Which PHP version does Joomla need? 5.4 and 6.x compared

Joomla 6 needs PHP 8.3 or newer and recommends PHP 8.4. Joomla 5.4 runs on PHP 8.1 or newer and recommends PHP 8.3. Both lines officially run on PHP 8.5 once you are on Joomla 5.4.2 or 6.0.2 and later. The tighter limit is usually PHP itself: PHP 8.2 loses security support on 31 December 2026. Before your host moves you to a new PHP version, you can open a Joomla 6 test site, pick PHP 8.4, and try your extensions there first.

Joomla PHP version compatibility table

Joomla 6 needs at least PHP 8.3.0 and Joomla 5.4 needs at least PHP 8.1.0, per the Joomla manual’s technical requirements pages as they stood in September 2026. The table below puts the two lines side by side and adds the newest PHP version the Joomla project has announced as supported, because the manual’s “recommended” column is not a ceiling. In short, Joomla PHP version compatibility runs from PHP 8.1 to 8.5 on Joomla 5.4 and from PHP 8.3 to 8.5 on Joomla 6.

The minimum and recommended columns come from the manual’s Joomla 5.4 technical requirements and Joomla 6.1 technical requirementspages. The 6.x page has a third “supported” column, which also reads 8.3.0 for PHP. The technical requirements page for the next release, Joomla 6.2, shows the same PHP figures. The last column comes from release announcements, covered in the next two sections. Older sites sit further back: the Joomla 4.4 technical requirements ask for PHP 7.2.5 or newer, and Joomla 4 reached end of life on 14 October 2025, per the endoflife.date Joomla timeline. For the database, web server and memory figures, see our full guide to Joomla system requirements.

Does Joomla 5.4 work on PHP 8.4 and 8.5?

Yes to both. Joomla 5.4 runs on PHP 8.4, and on PHP 8.5 from the 5.4.2 patch onward. The Joomla project’s “Joomla 5.2.0 and Joomla 4.4.9 are here!” announcement of 15 October 2024 promised “full compatibility with PHP 8.4”, weeks before PHP 8.4 itself shipped on 21 November 2024. Every later Joomla 5 release kept it.

PHP 8.5 followed in January 2026. The Joomla 6.0.2 and 5.4.2 security and bugfix release notesof 31 January 2026 state: “Starting with Joomla! 5.4.2 and Joomla! 6.0.2, we fully support running on PHP 8.5.” So a Joomla 5 site on the current 5.4.8 patch can run on any PHP from 8.1 to 8.5. The manual still lists 8.3 as recommended for 5.4, and that is a sensible default: PHP 8.3 is also the minimum for Joomla 6, so a Joomla 5 site on 8.3 is ready for the Joomla 5 to 6 upgrade without a PHP change.

Does Joomla 6 run on PHP 8.5?

Yes, from Joomla 6.0.2 onward. The Joomla 6.0.2 and 5.4.2 release notes of 31 January 2026 announced full PHP 8.5 support, and Joomla 6.1.0, released on 14 April 2026, keeps it. Joomla 6 does not support PHP 8.1 or 8.2 at all: the requirements put the floor at PHP 8.3.0, so a server on an older PHP has to move first. That makes Joomla 6 the narrower line, PHP 8.3 to 8.5, against 8.1 to 8.5 for Joomla 5.4.

The next PHP release is close. The PHP 8.6 release schedule on the PHP wiki plans general availability for 19 November 2026. As of 28 September 2026, the Joomla project had not announced PHP 8.6 support for either line, and the Joomla 6.2 Beta 3 announcement of 15 September 2026 lists no PHP change for 6.2. Do not move a Joomla site to PHP 8.6 until a Joomla release says it supports it.

When does support end for each PHP version?

PHP 8.2 loses security support on 31 December 2026, PHP 8.3 on 31 December 2027, and PHP 8.4 on 31 December 2028, per php.net’s Supported Versions page in September 2026. PHP gives each branch two years of active support and then two years of security fixes only. PHP 8.1 already reached end of life on 31 December 2025, as the php.net Unsupported Branches page records.

Joomla’s own support dates fall between those PHP dates. The Joomla 6.1.3 and 5.4.8 release notes of 18 August 2026 say Joomla 5.4 gets bugfixes until 13 October 2026 and security patches until 12 October 2027. The Joomla roadmap gives Joomla 6 security support until 16 October 2029. A Joomla 5 site on PHP 8.2 therefore runs out of PHP fixes more than nine months before Joomla 5 runs out of its own, as our post on Joomla 5 end of life explains. PHP 8.3 has been in security-only mode since its active support ended on 31 December 2025. For a new setup, PHP 8.4 is the safer pick: the Joomla 6 manual recommends it, and it gets security fixes until 31 December 2028.

How do you check which PHP version your Joomla site runs?

Log in to the administrator and open System, then System Information. The System Information tab lists “PHP Version” next to the database and Joomla versions; the Joomla help page for Site System Informationdescribes it as the PHP version “being used for this installation of Joomla.” The PHP Information tab on the same screen shows the full phpinfo() output, including the loaded extensions and the memory limit.

