Vorversion

Vorversion is a German term used to describe a version of a product released before the final, publicly available version. It is commonly encountered in software, firmware, and hardware development and is intended to expose early functionality to testers to gather feedback, verify compatibility, and identify issues prior to a full release.

A Vorversion is typically incomplete and may include known bugs, missing features, or performance caveats. The designation signals pre-release status and is often accompanied by release notes that describe limitations and installation requirements. Access to Vorversion builds is frequently restricted to internal teams or invited testers, though some developers offer public preview programs.

In the software release lifecycle, a Vorversion lies after internal development builds and before the final version. It may be followed by more stable prerelease stages such as release candidates, and eventually the final release. The terminology varies, with some organizations using alpha, beta, or pre-release labels instead of Vorversion.

While useful for quality assurance, Vorversion releases are not intended for production use and may carry data risks or compatibility issues. They help developers refine features, assess performance, and gather user feedback before committing to a general release. See also related concepts such as alpha version, beta version, release candidate, final version, and preview.