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Comparison · Mkt Auto
Craft CMS vs Joomla
A side-by-side editorial comparison of Craft CMS and Joomla — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:cmsphp
Craft CMS vs Joomla: at a glance
What is Craft CMS?
Craft CMS 6.0 is a full Laravel rewrite — alpha releases are shipping breaking API changes every week.
Craft CMS 6.0 is mid-alpha, with a complete architectural shift from Yii to Laravel as its foundation. The alpha cadence has been weekly or better, each release removing legacy event-based APIs and replacing them with modern Laravel patterns — service containers, Artisan commands, Inertia/Vue CP pages. Image handling was overhauled to intervention/image with libvips support and new format coverage (HEIC, JPEG XL). The 5.x line continues receiving security and bug patches in parallel.
What is Joomla?
Joomla 6.2 enters beta with AI language fallback, XOAuth2, and a revamped TinyMCE — three tracks shipping in parallel.
Joomla is maintaining three active release tracks simultaneously: 5.4.x receives security patches, 6.1.x gets maintenance updates, and 6.2.0 is now in beta. The 6.2 beta cycle has introduced an AI-assisted language fallback chain, a generic XOAuth2 implementation, an Enum form field type, TinyMCE link selector and native readmore, and secure article preview without requiring a frontend login. A path traversal vulnerability in com_templates was patched across both 5.4.8 and 6.1.3 as simultaneous security releases.
Craft CMS vs Joomla: editorial side-by-side
Craft CMS
5.0MKT AUTO
Craft CMS 6.0 is a full Laravel rewrite — alpha releases are shipping breaking API changes every week.
◆ Current state
Craft CMS 6.0 is mid-alpha, with a complete architectural shift from Yii to Laravel as its foundation. The alpha cadence has been weekly or better, each release removing legacy event-based APIs and replacing them with modern Laravel patterns — service containers, Artisan commands, Inertia/Vue CP pages. Image handling was overhauled to intervention/image with libvips support and new format coverage (HEIC, JPEG XL). The 5.x line continues receiving security and bug patches in parallel.
◆ Where it's heading
Every alpha release trades backward compatibility for a cleaner platform foundation. Plugin authors are absorbing breaking changes in batches, with a compatibility shim (yii2-adapter) as the bridge. The CP frontend is moving steadily to Inertia/Vue, and the fluent component APIs suggest a design system consolidation. Once the alpha phase closes, Craft 6 will require full plugin rewrites — the ecosystem disruption is the price of the architectural cleanup.
◆ Prediction
The next alpha releases will focus on stabilizing the plugin API surface and filling gaps in the Inertia/Vue CP migration. A beta tag is plausible within 2-3 months if the breaking-change cadence slows. Expect the yii2-adapter compatibility layer to become a first-party migration guide rather than a long-term support path.
Joomla
6.3MKT AUTO
Joomla 6.2 enters beta with AI language fallback, XOAuth2, and a revamped TinyMCE — three tracks shipping in parallel.
◆ Current state
Joomla is maintaining three active release tracks simultaneously: 5.4.x receives security patches, 6.1.x gets maintenance updates, and 6.2.0 is now in beta. The 6.2 beta cycle has introduced an AI-assisted language fallback chain, a generic XOAuth2 implementation, an Enum form field type, TinyMCE link selector and native readmore, and secure article preview without requiring a frontend login. A path traversal vulnerability in com_templates was patched across both 5.4.8 and 6.1.3 as simultaneous security releases.
◆ Where it's heading
The '6.2 beta' label is doing real work: the release cycle is disciplined, with two betas already out and a feature set that has mostly stabilized. The AI-prefixed items in the changelogs (language fallback chain, login module configuration) suggest a push to make content delivery smarter across multilingual sites — though the scope is narrow so far. The three-track release model is a deliberate trade-off between stability for existing installs and forward development.
◆ Prediction
Joomla 6.2.0 stable should ship within 4-6 weeks given the beta pace. The AI-prefix features will likely expand in 6.3, particularly around content personalization and multilingual workflows. A fourth track (6.2.x security) will open once 6.2.0 ships.
Alternatives to Craft CMS and Joomla
Other Mkt Auto products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either Craft CMS or Joomla.
Buttondown
Buttondown ships steady subscription reliability fixes with a jump in automation capacity.
Lemlist
Lemlist ships domain purchasing, real-time lead scoring, and phone enrichment — the cold-email tool is becoming infrastructure.
Dotdigital
Dotdigital ships a loyalty module and AI agents, pushing beyond email automation into retention.
Activepieces
ActivePieces is fighting a multi-front release instability with simultaneous hotfix trains across three version lines.
Formidable Forms
Formidable Forms ships weekly across six add-ons with an MCP server compatibility fix landing quietly
See all Craft CMS alternatives → · See all Joomla alternatives →
Recent activity from Craft CMS and Joomla
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 12d agoCraft CMSCraft CMS 6.0.0-alpha.18
- 13d agoJoomlaJoomla 6.2.0 Beta 2
- 26d agoCraft CMSCraft CMS 6.0.0-alpha.17
- 26d agoJoomlaJoomla 6.2.0 Beta 1 ⚡
- 27d agoJoomlaJoomla! 5.4.8
- 27d agoJoomlaJoomla! 6.1.3
- 29d agoJoomlaJoomla 6.1.3 Release Candidate 2
- 1mo agoJoomlaJoomla 5.4.8 Release Candidate 2
- 1mo agoCraft CMSCraft CMS 6.0.0-alpha.16
- 1mo agoCraft CMS5.10.13.2
- 1mo agoCraft CMS5.10.13.1
- 1mo agoCraft CMSCraft CMS 6.0.0-alpha.15
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Craft CMS and Joomla?
Both compete on the same themes — cms, php — within Mkt Auto. Joomla is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 5.0), with 1 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is Craft CMS better than Joomla?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Joomla is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 5.0), with 1 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Mkt Auto products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to Craft CMS?
Top Craft CMS alternatives in Mkt Auto are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Craft CMS alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/craft-cms for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to Joomla?
Top Joomla alternatives in Mkt Auto are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Joomla alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/joomla for the full list with editorial commentary on each.