Joomla Website Design and Migration UK

Joomla support dates you need to know

Every Joomla major version has a fixed support window. Once it ends, newly discovered security holes are not patched. The Joomla developer roadmap, checked in October 2026, gives these dates:

Joomla 4 reached end of life on 14 October 2025, as announced in Joomla's release news, and Joomla 3 reached end of life in August 2023. Joomla offers a paid extended support service for older versions, but for most small businesses that only delays the decision.

Joomla's strengths and weaknesses

Joomla is free, open-source and capable. It has built-in multilingual support, flexible user access levels and custom fields, which is why it was popular for clubs, schools, councils and membership sites.

The downsides are practical rather than technical:

• A smaller ecosystem. According to W3Techs on 18 October 2026, Joomla runs 1.1% of all websites, against 39.6% for WordPress. Fewer developers and extensions means higher costs and more risk when one is abandoned.
• Harder for editors. Many staff find the admin less intuitive than the WordPress block editor.
• Major upgrades need care. Templates and extensions written for one version often need replacing for the next.

Upgrade or migrate?

We look at what your site does and recommend one of two routes.

Stay on Joomla

Sensible if the site relies on Joomla's multilingual or access-level features, your team already knows the admin, and your extensions have current versions. Joomla's documentation notes that Joomla 4.4 sites can upgrade in place to Joomla 5, because it is an upgrade rather than a migration. Joomla 3 sites need a full migration to a newer version.

Move to WordPress

Usually better for small business sites where staff want easy editing and you want a large pool of developers. We move articles, categories, menus, images and users, rebuild the design on WordPress, and redirect every old URL so search engines follow the move.

How a Joomla project runs

1. Audit. Joomla version, PHP version, template, extensions, custom code and traffic from Search Console.
2. Content inventory. Every page and its URL listed, with thin or outdated pages flagged for merging or removal.
3. Staging build. The upgraded or migrated site is built on a private copy. Your live site keeps running.
4. Redirect map. Old Joomla URLs, including any with index.php or component parameters, are redirected to clean new addresses.
5. Launch and check. Forms tested, sitemap submitted, crawl errors monitored for the first weeks.

Smaller migrations start from £500 + VAT. Large multilingual or membership sites get a fixed quote. See our prices or request a quote.

PHP versions and hosting

Joomla support dates are only half the story. Your hosting company also retires old PHP versions, and an older Joomla site can stop working the day the server is upgraded. Joomla 3 sites are especially exposed because they were built for PHP versions that are now well past their own end of life.

During the audit we check which PHP version your site runs, which version your host plans to move to, and whether your template and extensions will survive the change. If they won't, we plan the upgrade or migration around your host's timetable rather than waiting for the site to break. We also take a full backup of files and database before any work starts, so nothing is lost if an old extension misbehaves.

The cost of doing nothing

An unsupported Joomla site keeps working until it doesn't. The usual triggers are a host upgrading PHP and the site breaking, an old extension being exploited, or Google flagging the site as hacked. Fixing any of those in a hurry costs more than a planned move. If your site holds customer data, UK GDPR expects you to keep it secure, and unpatched software makes that hard to argue.

If you are not ready for a full rebuild, a redesign on a supported platform can be phased. Get in touch for a straight answer on your site.

What you get

• An audit of your Joomla version, PHP version, template and every extension
• A written recommendation: upgrade Joomla, or migrate to WordPress
• Content, menus, users and media moved with 301 redirects from old URLs
• A new mobile-first design on whichever platform you choose
• Forms, SEO settings and Search Console checked after launch
• Training for your team on the new admin

Prices and how it works

Websites from £250 + VAT, business websites from £500 + VAT and ecommerce from £750 + VAT. Small changes are £45 an hour + VAT. You get a fixed quote before we start.

1. Free chat

   Tell us about your business, who your customers are and what the website needs to do. No charge, no obligation.

2. Fixed quote

   You get a fixed price and a clear list of what is included, in writing, before anything starts.

3. Design

   We plan the pages and design the site around your customers, then share it for your comments.

4. Build and test

   We build it mobile-first, write or polish the copy, set up SEO foundations and test it on real phones.

5. Launch and hand over

   We launch, connect analytics and Search Console, and show you how to update it. You own it all.

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