Now that Joomla! and PHP have timed releases and a defined support policy, we can in turn clarify when and for how long we support each Joomla! and PHP version.
TL;DR: Joomla! short term support versions are fully supported for 8 months. Joomla! long term support versions are fully supported for one year, get another year of priority security updates, and limited support after that. Joomla! 3.10 get priority security updates to February 2025 (when Joomla! 3 eLTS expires), and limited support after that. PHP versions are supported within one month of their release and up to at least 6 months after they become End of Life.
How Joomla! releases work
Ever since Joomla! 4.0, Joomla! has committed to a new minor version every 6 months, and a new major version every two years. Each major version gets a total of three years of support since the release of its first x.0.0 version.
Each major Joomla! version gets five minor releases: x.0, x.1, x.2, x.3, and x.4.
The x.0, x.1, x.2, and x.3 releases are Short Term Support (STS) releases. They are fully supported for 6 months since the x.y.0 version is published. After that time it becomes End Of Life (EOL) and is no longer supported, not even for security updates.
The x.4 version is a Long Term Support (LTS) release. It is fully supported for 6 months since the x.4.0 version is published. It receives security updates only for another 6 months.
The entire major version of Joomla! becomes End of Life one year (12 months) after its x.4.0 version is published.
The release schedule is:
- October, Year 1: x.0 (STS – 6 months full support)
- April, Year 1: x.1 (STS – 6 months full support)
- October, Year 2: x.2 (STS – 6 months full support)
- April, Year 2: x.3 (STS – 6 months full support)
- October, Year 3: x.4 (LTS – 6 months full support + 6 months security support)
Note that Joomla! releases the LTS of a major version x.4.0 at the same time as the first STS of the next major version z.0.0. This means there's an overlap of one year between two successive major versions to make upgrades manageable.
Please keep in mind that major versions of Joomla! starting with Joomla! 5.0 do NOT require a full migration as was the case in the past. They are iterative improvements, a lot like minor versions. In fact, new Joomla! major versions cause fewer compatibility concerns than successive Joomla! 3 minor versions, e.g. 3.6 to 3.7, did in the past! Don't be afraid of new major Joomla! releases, they are just a number.
Which versions of Joomla! we support, and for how long
Our Professional (for-a-fee) software provides extensive support for Joomla! versions, beyond what Joomla! itself does.
The Joomla! STS releases are fully supported for 8 (eight) months since Joomla!'s x.y.0 version is published. This is two months more than Joomla! does for its STS versions.
The Joomla! LTS versions are fully supported for 12 (twelve) months since Joomla!'s x.4.0 version is published. This is six months more than Joomla! does for its LTS versions.
An additional 12 (twelve) months of priority security support is provided for Joomla! LTS versions. This is one more year than Joomla! does for its LTS versions.
Beyond that point in time, we provide limited support, only for the LTS version (x.4) version of that Joomla! major version, and only to paying customers with an active subscription to our product.
Our free of charge software will only receive full support for 6 (six) months for each STS or LTS Joomla! version. We will provide no support whatsoever for our free of charge software for this Joomla! major version beyond this point.
What our support statuses mean
Full support. Bug and security fixes are implemented with maximum priority (“drop everything and fix it”). New features are regularly implemented. Changes are made to support new versions of PHP, and MySQL. Changes are made to adapt to changes in third party services for which we offer an integration in our software. Customers with an active subscription to the software can request support for the software.
Priority security support. We no longer implement bug fixes, or new features. We still implement security fixes with maximum priority. There are no changes made to support newer PHP, and MySQL versions. There are no changes made to adapt to changes in third party services for which we offer an integration in our software. Customers with an active subscription to the software can request support for the software, but issues caused by bugs in the software may not be resolved.
Limited support. We provide security fixes if and when necessary, only for Professional versions of the software, and it may take a longer time the older the version of the software is (we're talking about a few weeks instead of a few days). Customers with an active subscription to the software can request support for the software, on the understanding that some issues will be impossible to resolve for various reasons pertaining to the age of the software involved, and the fact that the software they use is frozen in time.
