projects already shipping wheels for 3.14. Congratulations to the core developers and community on this significant release!
Python 3.15 Alpha 1 Released
Even as Python 3.14 takes center stage, the core development team has promptly turned the page to Python 3.15. In mid-October, Python 3.15.0a1 was released as the first alpha of the next version. This overlap is part of Python’s now-annual cadence—while one version is finalized, planning and development for the next are already in motion.
Python 3.15 is scheduled for final release in October 2026. The alpha period, which will run through April 2026, is when new features land. As of alpha 1, only a few initial enhancements are present, since many features are still under development.
Notably, Python 3.15.0a1 includes PEP 686, which will make UTF-8 the default character encoding for open files, eliminating locale-dependent default encodings. It also has a new dedicated profiling API (PEP 799) to better support performance, and a C API for more efficient bytes object creation (PEP 782). Naturally, improvements to error messages continue as well.
Alpha releases are intended for testing only. You wouldn’t use them in production, but they’re invaluable for library maintainers and curious users to try out emerging changes. If you maintain a distribution package, now is a good time to start ensuring compatibility with Python 3.15. And if you’re just interested in what’s coming, you can install a pre-release version alongside your stable Python.
The Python 3.15 Release Schedule lays out the roadmap with monthly alpha releases through early 2026, a feature freeze by May (beta phase), and a final 3.15.0 release. This overlapping development cycle means we get to enjoy new Python features every year without missing a beat.
One side benefit of testing alpha releases is that you can provide feedback or catch regressions early. So, if you have time, give 3.15.0a1 a spin in a test environment. It’s an exciting glimpse into Python’s future, even if most of the big changes are yet to come in subsequent alphas.
Python 3.9 Reaches End of Life
Exactly five years after its initial release, Python 3.9 has officially reached its end of life (EOL) as of October 2025. This means that Python 3.9 will no longer receive security fixes or bug patches going forward. If you’re still using Python 3.9 in any projects, then now is the time to plan an upgrade to a later version—Python 3.10 or later—because continuing to run an EOL Python version poses security risks.
The end of life comes as no surprise. PEP 596 set Python 3.9’s support timeline to expire in October 2025. The core developers prepared one final security release, Python 3.9.25, which was published on Halloween (October 31, 2025) as a last hurrah for the 3.9 series. In a lighthearted announcement, release manager Łukasz Langa quipped that:
Python 3.9 is now officially dead… since it’s Halloween 🎃 (Source)
With that release, the 3.9 branch in CPython’s GitHub repository is now closed, and no further updates will be made.
Why does this matter? Running an unsupported Python means that any new vulnerabilities discovered in the interpreter or the standard library won’t be patched for that version. In today’s security climate, that’s a serious concern.
