class=header-content><h1>Istio Roadmap for 2025-2026</h1><p>Looking ahead to what's next for Istio.</p></div><p class=post-author>Jul 25, 2025 <span>| </span>By Mitch Connors, for the Istio TOC</p><div><p>Over the next 12 months, we will focus on improving parity between sidecar mode and ambient mode, providing a supported path for sidecar users to migrate to the ambient data plane when they are ready. We will also revamp our contributor experience, simplifying the process for proposing and implementing new