If you cannot reach the admin, your hosting control panel usually shows the PHP version per domain. Many hosts let you switch it there, and many also retire end-of-life versions on their own schedule. Older branches are still common. W3Techs’ PHP version 8 usage statistics, dated 28 September 2026, put 28.6% of PHP 8 websites on PHP 8.2 and 15.9% on PHP 8.1. That is 44.5% of PHP 8 sites on versions Joomla 6 will not install on. PHP 8.4 held 11.7% and PHP 8.5 held 3.6%.

What breaks when you change PHP version?

Joomla core is the part least likely to break on a PHP version the project has announced support for. Extensions and templates are the usual problem, because each one is written and tested on its own schedule. PHP marks old behavior as deprecated first and removes it in a later version, as the php.net migration guide for PHP 8.4 shows. So most of what you see on a PHP upgrade is deprecation notices, with the occasional fatal error. Three turn up often in older Joomla code:

• Dynamic properties (PHP 8.2). The php.net list of PHP 8.2 deprecated featuressays “the creation of dynamic properties is deprecated” unless a class opts in. Older extensions that set $this->something without declaring it log a notice on every request.
• Implicitly nullable parameters (PHP 8.4). The PHP 8.4 deprecated features page deprecates a typed parameter with a null default, such as function load(Table $table = null). It must become ?Table. The pattern is common in code written before PHP 8.4.
• Old casts and the backtick operator (PHP 8.5). The PHP 8.5 deprecated features page deprecates casts such as (integer) and (boolean), the backtick shell operator, and using null as an array offset.

PHP 8.4 also has a short list of hard breaks. The PHP 8.4 backward-incompatible changes page lists, among others, exit() now behaving like a function and stricter type and argument checks that throw a TypeError or ValueError. An uncaught error stops the page instead of logging a notice. The only way to know how your mix of extensions behaves is to run it on the new version, which is what the next section does.

How do you test Joomla on a new PHP version before your host switches?

Run the same Joomla line and the same extensions on the new PHP version, on a copy where a fatal error costs nothing. Change one thing at a time: if you also upgrade Joomla in the same step, you will not know which change caused an error. Five steps cover it:

1. Write down your current versions. On the live site, open System, then System Information. Note the Joomla version and the PHP version, and list the extensions and the template the site uses.
2. Open a test site with the same Joomla line on the new PHP. Spin up a throwaway site on the same Joomla line as the live site, and pick the PHP version your host is moving you to. Keep the Joomla line the same, so PHP is the only thing that changes.
3. Turn on maximum error reporting. In System, Global Configuration, open the Server tab and set Error Reporting to Maximum. Deprecation notices and fatal errors now show on screen instead of a blank page.
4. Install your extensions and template. Upload the same extension and template ZIP files in System, Install, Extensions, using the versions the live site runs. Enable each one.
5. Click through everything that matters. Log in to the admin, open each extension's screens, save a setting, and load the front-end pages that use the template, forms, search and menus. Write down every notice and error with the extension it names.

On JInstant you choose the PHP version when you create the site. Joomla 5.4 sites offer PHP 8.2 and 8.3, and Joomla 6.1 sites offer PHP 8.3 and 8.4. PHP 8.5 is not offered yet, so for an 8.5 test you need a local stack or your host’s staging tool. The Joomla 5 test site is the one to use for a PHP 8.2 to 8.3 move, and the Joomla 6 site for PHP 8.4. For the general method of vetting a ZIP, see how to test a Joomla extension online.

Read the results in two groups. A deprecation notice means the extension works today but needs an update before a future PHP removes that behavior; send the vendor the notice. A fatal error means the extension does not work on that PHP version at all; check the vendor’s changelog for a newer release, or stay on the older PHP where your host still allows it. On Joomla 6, also check that the errors do not come from removed Joomla classes instead, which the Joomla backward compatibility plugin post covers.

Which PHP version should you pick today?

For a new Joomla 6 site, pick PHP 8.4. It is the recommended version in the manual, it gets security fixes until 31 December 2028, and Joomla has supported it since Joomla 5.2.0 (October 2024) and in every Joomla 6 release. PHP 8.5 is supported too and gets security fixes until 31 December 2029, a year longer, but fewer extensions have been tested on it, so check yours first.

For an existing Joomla 5.4 site, move to PHP 8.3 or 8.4 before 31 December 2026 if you are on 8.1 or 8.2. PHP 8.3 is the smallest step that stays supported past 2026, and it already meets the Joomla 6 floor, so the later Joomla upgrade does not need a second PHP change. Our comparison of Joomla 5 vs Joomla 6 helps with the choice of line. Whichever you pick, try it on a copy before your host flips the switch on the live site.

Conclusion

Joomla 6 needs PHP 8.3 and recommends 8.4; Joomla 5.4 needs PHP 8.1 and recommends 8.3; both run on PHP 8.5 on current patches. The real deadline for many sites is PHP 8.2 losing security support on 31 December 2026, not a Joomla date. Check your version in System Information, test your extensions on the target PHP, and only then change it on the live site. The free Joomla test site guide covers every way to get a copy to test on, and the quickest is to open a test site in one click.

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