End of Life: Joomla 3.x

On 17 August 2023 Joomla 3 officially reached its end of life. Since then there have been no security updates, bug fixes or new features. A paid programme for extended security updates (ELTS) ran until 17 February 2025 – since then Joomla 3 receives no security updates at all, not even for money (elts.joomla.org).

Series "Joomla end of life" · part 6 of 9 · All Joomla versions at a glance

What that means today (as of October 2026)

• Every new hole stays open – in Joomla itself and in the extensions that are no longer maintained for Joomla 3.
• The host sets the pace: Joomla 3.10 is designed for PHP up to 8.0, and PHP 8.0 and 8.1 no longer receive updates. Many hosts therefore charge extra (what that costs) or switch over – and then the website often shows an error 500.
• You are not alone: Joomla 3 still runs on more than half of all Joomla websites (53.4 % in August 2026 according to W3Techs). That does not make the risk smaller – known holes are searched for on purpose.

Why the target is Joomla 6 – not Joomla 4

When this post appeared in 2023, Joomla 4 was the next step. Today Joomla 4 itself has run out: it has had no security updates since October 2025. The target is therefore Joomla 6, the current version. It needs at least PHP 8.3, 8.4 is recommended (Joomla manual) – and so fits every current hosting package.

What matters in the migration

• Extensions: many from the Joomla 3 era no longer exist. We look for successors, use Joomla's own features or take over the content – for example K2 items as Joomla articles with their own fields.
• Template: old templates do not run on Joomla 6. If there is a current version, as with YOOtheme Pro, we switch to it; otherwise we rebuild the look or renew it with you.
• Content, addresses and users are kept. We work on a copy; your website stays online until the switch.
• Effort: from a few hours to a project of its own. We check first and name the price before we start.

Conclusion

Running Joomla 3 today costs twice: a surcharge at the host and an open security risk. The way to Joomla 6, on the other hand, can be planned – more on the page Joomla 3 to 6 migration.