Joomla! 6.1 Alpha3 - Wrapping up the Alpha phase

Details: Published: 20 January 2026

The Joomla! Project is pleased to announce the availability of Joomla 6.1 Alpha 3 for testing.

What is this release for?

There are two main goals for Alpha releases:

Providing developers with the basis to test their extensions and reporting any issues well before the final release
Allowing users to discover the new features introduced to Joomla 6.1.

For a complete list of known backward compatibility issues for version 6.1, please see Potential backward compatibility issues in Joomla 6.1 on the documentation site.

What is this release NOT for?

This alpha version of Joomla 6.1 is not suitable for production sites. It is for testing only.

Where to get it?

Download Joomla 6.1 Alpha 3

To always use the latest build of Joomla 6.1, we invite you to use the nightly build packages (updated every night).

To make it easier for newcomers, you can launch a free Joomla 6 website for testing at launch.joomla.org.

When is the final release due?

Joomla! 6.1 (general availability) will be released on or about April 14th 2026. The planned milestones are:

Alpha:

Alpha 1: 25. November 2025
Alpha 2: 23. December 2025
Alpha 3: 20. January 2026 (this release)

Beta (Feature Freeze)

Beta 1: 17. February 2026
Beta 2: 03. March 2026
Beta 3: 17. March 2026

Release Candidate (Language Freeze)

RC 1: 31. March 2026

Stable Release

14. April 2026

Please note that dates may be subject to change depending on the availability of volunteers and circumstances beyond our control.

What’s new in Joomla 6.1 Alpha 3?

We are firmly committed to making the next generation of Joomla the best. So far, these are the first features that have been committed to version 6.1. We expect to commit other features before the first beta release.

delete the unnecessary file build xml #46611
tinymce and sa11y updates #46600
make media action crop aspect ratio configurable #46421
Adding date filtering to popular articles module ( admin ) #46605
Fix log format configurations #46422
remove featured article menu item #46225
Allow to force or never force MFA for superusers #46248
UX feature: Filter by Author (Include/Exclude/Current User) option for Category List #46539
[CLI] enable or disable extension command #43977
Re-ordering of tabs and fields in frontend #45081
simplify class usage #41986
Replace all Factory::getSession() usages #45869
Fix language usage in SiteMenu class to use the internal value #46603
Fix $language default parameter #44575
Remove default empty string param in addControlField() #46381
Subform Grid layout, an alternative for unresponsive Table layout #42347
Update version in composer.jsom so they fit to the updates previously made with PR 46646 #46661
Composer update friendsofphp/php-cs-fixer and php-debugbar/php-debugbar #46664
Remove use of deprecated dispatcher from the plugin constructor #46683
Composer update web-token/jwt-library #46697
update npm packages #46699
Add email to authentication response object #46691
Fix SiteMenu class to use correct language #46710
Update deleted files in script.php for the upcoming 6.1.0-alpha3 #46712
Composer update algo26-matthias/idna-convert and phpstan/phpstan #46728

Authors of Merged Pull Requests

The Joomla project is very thankful for the contributions from the following authors:

Christiane Maier-Stadtherr, Elisa Foltyn, Hitesh M., Benjamin Trenkle, Denitz, Fedir Zinchuk, nordmograph, Jan Schönherr, Nicola Galgano, Brian Teeman, Hannes Papenberg, Heiko Lübbe, Hans Kuijpers, Richard Fath, Harald Leither, Tobias Zulauf, Stefan Wendhausen

What are the plans for Joomla 6.1?

Currently, we’re at the start of the journey of Joomla! 6.1. There are several projects which, with your help, could become part of Joomla! 6.1, if they are release-ready before the first beta is released on February 17th 2026.

Implementation of graphical workflow editor feature [46021]
Improve article list performance for large sites [45542]
Add file types for media custom field plugin. [45013]
WCAG 2.2 AA compliance
Build MCP servers to enable AI usage - with WCAG in mind
Improve webservices to enable better machine-to-machine communication
Rate-limit Framework
Schema improvement

We are at the beginning of the development of Joomla! 6.1, we have more than two months to add new features. If you have any ideas for new functionality, feel free to discuss it on GitHub.

Be aware that these features are not release-ready yet, and it depends a lot on testers and feedback if they make the cut.

To learn more about our development strategy, please read this article.

How can you help Joomla 6.1 development?

To help ensure the 6.0 release and our major features are “production-ready”, we need your help testing releases and reporting any bugs you may find at issues.joomla.org.

Most of all, we encourage extension developers to roll up their sleeves, seek out bugs and test their extensions with Joomla 6.1 and communicate their experience.

Where can I find documentation about Joomla 6.1?

We encourage developers to help write the documentation about Joomla 6.1 on manual.joomla.org to help and guide users and other extension developers.

We invite you to check it regularly, update it and provide the missing content.

Related information

If you are an extension developer, please make sure you subscribe to the extension developer channel https://joomlacommunity.cloud.mattermost.com/main/channels/extension-development-room

Where you can join the community of extension developers.

A Huge Thank You to Our Volunteers!

A big thank you goes out to everyone who contributed to the release!

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