Support for Joomla! 3
Joomla! 3 is a special case, both because it doesn't fit the aforementioned Joomla release scheduled, and because there are still a lot of sites using it.
As of August 17th, 2024, the following support policy for Joomla! 3 is in place:
- Joomla! versions prior to 3.10.12 are not supported at all.
- Our free-of-charge software for Joomla! 3 is not supported at all.
- Our Professional software for Joomla! 3 will receive priority security support up to February 17th, 2025. This is when Joomla's paid extended long term support (eLTS) program for Joomla! 3 expires.
- Starting February 17th, 2025 we will only offer limited support for Joomla! 3.
How PHP versions work
Ever since PHP 7.0, the PHP project has committed to a yearly release around December 1st (plus or minus a week).
As per the information in https://www.php.net/supported-versions and https://www.php.net/eol.php, PHP releases five minor versions for each major release: x.0, x.1, x.2, x.3, and x.4.
Unlike Joomla!, there's no differentiation between STS and LTS releases. Each PHP version is fully supported for two years, and receives another two years of security-only updates.
PHP versions support
We aim to provide support for every new PHP version within a month of its release, and continue supporting it for at least 6 months after it becomes End Of Life. We only provide support for Joomla! and PHP version combinations officially supported by the Joomla! project.
Please note that this may create two situations which might sound confusing at first, caused by the fact that we support multiple Joomla! versions in every release of our software, each Joomla! version having its own PHP support range.
We support a newer version of PHP than Joomla! does. For example, Akeeba Backup 9.9 supports PHP versions 7.4 to 8.3 and Joomla! versions 4.3 to 5.1. However, Joomla! 4.3 only supports up to PHP 8.2. The reason our software supports PHP 8.3 is that Joomla! 5.1 does. You can only use our software on Joomla! 4.3 with PHP versions 7.4 to 8.2 inclusive.
We support an older version of PHP than Joomla! does. Using the same example, we support PHP versions 7.4 and 8.0 even though Joomla! 5 requires PHP 8.1 or later. You can obviously not use our software on Joomla! 5 using PHP 7.4 or 8.0; Joomla itself won't let you run a site like that.
These restrictions also apply when restoring site backups. You can try to restore a Joomla! 4.3 site on PHP 8.3, or a Joomla! 5.1 site on PHP 7.4. The restoration will work, but the site will be broken. This is not a bug in our software. We do let you continue the restoration despite the incompatible PHP version (though we do inform you there's a discrepancy) because the PHP version on a server can be changed after the restoration is complete.
Subscriptions, and Joomla! / PHP support
Our subscriptions have always been, and still are, for a product, not a specific version of it. When you purchase a subscription you can download all published versions of our product for all current and past supported Joomla! and PHP version combinations.
Since subscriptions are not tied to specific versions of Joomla!, PHP, or our software we will not give any refunds on the basis that you are using a version of PHP or Joomla! that is not in full or priority security support anymore.
Is this any different to what we've been doing?
No, it's not any different. It's just more clearly explained.
In the past, neither Joomla! nor PHP provided a clear picture of when they were releasing software and for how long it was supported. As a result, our own information on supporting Joomla! and PHP versions was likewise nebulous, with our policy being “last LTS or equivalent version plus 6 months”. Now that we know exactly when everything is released, we can provide equally clear guidance on our support policy.
In the past, we only differentiated between full support and limited support. However, limited support was always a two-phase approach, with versions that had entered this phase over the last year receiving better support than older versions. We now clarified this to help you understand what you can expect as software for older Joomla! and PHP versions ages over time.
Finally, a note on security updates. We have a rigorous, proactive approach to security in our products. This is why security updates are few and far in between. The fact you don't see security updates every few weeks doesn't mean we neglect our software; it only means that we put the time and effort to catch almost all security issues while writing the software.