What version of Joomla! should you use?

First of all, you may want to check which version of Joomla! is running on your website.
Check for the latest Joomla! CMS version. If you are not on the latest release, read the release notes to see if you need to upgrade. If a release is being made in order to address security issues then it is strongly advised that you upgrade as soon as possible. You can see the release history of each series in the table below. Click the version history link in the notes column to find details on exact release date, release notes and package and MD5s.

• Normally, you should use the latest version of Joomla! for a new site unless you have a specific reason not to.
• The latest version can be downloaded from Joomla! download page.
• Make sure you subscribe to the Joomla! Security Announcements feed. This RSS feed is used to make announcements, including the availability of new releases, that could affect the security of your site. You have the option to subscribe to this feed by RSS or email.
• If you are running an earlier release of the current version (for example, you are running 3.1.6 and the current version is 3.4.1), you should upgrade to the current version. Each minor release fixes a number of bugs and/or security issues. It is always good practice to upgrade to the latest maintenance version as a first step in troubleshooting a problem and fixing any newly discovered security issues.

Joomla! CMS versions

CMS Version	Available	Support		End of Life	Upgrade Type	Notes	Latest Release
		Bugs	Security
1.5				Sept 2012	Migration to 2.5	Plan to migrate to 2.5 now Joomla 1.5 version history	EOL at 1.5.26
1.6				Aug 2011	One-click to 2.5	Upgrade to 2.5 now Joomla 1.6 version history	1.6.6
1.7				Feb 2012	One-click to 2.5	Upgrade to 2.5 now Joomla 1.7 version history	1.7.5
2.5				December 31st, 2014	One-click to 3.x	Upgrade to 3.6.2 now Joomla 2.5 version history	2.5.28
3.0				May 2013	One-click to 3.1	You should use the one click upgrade Joomla 3.0 version history	3.0.4
3.1				Dec 2013	One-click to 3.2	You should use the one click upgrade Joomla 3.1 version history	3.1.6
3.2				Oct 2014[1]	One-click to 3.3	You should upgrade your server's PHP to 5.3.10 or greater and upgrade to 3.3 Joomla 3.2 version history	3.2.7
3.3				3.4 release	One-click	You should use the one click upgrade Joomla 3.3 version history	3.3.6
3.4				3.5 release	One-click	Recommended for all new installs Joomla 3.4 version history	3.4.8
3.5				3.6 release	One-click	Recommended for all new installs Joomla 3.5 version history	3.5.1
3.6[2]				3.7 release	One-click	Recommended for all new installs Joomla! 3.6 version history	3.6.2
3.7[2]	to define[2][3]	-	-	3.8 release	One-click
...	...	...	...	...	...	...	...
4.0	2016[3]	-	-

Included External Libraries

A Joomla! installation contain external libraries which are included with Joomla! CMS version releases. These external libraries are not part of the core code. Please read the Notes section as they may contain more information, such as a external library version change released with a maintenance release.

External Libraries by Joomla Release

CMS Version	CMS Version Supported	Mootools	Mootools More	jQuery	jQuery UI (Core, Widget, Mouse, Position, and Sortable)	Bootstrap	Simple Pie	PHP Mailer	PHP UTF-8	IDNA Convert	Rapid Application Development (RAD) Framework Akeeba's Framework on Framework(FOF)	password _compat[4]	lessphp	random _compat[5]
2.5		1.4.5[6]	1.4.0.1	N/A[7]	N/A[7]	N/A[7]	1.2	5.2.1	0.5	N/A[8]	N/A[9]	N/A[10]	N/A[11]	N/A[12]
3.0		1.4.5	1.4.0.1	1.8.1	1.8.23	2.1.0	1.2	5.2.1	0.5	N/A[8]	N/A[9]	N/A[10]	N/A[11]	N/A[12]
3.1		1.4.5	1.4.0.1	1.8.3	1.8.23	2.1.0	1.2[13]	5.2.3	0.5	N/A[8]	N/A[9]	N/A[10]	N/A[11]	N/A[12]
3.1.2		1.4.5	1.4.0.1	1.8.3	1.8.23	2.3.2[14]	1.2[13]	5.2.6	0.5	0.8.0	N/A[9]	N/A[10]	N/A[11]	N/A[12]
3.2		1.4.5	1.4.0.1	1.10.2[15]	1.9.2	2.3.2[14]	1.2[13]	5.2.6	0.5	0.8.0	2.1	1.0.3	N/A[11]	N/A[12]
3.3		1.4.5	1.4.0.1	1.11.1[15]	1.9.2	2.3.2[14]	1.2[13]	5.2.8	0.5	0.8.0	2.1	1.0.3	N/A[11]	N/A[12]
3.4		1.4.5	1.4.0.1	1.11.3[15]	1.9.2	2.3.2[14]	1.2[13]	5.2.9	0.5	0.8.0	2.4.3	1.0.4	0.3.9	N/A[12]
3.5		1.4.5	1.4.0.1	1.11.3[15]	1.9.2	2.3.2[14]	1.2[13]	5.2.14	0.5	0.8.0	2.4.3	1.0.4	0.5.0	1.0.10
3.6		1.4.5	1.4.0.1	1.12.4[15]	1.9.2	2.3.2[14]	1.3.1[13]	5.2.14	0.5	0.8.0	2.4.3	1.0.4	0.5.0	1.4.1
3.7

Joomla! versions explained

Joomla! 

3.6.2

Stable Version

This page provides a summary of the current development strategy published on 25 April 2014. All Joomla versions released before 25 April 2014 have been developed according to previous release and support cycle. You should read the full text of the Joomla development strategy for a more detailed explanation.
Joomla! is developed following Semantic Versioning (2.0.0). The use of LTS (Long Term Support) and STS (Short Term Support) is no longer relevant or observed. The terms found directly below will be used for clarity. You should understand these terms and their meanings.

• supported - latest minor version(s) of a major version will receive patches which will include bug and security fixes
• current - the youngest or 'latest' major.x.x officially released version
• legacy - any major.minor.patch version(s) which are not the current version^[16]
• stable - major version ready for use in a production environment implied with current and legacy^[17]
• EOS - an acronym for 'end of support' which indicates no further patches will be released for bugs or security fixes
• EOL - an acronym for 'end of life' which indicates the same meaning as EOS^[18]

Each major version of Joomla! is supported by The Joomla! Project^TM for a limited amount of time, begenning from the initial date of its official release. Joomla will actively develop each major version for a minimum of 2 years. This may be followed by continued development of a major version as per scheduled on a major version's roadmap.^[19] A short summary would be:

• each major version will have a minimum of 4 years of support
• you should always use or update to the latest major version's minor.patch
• each minor version update released is backwards compatible with the previous minor version of the same major version^[20]

Please use the Joomla! CMS Development Roadmap or the Joomla! CMS versions chart to determine the estimated EOS (end of support) for each major.minor version(s) or the entire major version.

Version Numbering Explained

The version identifiers for Joomla follow a three level numerical convention where the levels are defined by the software change significance.

[major].[minor].[patch]

These 3 levels are defined as:

1. An increment in the major version identifier indicates a break in backward compatibility.
2. An increment in the minor version identifier indicates the addition of new features or a significant change to existing features.
3. An increment in the patch version identifier indicates that bugs have been fixed.

Examples

You are using Joomla version 3.3.6. This means your version is major version 3, minor version 3, patch version 6. If a patch is released for 3.3.6, it would increase your Joomla version to 3.3.7. If a new minor version for major version 3 is released, your new Joomla version would become 3.4.0. This page will always show the current stable supported version of Joomla, including the minor and patch, in the top right corner.