---
title: Choosing a Rancher Version
---
This section describes how to choose a Rancher version.
For a high-availability installation of Rancher, which is recommended for production, the Rancher server is installed using a **Helm chart** on a Kubernetes cluster. Refer to the [Helm version requirements](./helm-version-requirements.md) to choose a version of Helm to install Rancher.
For Docker installations of Rancher, which is used for development and testing, you will install Rancher as a **Docker image.**
When installing, upgrading, or rolling back Rancher Server when it is [installed on a Kubernetes cluster](../../../pages-for-subheaders/install-upgrade-on-a-kubernetes-cluster.md), Rancher server is installed using a Helm chart on a Kubernetes cluster. Therefore, as you prepare to install or upgrade a high availability Rancher configuration, you must add a Helm chart repository that contains the charts for installing Rancher.
Refer to the [Helm version requirements](./helm-version-requirements.md) to choose a version of Helm to install Rancher.
### Helm Chart Repositories
Rancher provides several different Helm chart repositories to choose from. We align our latest and stable Helm chart repositories with the Docker tags that are used for a Docker installation. Therefore, the `rancher-latest` repository will contain charts for all the Rancher versions that have been tagged as `rancher/rancher:latest`. When a Rancher version has been promoted to the `rancher/rancher:stable`, it will get added to the `rancher-stable` repository.
| Type | Command to Add the Repo | Description of the Repo |
| -------------- | ------------ | ----------------- |
| rancher-latest | `helm repo add rancher-latest https://releases.rancher.com/server-charts/latest` | Adds a repository of Helm charts for the latest versions of Rancher. We recommend using this repo for testing out new Rancher builds. |
| rancher-stable | `helm repo add rancher-stable https://releases.rancher.com/server-charts/stable` | Adds a repository of Helm charts for older, stable versions of Rancher. We recommend using this repo for production environments. |
| rancher-alpha | `helm repo add rancher-alpha https://releases.rancher.com/server-charts/alpha` | Adds a repository of Helm charts for alpha versions of Rancher for previewing upcoming releases. These releases are discouraged in production environments. Upgrades _to_ or _from_ charts in the rancher-alpha repository to any other chart, regardless or repository, aren't supported. |
Instructions on when to select these repos are available below in [Switching to a Different Helm Chart Repository](#switching-to-a-different-helm-chart-repository).
> **Note:** The introduction of the `rancher-latest` and `rancher-stable` Helm Chart repositories was introduced after Rancher v2.1.0, so the `rancher-stable` repository contains some Rancher versions that were never marked as `rancher/rancher:stable`. The versions of Rancher that were tagged as `rancher/rancher:stable` before v2.1.0 are v2.0.4, v2.0.6, v2.0.8. Post v2.1.0, all charts in the `rancher-stable` repository will correspond with any Rancher version tagged as `stable`.
### Helm Chart Versions
Rancher Helm chart versions match the Rancher version (i.e `appVersion`). Once you've added the repo you can search it to show available versions with the following command:
`helm search repo --versions`
If you have several repos you can specify the repo name, ie. `helm search repo rancher-stable/rancher --versions`
For more information, see https://helm.sh/docs/helm/helm_search_repo/
To fetch a specific version of your chosen repo, define the `--version` parameter like in the following example:
`helm fetch rancher-stable/rancher --version=2.4.8`
For the Rancher v2.1.x versions, there were some Helm charts where the version was a build number, i.e. `yyyy.mm.`. These charts have been replaced with the equivalent Rancher version and are no longer available.
### Switching to a Different Helm Chart Repository
After installing Rancher, if you want to change which Helm chart repository to install Rancher from, you will need to follow these steps.
> **Note:** Because the rancher-alpha repository contains only alpha charts, switching between the rancher-alpha repository and the rancher-stable or rancher-latest repository for upgrades is not supported.
- Latest: Recommended for trying out the newest features
```
helm repo add rancher-latest https://releases.rancher.com/server-charts/latest
```
- Stable: Recommended for production environments
```
helm repo add rancher-stable https://releases.rancher.com/server-charts/stable
```
- Alpha: Experimental preview of upcoming releases.
```
helm repo add rancher-stable https://releases.rancher.com/server-charts/stable
```
Note: Upgrades are not supported to, from, or between Alphas.
1. List the current Helm chart repositories.
```plain
helm repo list
NAME URL
stable https://charts.helm.sh/stable
rancher- https://releases.rancher.com/server-charts/
```
2. Remove the existing Helm Chart repository that contains your charts to install Rancher, which will either be `rancher-stable` or `rancher-latest` depending on what you had initially added.
```plain
helm repo remove rancher-
```
3. Add the Helm chart repository that you want to start installing Rancher from.
```plain
helm repo add rancher- https://releases.rancher.com/server-charts/
```
4. Continue to follow the steps to [upgrade Rancher](../../../pages-for-subheaders/upgrades.md) from the new Helm chart repository.
When performing [Docker installs](../../../pages-for-subheaders/rancher-on-a-single-node-with-docker.md), upgrades, or rollbacks, you can use _tags_ to install a specific version of Rancher.
### Server Tags
Rancher Server is distributed as a Docker image, which have tags attached to them. You can specify this tag when entering the command to deploy Rancher. Remember that if you use a tag without an explicit version (like `latest` or `stable`), you must explicitly pull a new version of that image tag. Otherwise, any image cached on the host will be used.
| Tag | Description |
| -------------------------- | ------ |
| `rancher/rancher:latest` | Our latest development release. These builds are validated through our CI automation framework. These releases are not recommended for production environments. |
| `rancher/rancher:stable` | Our newest stable release. This tag is recommended for production. |
| `rancher/rancher:` | You can install specific versions of Rancher by using the tag from a previous release. See what's available at DockerHub. |
> **Notes:**
>
> - The `master` tag or any tag with `-rc` or another suffix is meant for the Rancher testing team to validate. You should not use these tags, as these builds are not officially supported.
> - Want to install an alpha review for preview? Install using one of the alpha tags listed on our [announcements page](https://forums.rancher.com/c/announcements) (e.g., `v2.2.0-alpha1`). Caveat: Alpha releases cannot be upgraded to or from any other release.