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Software and platforms

Joomla

Summary

Joomla is a free, open-source content management system written in PHP. It began on August 17, 2005, when the core developers of the Mambo CMS broke with Miro, a company that partly owned Mambo's copyrights and trademarks, and Joomla 1.0 followed in September 2005. As of October 22, 2026, W3Techs found it on 1.1% of all websites. The current version is Joomla 6.2, released on October 13, 2026.

Web Building Encyclopedia · Software and platforms · Last reviewed October 22, 2026 · 7 min read

What Joomla is

Joomla is free, open-source software for publishing websites. It is a content management system (CMS): a program that keeps a site’s articles, menus and images in a database and lets people manage them from a web browser. The project adds that Joomla is built on a web application framework that can also be used on its own, without the CMS.1

The project writes its name with a closing exclamation mark; this entry leaves it out for readability.1

Joomla is written in PHP and was built around the MySQL database.1 Joomla 6 supports MySQL 8.0.13 or later, MariaDB and PostgreSQL, and runs on the Apache, Nginx and Microsoft IIS web servers.2

The code is licensed under the GNU General Public License, version 2 or later (GPLv2 or later).3 Open Source Matters, Inc., a nonprofit, supports the project and owns the Joomla name and logo as trademarks in the United States and other countries.4

The name is a phonetic spelling of the Swahili word jumla, which the project translates as “all together” or “as a whole.”5

As of October 22, 2026, the web survey company W3Techs detected Joomla on 1.1% of all websites and on 1.6% of the websites whose CMS it could identify.6 The official Joomla Extensions Directory, the catalog of add-ons that give Joomla extra features, listed 5,003 extensions on the same date.7

How a Joomla site is put together

Joomla divides add-on code into several types of extension, and the official documentation defines each one.8

  • Components are small applications that fill the main body of a page, such as articles or contacts. A menu item tells Joomla which component to load.8
  • Modules are lighter boxes placed around the main content, such as a login box, and can be shown only on chosen menu items.8
  • Plugins respond to events inside Joomla, for example by screening submitted articles for unwanted words.8
  • Templates set the visual design and the positions where the component and modules appear.8
  • Language packs replace the built-in text of the site and the admin area with a translation.8

Packages bundle several of these together so that one installation can add, for instance, a template and a plugin.8 Menus therefore do more in Joomla than list links: a menu item chooses which component loads and which modules appear around it.8

The split from Mambo

Joomla began in 2005 as a fork of Mambo, an open-source CMS.9 A fork is a new project that starts from a copy of another project’s code. At the time, the developers avoided the word and described their work as the same project and the same team under a new name.10

Mambo’s copyrights and trademarks were partly owned by Miro International, an Australian company whose chief executive, Peter Lamont, had founded Mambo, eWEEK reported in August 2005. Earlier that month Miro had announced a Mambo Foundation to manage the project’s development.10

On August 17, 2005, Mambo’s core developers published an open letter saying they could not work with the new foundation. They wrote that Lamont had incorporated it and appointed its board without consulting the two developer representatives on Mambo’s steering committee, Andrew Eddie and Brian Teeman.11

The developers argued that the foundation was “designed to grant that control to Miro,” and said Miro had backed out of a promise to transfer the Mambo copyright to it. About 20 core developers signed the letter.11

They said they would release the GPL-licensed code under a new name, avoiding Miro’s trademarks, and aim for a high level of backward compatibility with the Mambo 4.5.x series.10 They set up a website called OpenSourceMatters to explain their position.10

Joomla dates its fork to the day of the letter, August 17, 2005.129 The new name was announced on September 1, 2005.13

Joomla 1.0 followed in mid-September as an improved version of Mambo 4.5.3.12 The project gives the date as September 16, 2005 in one post and as September 15 to 17 depending on time zone in another, with a release stamp of 00:30 UTC on September 17.1213

Versions 1.5 to 3

An alpha of Joomla 1.1 was announced on October 27, 2005. It grew into a full rewrite of the code and was released as Joomla 1.5 on January 22, 2008.12 Joomla 1.5 was the first version with long-term support (LTS), meaning fixes over an extended period.14

Shared infrastructure grew alongside the code. The Joomla Extensions Directory opened on March 5, 2006, and the first JoomlaDay event took place in the Netherlands on April 22, 2006.14 By October 2008, Joomla 1.5 had gone through seven versions and nearly 7 million downloads, and support for Joomla 1.0 was set to end on July 22, 2009.12

Joomla 1.6, released on January 10, 2011, added access control lists that let administrators set what each group of users may do, categories nested to any depth in place of the old sections and categories, multilingual sites and one-click extension updates, Computerworld reported.15

