Joomla 4 to 5 upgrade: test it on a disposable site first

Upgrading Joomla 4 to 5 is an in-place upgrade, not a migration, so you run it from inside the Joomla administrator rather than rebuilding the site. The whole sequence is: back up and test the restore, get to the latest Joomla 4.4.x first, confirm your host runs PHP 8.1, set the Update Channel to Joomla Next, and run the update. Because it touches the core, your extensions, and your template at once, the safe way to do it is to rehearse the exact steps on a throwaway copy first, where a broken extension costs you nothing.

This guide walks through the upgrade, what changes between 4 and 5, and how to practise it in minutes. Want to try the process now? You can open a clean Joomla 5 to test your extensions on, then read the rest.

Is upgrading Joomla 4 to 5 a migration or an upgrade?

It is an upgrade, not a migration, and the distinction changes how much work it is. The official Joomla User Manual says it in as many words: for Joomla 4.4.x to 5.x, “it’s an upgrade, not a migration” (Joomla User Manual, 4 to 5 step-by-step). In practice that means you run it in place from System, then Update, then Joomla, the same component that handles minor updates, rather than rebuilding the site the way the old Joomla 3 to 4 migration required. If you are coming off Joomla 3, that earlier hop is a genuine rebuild, and our guide on the Joomla 3 to 5 migration covers it.

The one hard prerequisite is the version you start from. Joomla’s 5.0 release announcement is blunt that “Joomla 4.4 has no features. But it is required for you to be able to upgrade from Joomla 4.x to Joomla 5.x” (Joomla.org, “Joomla 5.0 and Joomla 4.4 are here!”). So the real first move is to update to the last Joomla 4 release, 4.4.14, and only then reach for the 5 upgrade.

What do you need before you upgrade to Joomla 5?

Two things: a tested backup and a host that meets Joomla 5’s requirements. The headline requirement change is PHP. Joomla’s 5.0 announcement states that “Joomla now requires PHP 8.1, MySQL 8.0.13+, MariaDB 10.4+, and PostgreSQL 12+” (Joomla.org release announcement, October 2023). Joomla 4 ran on far older PHP, so a host that was fine for a 4.x site can still be too old for 5. If your PHP is below 8.1, the Joomla Update screen will not even offer the upgrade until you raise the version.

The backup is non-negotiable if you are upgrading a live site. The official manual does not just say to back up; it tells you to “test your backup to make sure it restores” (Joomla User Manual). A dry run on a disposable copy does not replace that backup, but it does mean you already know how the upgrade behaves before you run the real one. For the full requirements list and how to skip the check entirely, see our post on Joomla system requirements.

How do you upgrade Joomla 4 to 5, step by step?

You run the upgrade in place from the Joomla administrator, after pointing the Update component at the next major version. The one non-obvious step is the Update Channel: by default Joomla only offers minor updates, because automatic updates are not supported across major versions, so you have to switch the channel to Joomla Next before 5 appears. Here is the whole sequence:

1. Back up the site and test the restore. Take a full backup before you touch anything, and actually restore it somewhere to confirm it works. The official manual does not just say to back up; it tells you to test your backup to make sure it restores. A backup you have not tested is a guess.
2. Update to the latest Joomla 4.4.x first. You cannot jump straight from an older 4.x to 5. Joomla 4.4 is the required stepping stone, so update to the last Joomla 4 release, 4.4.14, using the normal minor-update flow before you go anywhere near the major upgrade.
3. Confirm your stack meets Joomla 5's requirements. Joomla 5 needs PHP 8.1 as a minimum, plus MySQL 8.0.13, MariaDB 10.4, or PostgreSQL 12 or newer. Check your host's PHP version first; if it is older than 8.1, the Joomla Update screen will not offer the upgrade at all until you raise it.
4. Clear the Pre-Update Check and remove com_search. The Pre-Update Check lists Required Settings, Recommended Settings, and your third-party Extensions. Resolve anything flagged. Joomla 5 drops com_search, so uninstall it first; you will use Smart Search (com_finder) instead.
5. Set the Update Channel to Joomla Next. In the administrator, go to System, then Update, then Joomla. By default the channel only offers minor updates, so open Options in the toolbar, change the Update Channel to Joomla Next, and save. Joomla 5 now appears as an available update.
6. Run the update, then click through the result. Install the update, then exercise the site: load the front end, open the administrator, and open each extension and the template. If something broke, this is where you find it. On a dry-run copy you just close the tab; on production you would restore your backup.

