August 2005 – Fork from Mambo
Joomla originated from a fork of the Mambo CMS. On August 17, 2005, a group of Mambo developers decided to create a new project due to disagreements with Mambo’s direction. The team wanted to ensure the project remained truly open source and community-driven.
September 2005 – Joomla 1.0 Released
Joomla 1.0 was released on September 22, 2005 as a re-branded release of Mambo 4.5.2.3, with bug fixes and security improvements. This marked the official birth of Joomla as an independent project.
January 2008 – Joomla 1.5 LTS
Joomla 1.5 introduced major architectural improvements with object-oriented programming (OOP) techniques. It was the first Long Term Support (LTS) release and remained supported for years.
January 2011 – Joomla 1.6
Joomla 1.6 introduced full Access Control List (ACL) functionality, user-defined category hierarchies, and significant admin UI improvements.
January 2012 – Joomla 2.5 LTS
Joomla 2.5 was an LTS release that introduced support for databases beyond MySQL, including Microsoft SQL Server. It also brought improved tagging and smart search features.
September 2012 – Joomla 3.0
Joomla 3.0 changed the release schedule to September/March cycles. It introduced a modern administrator interface with Twitter Bootstrap and dropped support for older PHP versions.
2015-2017 – Joomla 3.x Evolution
Joomla 3.x continued with regular improvements, including better mobile support, improved SEO features, and enhanced security.
2023 – Joomla 4.x
Joomla 4 brought modern PHP requirements, improved performance, and a redesigned administrator interface.
2024 – Joomla 5
Joomla 5 continued modernization with improved APIs, better developer experience, and enhanced security features.
2025 – Joomla 6
Joomla 6 was released with PHP 8.3+ requirement, modernized codebase, and improved performance. Current stable version is 6.0.3.
Current Support Status
| Fact | Details |
|---|---|
| Origin | Forked from Mambo CMS |
| Fork Date | August 17, 2005 |
| First Release | Joomla 1.0 (September 22, 2005) |
| License | GPLv2 or later |
| Current Stable | Joomla 6.0.3 (2025) |
| LTS Version | Joomla 5.4.x (until October 2027) |
| Market Share | ~1.7% of all websites |
| Repository | https://github.com/joomla/joomla-cms |
| Official Site | https://www.joomla.org |