The Joomla! Project is pleased to announce the availability of the first Joomla 6.0 Beta 2 for testing.

What is this release for?

There are two main goals for Beta 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 6.0.

For a complete list of known backward compatibility issues for version 6.0, please see Potential backward compatibility issues in Joomla 6.0 on the documentation site.

See the New deprecations section for what's newly deprecated. For background on why the new 'Behaviour - Backward Compatibility 6' plugin is included in Joomla 5 and how it works, see the  Compatibility Plugins section.

For info on the Backward Compatibility 6 plugin for Joomla 6 see https://manual.joomla.org/migrations/54-60/compat-plugin/

What is this release NOT for?

This beta version of Joomla 6.0 is not suitable for production sites. It is for testing only.

Where to get it?

Download Joomla 6.0 Beta 2

To always use the latest build of Joomla 6, we invite you to use the nightly build packages (updated every night).

To make it easier for newcomers, you can launch a free Joomla 5 website for testing at launch.joomla.org.

When is the final release due?

Joomla! 6.0 (general availability) will be released on or about 14th October 2025. The planned milestones are:

Alpha:

• Alpha 1: 27. May 2025
• Alpha 2: 24. June 2025
• Alpha 3: 22. July 2025

Beta (Feature Freeze)

• Beta 1: 19. August 2025
• Beta 2: 02. September 2025 (this release)
• Beta 3: 16. September 2025 

Release Candidate (Language Freeze)

• RC 1: 30. September 2025

Stable Release

• 14. October 2025

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 6.0 Beta 2?

We are firmly committed to making the next generation of Joomla the best. These are the features that have been committed to version 6.0. Since we arrived at the Beta stage, no new features will be implemented.

Of the 288 closed PRs 227 have been merged into Joomla 6.0.
35 Features have made it in.

Features

• Added possibility to batch remove a tag
• CategoryNode/Changelog: Remove legacy error handling trait
• Delete 5.2.2-2024-09-24.sql update SQL scripts
• Extend versioning, save releated information in history table and restore historical data
• Field simple color as web component
• Fix language autoload in CMSPlugin constructor to work safely
• Fixes the missing modified start and end date filter to articled API endpoint
• Fulfill InstallerScriptInterface with a trait
• Gsoc2021 35228 merge featured
• Improve ListView toolbar & components
• Installer: Remove dependency on Adapter class
• Languagefilter: Refactoring of routing
• Made the alias field always visible in the article edit form (site)
• Media: allow thumbnail for any file type
• Modification fields header tag, module tag add custom options in XML
• Move CMS Filesystem package to compat plugin
• New Date and Datetime fields
• Note Custom Field Plugin
• Numbers custom fields plugin
• Remove deprecated db object from views
• Remove fixFilesystemPermissions method from script.php
• Remove instances of Table::getInstance() from core code
• Remove leftover reCaptcha files
• Removing Adapter and AdapterInstance classes
• Replace dialog GIF loader with SVG loader
• Restore onBeforeExecute event for CMSApplication
• Searchtools use requestSubmit() and add joomla:update listener
• Smart Search: Removing dependency on CMSObject
• The admin model does return a stdClass instead of CMSObject
• Update layouts to use Form control fields
• Updater: Remove Adapter classes from inheritance
• Use Dialog for Article links, when "modal option" is selected
• Use WebAsset for installation
• Workflow: use generic AbstractApplication in type hint

Technical fixes and improvements

• Phpstan baseline
• Module Tag Field
• Tag search for mod-finder
• The admin model does return a stdClass instead of CMSObject
• Remove deprecated db object from views
• Workflow: use generic AbstractApplication in type hint
• Version in Language string
• Installer: Remove dependency on Adapter class
• Updater: Remove Adapter classes from inheritance
• CategoryNode/Changelog: Remove legacy error handling trait
• Smart Search: Removing dependency on CMSObject
• Remove instances of Table::getInstance() from core code
• Remove leftover reCaptcha files
• Fixes the missing modified start and end date filter to articled API endpoint
• Updating TinyMCE to 8.0.1
• Updating dependencies 
• Convert Popular Module to Service 
• Notification email on admin registration approval 
• add new fields plugins to core extensions 
• Improve FormView & Toolbar & Components
• Add the js-grid-item-is-checked class and remove onClick HtmlHelper Grid 
• Atum - add nice transition to open/close details 
• Atum logical properties
• atum error page replace deprecated getUser 
• Cassiopeia - Add view-transition for pages 
• Module Tag Field
• Add custom classes to the class dropdown in the image dialog in TinyMCE 
• Modify Cassiopeia for Joomla 6 
• Introduce Joomla 6.0 compatibility plugin 
• Add aria-label + text to change language button during installation

All the improvements and bug fixes from 5.3 and 5.4 are also included.

Authors of Merged Pull Requests

The Joomla project is very thankful for the contributions from the following 26 authors:

AdarshSantoria, beni71, bembelimen, brbrbr, brianteeman, chmst, dgrammatiko, drmenzelit, Fedik, Hackwar, hans2103, heelc29, HLeithner, joomdonation, korenevskiy, LadySolveig, laoneo, MacJoom, obuisard, Quy, raj20889, rdeutz, richard67, RickR2H, TLWebdesign, zero-24

Key Features & Improvements

• New Date and Datetime fields
• Batch tag removal functionality
• Media manager thumbnails for any file type
• Language file caching
• Task runner functionality
• Compatibility plugin for Joomla 6.0 migration
• Extended Versioning functionality
• Code cleanups
• Dependencies updated
• Better content editing with TinyMCE 8.0.1

What are the plans for Joomla 6.0?

With the last release we entered the state of “Feature Freeze”. This means, no new feature will be added. New functionality can be contributed to Joomla! 6.1 planned for the beginning of next year.

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

How can you help Joomla 6.0 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 5.3 and communicate their experience.

Where can I find documentation about Joomla 6?

We encourage developers to help write the documentation about Joomla 6 on docs.joomla.org and manual.joomla.org to help and guide users and other extension developers.

A JDocs page will help developers to see the existing documentation and the documentation still needed.

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.

• Working with the Joomla Feature Tracker
• General developer mailing list
• Joomla developer network
• Joomla and UI framework

A Huge Thank You to Our Volunteers!

A big thank you goes out to everyone who contributed to the release!  We would like to acknowledge the special group of people who tested the PR’s ready for merging. The following people gave their time to test:

@alikon, @bembelimen, @Bodge-IT, @brianteeman, @ceford, @chmst, @ChristineWk, @crimle, @crommie, @dautrich, @degobbis, @dgrammatiko, @eddiekonczal, @exlemor, @Fedik, @Hackwar, @hans2103, @heelc29, @HLeithner, @JeroenMoolenschot, @joomdonation, @joeforjoomla, @Kostelano, @krishnaGandhi11, @LadySolveig, @laoneo, @muhme, @nielsnuebel, @obuisard, @peterpeter, @Quy, @QuyTon, @rakibhossainraju, @rbuelund, @rdeutz, @richard67, @RickR2H, @sandewt, @SarahBerryman12, @sdwjoomla, @shinderohanoffical, @Slava287, @softforge, @suvarnakale, @tecpromotion, @Tejashrimajage, @tekvishal, @TLWebdesign, @viocassel, @web54, @wilsonge

Special thanks from the Joomla 6.0 Release Managers, for all the support from the following people:  

Martina Scholz, Benjamin Trenkle, Richard Fath, Heiko Lübbe, Harald Leithner, Emmanuel Lemor