Is it risky to upgrade to Ubuntu 26.04 before the point release?

The main risk is that an early release can still have bugs of its own. Reports include hangs and boot failures, so the upgrade could replace one problem with another. If the bug isn’t blocking your work, waiting for the point release is the lower-risk option.

Back up first, and make sure the backup is somewhere you can access if the machine stops booting. Also check that you know how to restore your files or reinstall your current version. A backup makes recovery possible, but it doesn’t make an early upgrade trouble-free.

Double-check the release and upgrade path before starting. A regular system update may install fixes without moving you to a new Ubuntu version, so confirm that the version actually changed before assuming the bug fix is included. If the fix is available as a package update for 24.04, that may be less disruptive.