Two years after taking over J2Store, we are ending J2Store 3 releases on October 19, 2026. Here is the full roadmap for J2Store 3 and 4, and what to do next.
The roadmap, plainly
Let's get straight to the point
If your store is still running on J2Store 3, plan your move. Act before October 19, 2026.
"End of life" isn't a vague warning label. For J2Store 3, it means, starting on that date:
- No security patches, including for issues discovered after that date.
- No support requests answered for the 3.x line.
The date isn't arbitrary, and it isn't sudden. In October 19, 2024 we took over maintenance of J2Store. Every release since has included a working, documented migration path to J2Store 4 alongside it. Two years is the runway we promised ourselves we'd give you before drawing the line, and October 19, 2026 is that line.
Why now, and why this platform
This is about more than J2Store. It's about what J2Store 3 is built on.
Joomla 3 itself reached end of life in August 2023. From that point, the only thing standing between a Joomla 3 site and an unpatched core was Joomla's paid Extended Long Term Support (eLTS) program. eLTS itself ended on February 17, 2025. Since that date, there is no version of Joomla 3, at any price, that receives security fixes from Joomla for the CMS core itself.
We have been patching J2Store 3 anyway, well past that point. We released hot fixes for unauthenticated file-upload vulnerability, a batch of stored-XSS, coupon and voucher replay, and shipping-charge issues... Real fixes, for real reports.
We can keep hardening the extension. We can't secure the ground it's standing on. At some point, continuing to patch J2Store 3 does more to reassure people than to protect them.
Rather than let that support quietly erode (a fix here, a “best effort” there) until nobody can tell you what's covered, we're committing to a hard, public date, announced in advance to act on.
What “the roadmap” means going forward
This isn't a one-time cutoff notice. Starting now, J2Store support tracks Joomla's own major-version cadence, one step behind, with a fixed runway:
- J2Store 4 (now branded J2Commerce) covers Joomla 4, 5, and 6, and is still actively maintained today.
- Its own end of life is set for October 19, 2027, timed to land around Joomla 7's release, so support for a given J2Store/J2Commerce line ends roughly when the Joomla version it targets stops being the current one.
- J2Commerce 6, the newest line, is already available for stores that want to move now rather than later, with an official tool to bring your J2Commerce 4 data across.
What to do next
If you're still on J2Store 3
Migrate to J2Store 4. This is the documented, supported path, and it's the same one every release since October 2024 has pointed to.
- Migration guide: J2Store 3 to J2Store 4
Full walkthrough for moving products, orders, customers, and configuration off the 3.x line.
Because J2Store 4 requires Joomla 4 or later, this migration also means moving your site off Joomla 3 itself. Plan for both at once rather than treating them as separate projects.
If you're already on J2Store 4, on an older Joomla
- Update guide: J2Commerce 4 on Joomla 6
Bring your existing J2Store 4 / J2Commerce 4 install onto the latest supported Joomla version.
Looking further ahead
- Migrator tool: J2Commerce 4 to J2Commerce 6
The official plugin that moves your store's data from J2Store 4 / J2Commerce 4 into the current J2Commerce 6 line.
Before you touch anything, a short checklist
- Take a full backup before starting any migration.
- Run the migration on a staging copy first, not the live store.
- Audit any custom template overrides or third-party checkout/cart add-ons for compatibility with the new version.
- Confirm your host meets the PHP and Joomla version requirements for the target line before you begin.
- Don't skip versions: move through the documented path rather than jumping straight to the newest line.
- Test checkout, shipping, and payment end-to-end on staging before you cut over.
But wait! A new tool is on the way!
We understand that this step by step migration can be the long path to Joomla 6 and J2Commerce 6 and we are now working on a new tool that will allow your data to migrate directly from J2Store 3 to J2Commerce 6. It won't take care of your template, but it will have your store data ready to continue the journey.
J2Store 3 isn't coming back online after October 19, 2026, and neither is our support for it. We'd rather you have six weeks' more notice than you need than six minutes' less. If you're not sure which path applies to your store, or want to talk through the migration before you start, reach out, that's what the runway is for.
Start the J2Store 3 → 4 migration Browse all documentation
J2Commerce is the current name of J2Store, the e-commerce extension for Joomla.
