The Joomla Project has released Release Candidate 3 for Joomla 6.1 — the final checkpoint before the stable version ships on April 14, 2026. With a language freeze now in effect, the project's message to the community is clear: it's time to test.
Key Takeaways
- Joomla 6.1 Release Candidate 3 was published on April 13, 2026
- The stable release is scheduled for April 14, 2026
- A language freeze is now in effect — no new language file changes unless critical
- RC3 adds dispatcher support to the jooa11y accessibility plugin
- This build is for testing only — not suitable for production sites
- Free test sites are available at launch.joomla.org
Joomla 6.1 RC3 Is Out — Stable Release Tomorrow
The Joomla Project published Release Candidate 3 for Joomla 6.1 on April 13, 2026, just one day ahead of the planned stable release. The build is available on GitHub and marks the third and likely final release candidate in the 6.1 cycle.
With RC3, the project has entered a language freeze. From this point, no pull requests touching language files will be merged unless they address a critical bug. All remaining energy is directed toward stability testing before the general availability release.
What RC3 Brings to Joomla 6.1
Because RC3 arrives after feature freeze, the changelog is intentionally narrow. The headline change is a single, focused improvement: dispatcher support has been added to the jooa11y accessibility plugin, contributed by Harald Leithner. This update refines how the accessibility checker fires across the site, improving reliability for teams that rely on jooa11y as part of their content workflow.
The broader Joomla 6.1 feature set — built across three Alpha and three Beta releases since November 2025 — remains intact. Developers can review the full list of committed changes in the GitHub milestone.
For extension developers, the Joomla team has published a detailed guide on potential backward compatibility issues in Joomla 6.1 — required reading before upgrading or testing extensions.
The Road to Joomla 6.1 Stable
The 6.1 cycle kicked off in late November 2025 and has moved through three Alpha builds, three Beta builds, and now three Release Candidates on a consistent fortnightly cadence:
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Alpha 1 25 November 2025
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Alpha 2 23 December 2025
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Alpha 3 20 January 2026
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Beta 1 — Feature Freeze 17 February 2026
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Beta 2 03 March 2026
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Beta 3 17 March 2026
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RC1 — Language Freeze begins 31 March 2026
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RC2 07 April 2026
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RC3 — This release 13 April 2026
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Stable Release — General Availability 14 April 2026
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The release package is available directly from the official GitHub releases page. For those who want to track the very latest commits right up to the stable release, the nightly build packages are updated every night.
Newcomers who want a quick way to explore the release without setting up a local environment can launch a free hosted Joomla 6 test site at launch.joomla.org — no server configuration required.
How the Community Can Help
The Joomla Project is asking the community to focus on one thing before stable: testing. Extension developers in particular are encouraged to install their add-ons on an RC3 environment and verify compatibility, then report any issues found at issues.joomla.org.
Developers can also join the extension development channel on Mattermost at joomlacommunity.cloud.mattermost.com to coordinate with the broader ecosystem and get early notice of any last-minute changes before the stable release.
Documentation contributions are also welcome. The developer manual at manual.joomla.org remains open for updates — particularly around the 6.0→6.1 migration path and new API changes introduced in this cycle.
What This Means for Joomla Site Owners
For site owners running Joomla 5.x or 6.0, the upcoming 6.1 stable release represents a straightforward minor upgrade. No major platform rewrites, no forced migration — just new features and improvements on top of the existing 6.x foundation.
The smart move right now is to monitor your extension providers. Check whether the plugins and templates you rely on have published Joomla 6.1 compatibility notes. With stable only hours away, most maintained extensions should have updates ready at or shortly after launch day.
Joomla 6.1 Arrives Tomorrow
With RC3 published and a language freeze in place, the Joomla 6.1 stable release is effectively on the launchpad. The April 14, 2026 target date holds, and the project team has expressed confidence in the build quality coming into the final stretch.
Watch the official Joomla announcements page for the stable release post. If you find a bug in RC3 before then, there's still time to file it — every report helps ship a cleaner product.