Running this on a throwaway Joomla 4.4 ourselves, the core part is quick and uneventful: the Update Channel switch and the Pre-Update Check take a couple of minutes, and the actual update runs like any other. What takes the time, every time, is the step after: checking each extension and the template on the new version. That is exactly the part you want to test before production. It is the same process whether you run it on your live site or on a dry-run copy, which is what makes a throwaway install such a good place to practise it.

Extensions and templates are where 4 to 5 breaks

Mostly older code that assumed the Joomla 4 way of doing things, which is why the Backward Compatibility plugin exists. The manual describes it as “an attempt to allow third-party extensions to use classes no longer included in Joomla 5” (Joomla User Manual). An extension that leans on removed classes keeps working today only because that plugin is bridging the gap for it.

Some things were dropped outright rather than bridged. The manual is specific that “com_search is not available in Joomla 5” and tells you to uninstall it before upgrading and use Smart Search (com_finder) instead. So the extensions and template are where a 4 to 5 upgrade succeeds or stalls. Check each important extension’s version and last update date, and check whether any appear on the Vulnerable Extensions List, the official register of third-party extensions with known security problems. Then confirm rather than assume: install them on a clean Joomla 5 and use them. That is exactly the kind of check you want to run on a dry run, not on your live site.

Why rehearse the upgrade on a throwaway site?

Because a major upgrade you have not tested is a guess, and your live site is the wrong place to test it. A clean, disposable Joomla lets you run the exact sequence above and watch the Update Channel switch, the Pre-Update Check, and the extension checks behave the way they will on production. You see what breaks where a break costs nothing. WordPress users have had instant sandboxes for this for years, and the Joomla community asked for the same thing out loud in a 2024 GitHub discussion requesting “something like wp-playground but for Joomla” (joomla-cms discussion #43744).

A staging clone that carries your real content is the most faithful dry run, and our post on testing a Joomla update before going live weighs that against a disposable copy. But most upgrade failures are not about your content; they are about an extension, a template, or a PHP version that does not get along with the new core, and a clean free Joomla test site answers those in minutes with nothing to clone.

Joomla 4 is already out of support

Upgrade as soon as you reasonably can, because the calendar has already passed the deadline. Security support for Joomla 4 ended on 14 October 2025, and active support ended a year before that, on 15 October 2024 (endoflife.date, Joomla). A Joomla 4 site today runs software that no longer receives security fixes. Joomla 5, by contrast, has full support to 13 October 2026 and security-only updates to 12 October 2027, so moving to 5 buys you years of runway. If you want to know what comes after, note that Joomla 6.1 already shipped on 14 April 2026 (Joomla Downloads, 6.1.0), and once you are on 5 the next hop is an easy one; our Joomla 5 to 6 upgrade guide covers it, and Joomla 5 vs Joomla 6 lays out the differences.

Conclusion

The jump from Joomla 4 to 5 is an in-place upgrade, not a migration, which makes it straightforward: back up and test the restore, get to Joomla 4.4.14, confirm PHP 8.1, clear the Pre-Update Check, set the Update Channel to Joomla Next, and run the update. The only real risk is an extension or template that has not kept up, and the cheapest place to find that out is a throwaway copy rather than production. Open a clean Joomla test site, run the upgrade the same way you will for real, see how it behaves, and walk away when you are done.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Joomla User Manual, Joomla 4 to 5 planning and upgrade step by step (retrieved July 14, 2026).
• Joomla.org, “Joomla 5.0 and Joomla 4.4 are here!” (upgrade path, PHP 8.1 requirement) (17 October 2023).
• Joomla Downloads, Joomla 4.4.14 (final Joomla 4 release) (30 September 2025).
• endoflife.date, Joomla support and release cycle (retrieved July 14, 2026).
• Joomla Downloads, Joomla 6.1.0 release (14 April 2026).
• Joomla Programmers Documentation, Technical Requirements (retrieved July 14, 2026).
• Joomla Vulnerable Extensions List (retrieved July 14, 2026).
• joomla/joomla-cms, “something like wp-playground but for Joomla” discussion #43744 (4 July 2024).