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21 October 2026: critical security updates for PHP and YOOtheme Pro 5. Is your Joomla website up to date yet? Get it checked

Review: Joomla 4.3

The main new feature of Joomla 4.3 was guided tours: step by step Joomla explains the backend to new users. For this review we installed Joomla 4.3.4 of 22 August 2023, the last version of this line, and photographed it.

Series "Joomla history" · minor version · part of the series: Review: Joomla 4.0 · back to Review: Joomla 4.2 · next: Review: Joomla 4.4

Released18 April 2023 (Joomla 4.3.0)
Last version4.3.4 of 22 August 2023 (5 versions)
Followed byJoomla 4.4 on 17 October 2023
RequirementsPHP from 7.2.5
TemplatesCassiopeia (default); Atum in the backend
Included in the installation231 extensions
End of supportEnd of Life: Joomla 4.x

What was new in Joomla 4.3

According to the Joomla 4.3 announcement:

  • Guided tours through the most common tasks, extendable for your own extensions.
  • A revamped Media Manager with ordering, thumbnails and SVG previews.
  • Conditional custom fields, filters in Smart Search, filtering menus by component.
  • Installing Joomla on the command line, Bootstrap 5.2 and better support for PHP 8.2.
Joomla 4.3: The guided tours
The guided tours.
Joomla 4.3: A tour with its settings
A tour with its settings.
Joomla 4.3: The revamped Media Manager
The revamped Media Manager.

The installation

Joomla 4.3 installer: step 1
Step 1: language and site name.
Joomla 4.3 installer: step 2
Step 2: the Super User login.
Joomla 4.3 installer: step 3
Step 3: the database.
Joomla 4.3 installer: step 4
Step 4: the ownership check – Joomla asks you to delete a file in the "installation" folder.
Joomla 4.3 installer: step 5
Step 5: done.

The website

Joomla 4.3: home page
The freshly installed website with the sample data.
Joomla 4.3: Welcome to your blog
The page "Welcome to your blog".
Joomla 4.3: Blog
The page "Blog".
Joomla 4.3: Category List
The page "Category List".
Joomla 4.3: Typography
The page "Typography".
Joomla 4.3: Love
The page "Love".
Joomla 4.3: Login
The page "Login".
Joomla 4.3: Home
The home page on a smartphone.

The backend

Joomla 4.3: The backend login
The backend login.
Joomla 4.3: The Home Dashboard
The Home Dashboard.
Joomla 4.3: The
The "Content" menu.
Joomla 4.3: The article list
The article list.
Joomla 4.3: Editing an article with TinyMCE 5.10
Editing an article with TinyMCE 5.10.
Joomla 4.3: The categories
The categories.
Joomla 4.3: The items of the main menu
The items of the main menu.
Joomla 4.3: The modules of the website
The modules of the website.
Joomla 4.3: The plugins
The plugins.
Joomla 4.3: 231 extensions in a fresh installation
231 extensions in a fresh installation.
Joomla 4.3: The template styles
The template styles.
Joomla 4.3: The global configuration
The global configuration.
Joomla 4.3: The user groups
The user groups.
Joomla 4.3: The System Dashboard
The System Dashboard.
Joomla 4.3: System information – with PHP 8.1 from our test environment
System information – with PHP 8.1 from our test environment.
Joomla 4.3: Joomla Update
Joomla Update.

2023 and today

For comparison: the same views in a fresh Joomla 6.2.

Joomla 4.3.
2023Joomla 4.3.
Joomla 6.2.
2026Joomla 6.2.
Editing an article in 4.3.
2023Editing an article in 4.3.
Editing an article in 6.2.
2026Editing an article in 6.2.

All 5 versions of Joomla 4.3

According to the Joomla downloads:

  1. 4.3.018 Apr 2023
  2. 4.3.12 May 2023
  3. 4.3.230 May 2023
  4. 4.3.311 Jul 2023
  5. 4.3.422 Aug 2023

Joomla 4 at a glance

VersionFirst releaseLast releaseVersions
Joomla 4.017 Aug 20214.0.6 · 18 Jan 20227
Joomla 4.115 Feb 20224.1.5 · 21 Jun 20226
Joomla 4.216 Aug 20224.2.9 · 14 Mar 202310
Joomla 4.318 Apr 20234.3.4 · 22 Aug 20235
Joomla 4.417 Oct 20234.4.14 · 30 Sep 202515

Is your website still on Joomla 4?

Joomla 4 has had no updates since 14 October 2025. The way to Joomla 6 leads via 4.4 and 5.4 – we take care of it, including a check of your extensions.

See Joomla update and migration

How we did it: Joomla 4.3.4 in the original package from downloads.joomla.org, locally in Docker with PHP 8.1 and MySQL 8.0, reachable only on our own machine, files unchanged, with the blog sample data. PHP error display is switched off so that notices about outdated functions do not cover the pictures. The red warning that our PHP is outdated only appears because we run the old version today – we closed it with its own button before taking the picture.

Sources: Joomla 4.3 announcement, Joomla downloads and our own screenshots. As of 21 October 2026.

All versions of Joomla 4

Ufuk Avcu

Owner and developer of the Joomla Agency. Has been building and looking after Joomla websites since 2009.

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