I asked Umbraco support similar questions today:

Hello, I'm a bit at a crossroads here. I'd like to use Umbraco 8 instead of Umbraco 7 for my next project, though I have clients that require ownership of their infrastructure for legal reasons. This means I cannot use Umbraco Cloud.

At the same time I need a way to transfer content like I used to do with Courier and Umbraco 7. After a lot of digging (since it's not so obvious on the purchase page that Courier only applies to Umbraco 7), it looks like my only option would be to user a 3rd party plugin like uSync. I know you have something in the roadmap that allows for on-premise Umbraco 8 content deployment (similar to Courier), but that seems like a long ways away for something stable that I need now.

Question 1: So, for those of us in my situation that cannot use Umbraco Cloud, are the only options right now to A) use Umbraco 8 and uSync or B) stay with Umbraco 7 and Courier?

Question 2: I read somewhere that Umbraco 7 will receive critical patches til 2023. Given Umbraco 8 launched without Courier compatability, is Courier essentially deprecated for Umbraco 8+? If so, will Courier at least receive patches til 2023 too, along with Umbraco 7?

Answer:

First of all, you are correct that Umbraco Courier will not work with Umbraco 8. This means, that if you need a similar functionality on your Umbraco 8 projects, you'll need to use another tool. You mention uSync youself, which is a very good tool, that we like to recommend!

For your questions: 1: Both option A and option B are valid options. If you're accustomed to using Courier, I'd suggest that you stay with Umbraco 7 and Courier. If you're really eager to go Umbraco 8, I'd recommend that you try out uSync, as it essentially does the same as Umbraco Courier.

2: It is correct that we will continue to release critical patches for Umbraco 7 until 2023. I do believe the same goes for Umbraco Courier. No new features will be released though.

I hope that all makes sense, and answers your questions. Please let me know if there anything further I can help you with.