Joomla 2.5, released on January 24, 2012, was another LTS version. It added support for Microsoft SQL Server, the first database besides MySQL.14

Joomla 3.0 followed on September 27, 2012.14 The project says version 3 made Joomla responsive by default, meaning pages adjust to phone and desktop screens, and calls that an industry first among CMSs.9

Joomla 3.9, released on October 30, 2018, added a Privacy Tool Suite to help site owners handle requests under privacy laws such as the GDPR.14

The version 3 line lasted almost eleven years. Joomla 3.10 shipped alongside Joomla 4.0 as a bridge version with two years of support, which ended on August 17, 2023.1617

It is still common. As of October 22, 2026, W3Techs found 51.4% of the Joomla sites it detected running version 3, compared with 20.5% on version 5 and 10.0% on version 6.18

Joomla 4, 5 and 6

Joomla 4.0 was released on August 17, 2021, Joomla’s 16th birthday.1619 The project said it aimed for the AA level of WCAG 2.1, the main web accessibility standard. It also brought a redesigned admin area, a better media manager, email templates and workflows for routing tasks to the right people. The announcement also listed search engine features built into the page structure and faster performance.16

On February 16, 2023, Joomla 4.2.8 fixed CVE-2023-23752, an improper access check that allowed unauthorized access to web service endpoints. It affected versions 4.0.0 to 4.2.7, and Joomla rated it high severity.20

Joomla 5 followed on October 17, 2023, and Joomla 6 on October 14, 2025.21 Joomla 5.4, released at the same time, served as a bridge for moving Joomla 5 sites to version 6.22

Joomla 5.4 and 6.0 added automatic core updates. They build on the secure update system, based on The Update Framework (TUF), that arrived in Joomla 5.1.22 Joomla 6.0 also added a child template for the default Cassiopeia site template and version history for custom field data.22

The current release, Joomla 6.2 “Mwezi,” came out on October 13, 2026. It added a Media Manager picker to the TinyMCE editor, sign-in through OAuth for outgoing email with services such as Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, and a way for extension developers to flag updates as security releases so they stand out on the dashboard.23 Smaller changes let category lists and blogs show subcategory images and let the Login module hide its forgotten password and username links without custom template code.23

Joomla 5.4.10, released the same day, was the last bug fix release for Joomla 5.24 The 5.x series now gets security fixes only, until October 12, 2027. Joomla 6 gets bug fixes until October 17, 2028 and security fixes until October 16, 2029.21

Because Joomla runs on PHP, the PHP2Shell flaws disclosed on October 21, 2026 reached Joomla sites through the server rather than through Joomla’s own code. Wiz Research, one of the groups that found them, showed attacks with no login against the latest Joomla, WordPress and Drupal container images.25 The fix is a PHP update to 8.5.12, 8.4.27, 8.3.36 or 8.2.35, or a patched package from the server’s Linux vendor.26

Community and organization

Joomla grew through local groups and events. Official registration of Joomla User Groups began on January 31, 2008, and the first Joomla World Conference was held in San Jose, California, on November 18, 2012.14

On the eighth anniversary of version 1.0, in September 2013, the project counted 44.9 million downloads of all versions, 67 accredited translations and more than 160 registered user groups.13 By August 2020 the Joomla Community Magazine put total downloads above 115 million.14

The project also runs its own publications and services. The Joomla Community Magazine started in July 2010. On January 20, 2015 the project began offering free website hosting for Joomla sites, a service that grew into launch.joomla.org in 2018.14

Joomla is a member of the Open Website Alliance, which brings together the community organizations behind Drupal, Joomla, TYPO3 and WordPress to advocate for open source.27

Timeline

  1. Joomla 6.2 "Mwezi" released; Joomla 5.4.10 ends bug fixes for Joomla 523
  2. Joomla 6.0 and Joomla 5.4 released with automatic core updates22
  3. Joomla 5 released21
  4. Support for Joomla 3 ends17
  5. Joomla 4.2.8 fixes CVE-2023-23752 in web service endpoints20
  6. Joomla 4.0 released on the project's 16th birthday19
  7. Joomla 3.9 adds a Privacy Tool Suite14
  8. Joomla 3.0 released14
  9. Joomla 2.5 released with support for more databases14
  10. Joomla 1.6 adds access control and multilingual sites15
  11. Joomla 1.5 released after a full rewrite12
  12. Joomla Extensions Directory opens14
  13. Joomla 1.0 released, based on Mambo 4.5.312
  14. The Joomla name is announced13
  15. Mambo core developers break with the Mambo Foundation and fork the code11

What it means for your website

Joomla is free to download, but like any self-hosted CMS it needs hosting and regular updates. These points matter most for owners.

