Embodiments of the invention disclose a method for upgrading software and a terminal. The method comprises the following steps of receiving an upgrading prompt message for target application software, which is pushed by a server; responding to the upgrading prompt message and obtaining the operation frequency for a user to operate the target application software; detecting whether the operation frequency is greater than a preset frequency threshold; if detecting that the operation frequency is greater than the preset frequency threshold, obtaining hardware information of the terminal and software information of the target application software; judging whether to support this upgrading operation according to the hardware information and the software information; and if supporting, upgrading the target application software. Through implementation of the embodiments of the invention, the convenience in a software upgrading process can be improved.