Joomla work, including the sites everyone else turned down
Most Joomla enquiries are a site stuck on Joomla 3, past end of life, where the original developer is gone and the extensions it depends on were abandoned years ago. That’s work we take on — along with ordinary development on sites already running the current version.
What we take on
Joomla 3 migration
Moving onto the supported line. The content comes across; the template and most extensions are new work. See below for why.
Extension work
Custom components, modules and plugins, and replacing abandoned third-party extensions with something maintained.
Template development
Custom templates and overrides, and rebuilding a Joomla 3 template for the current version rather than patching it.
Joomla ecommerce
VirtueMart and HikaShop stores — fixes, payment and shipping configuration, and migration when the store has outgrown the platform.
Security on old versions
An unsupported Joomla install is among the most reliably exploited things on the web. We’ll tell you exactly how exposed you are.
Migration off, when it’s time
To WordPress or WooCommerce, with the SEF URLs mapped so rankings survive.
Why Joomla 3 isn’t a simple update
Joomla 4 was a rebuild of the platform, not an increment. The front-end framework changed, the media manager was replaced, the old JavaScript libraries were dropped, and the extension API changed underneath everything.
What that means in practice:
- Your template won’t come across. Joomla 3 templates were built on an older framework. The design can be reproduced; the template itself is new work.
- Extensions are the real cost. Each one is a decision — a current version exists, a replacement exists, core now covers it, or it needs writing. The estimate lives in that list, not in your page count.
- Abandoned extensions are common. Joomla’s developer base thinned out, and plenty of once-popular extensions were never updated for Joomla 4.
- Custom code needs rewriting. Components written for Joomla 3 don’t run unmodified on the current API.
Send us a list of installed extensions and your Joomla version and we can scope it properly. Before that list, nobody can give you an honest number.
How exposed an old install is
Joomla 3 reached end of life in 2023. Past end of life means the security team no longer issues patches, so anything found after that date stays open permanently.
- It isn’t personal. Unsupported installs are found by automated scanning that works through known vulnerabilities against every address it can reach.
- Extensions are the usual way in, more often than core. An abandoned extension with a published vulnerability is an open door with a public address.
- Hardening buys time, not safety. A firewall in front of an unpatched install reduces the odds. It doesn’t close the hole.
If the site still earns, the sequence is: contain the exposure now, then plan the migration as a budgeted project rather than an emergency at 2am. A free audit tells you which situation you’re in.
How a Joomla 3 migration runs
Audit the extension list and custom code
Every extension gets a decision and every piece of custom code gets read. This is the step that turns a guess into a quote.
Map the SEF URLs before anything moves
Joomla’s search-engine-friendly URLs are what Google indexed and what other sites link to. The map is built first, so nothing launches without a redirect behind it.
Rebuild the template on the current version
Matching the existing design unless you want it changed — which is often the moment to change it, since the work is being done anyway.
Migrate content, repeatedly
Articles, categories, users and media, re-run as the structure is corrected. The old site stays live and authoritative throughout.
Launch with redirects already live
Then 30 days watching Search Console for 404s, because migration problems surface after launch rather than during it.
Common questions
Should we migrate to the current Joomla, or move off it?
Stay on Joomla if your content model is genuinely complex, you use its access levels and multilingual handling, or you have in-house Joomla skill. Move off if the site is essentially a brochure site or blog, if your own team can’t edit it, or if every quote you get comes back high — that last one is a supply problem that gets worse each year. We’ll give you a straight answer after the audit.
Our Joomla developer disappeared. Can you take over?
Yes, and it’s how most of these start. It begins with an audit, because we need to know what’s custom and what’s stock before touching anything. Undocumented custom components are readable — it takes time, and we quote that time up front rather than finding it later.
Will we lose our Google rankings?
Not if the URL map is built before the content moves. Rewriting content doesn’t lose rankings; changing or deleting URLs does. Conflating the two is why most platform migrations lose traffic. More under search engine optimization.
What about our VirtueMart store?
We work on VirtueMart and HikaShop. Be aware that store extensions tend to be the hardest part of a Joomla migration, and for a store that’s central to the business the honest recommendation is often WooCommerce or Shopify, where the ecosystem is far deeper.
Can you just keep it secure instead of migrating?
For a year or two, sometimes. It means hardening at the server and firewall layer, removing abandoned extensions where possible, and accepting that some components will never be patched. We’ll tell you what remains exposed rather than implying it’s solved.
Send us your extension list
That, your Joomla version, and what’s currently going wrong. Enough for us to tell you whether this is a security job, a migration, or a move off Joomla.