  • Check your version. Joomla 3 has had no official support since August 17, 2023.17 Joomla 5 now gets security fixes only, until October 12, 2027, while Joomla 6 is supported until October 16, 2029.21
  • Treat a Joomla 3 site as a migration project. There is no single step from version 3 to 6; the Joomla 6.0 announcement sends even Joomla 4 sites to a separate guide for upgrading to Joomla 5 first.22 Our website migration entry and our guide to whether to update, redesign or rebuild help you scope it.
  • Turn on automatic core updates. They have been available since Joomla 5.4 and 6.0.22 From Joomla 6.2, extension updates marked as security releases are highlighted under System, Update, Extensions.23
  • Keep PHP current. Joomla 6 needs PHP 8.3 or later, and the project recommends PHP 8.4.2 Ask your web host to confirm that PHP was updated to one of the PHP2Shell fixes released on October 21, 2026.26
  • Compare before you choose. In October 2026 W3Techs found Joomla on 1.1% of websites and WordPress on 39.6%.6 If you are picking a platform for a new site, our CMS glossary entry explains the options.

See also

References

  1. What is Joomla. Joomla project. accessed October 22, 2026.
  2. Technical requirements. Joomla Manual. accessed October 22, 2026.
  3. Joomla License FAQs. Joomla project. accessed October 22, 2026.
  4. Welcome to Open Source Matters. Open Source Matters, Inc.. accessed October 22, 2026.
  5. What does Joomla mean?. Joomla project. accessed October 22, 2026.
  6. Usage statistics of content management systems. W3Techs. 2026-10-22. accessed October 22, 2026.
  7. Joomla Extensions Directory. Joomla project. accessed October 22, 2026.
  8. Extension types (general definitions). Joomla Documentation. accessed October 22, 2026.
  9. Joomla's story. Joomla project (20 Years of Joomla timeline). accessed October 22, 2026.
  10. Mambo executives, developers fight for project control. Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, eWEEK. 2005-08-19. accessed October 22, 2026.
  11. Mambo Open Source Development Team letter to the community. Mambo Development Team, republished by Emir Sakic. 2005-08-17. accessed October 22, 2026.
  12. An old friend comes of age. Joomla Community Blog. 2008-10-13. accessed October 22, 2026.
  13. Today we celebrate the 8th anniversary of the 1st release of the Joomla CMS. Joomla Leadership Blog. 2013-09-16. accessed October 22, 2026.
  14. 15 milestones in 15 years. Andrea Gentil, Joomla Community Magazine. 2020-08-20. accessed October 22, 2026.
  15. Joomla reorganized, modernized. Joab Jackson, IDG News Service, Computerworld. 2011-01-10. accessed October 22, 2026.
  16. Birthday Present Announcement: Joomla 4 Stable 17th August. Joomla project. 2021-07-29. accessed October 22, 2026.
  17. Joomla 3.10: End of Support Handling. Joomla Community Magazine. accessed October 22, 2026.
  18. Usage statistics and market share of Joomla. W3Techs. 2026-10-22. accessed October 22, 2026.
  19. Joomla 4.0 version history. Joomla Documentation. accessed October 22, 2026.
  20. [20230201] Core: Improper access check in webservice endpoints. Joomla Security Centre. 2023-02-16. accessed October 22, 2026.
  21. Joomla Project Roadmap. Joomla Developer Network. accessed October 22, 2026.
  22. Joomla 6.0 and Joomla 5.4 are here. Joomla project. 2025-10-14. accessed October 22, 2026.
  23. Joomla 6.2 is here. Tom van der Laan, Joomla project. 2026-10-13. accessed October 22, 2026.
  24. Joomla 5.4.10 Bugfix release. Joomla project. 2026-10-13. accessed October 22, 2026.
  25. PHP2Shell. Wiz Research (Sagi Tzadik, Shir Tamari, Nir Ohfeld and Tomer Schwartz). 2026-10-21. accessed October 22, 2026.
  26. Security advisory: Critical remote code execution vulnerabilities, update now. The PHP Group. 2026-10-21. accessed October 22, 2026.
  27. WordPress Takes Its Turn Leading the Open Website Alliance. WordPress.org News. 2026-09-21. accessed October 22, 2026.

Web Building Encyclopedia. First published October 22, 2026. Last reviewed October 22, 2026. Every fact on this page is linked to a source we opened. Spotted an error? Write to [email protected].