Wondering whether your current platform is limiting what your website can do?

interGen loves Joomla. It is the open-source platform we use to build, host, and support most of our clients' websites—and one reason we can help organizations build websites they can continue to rely on.

Joomla is a content management system, usually called a CMS.

A CMS works somewhat like the catalog and circulation system in a library. The books are still the part visitors came to use, but the system keeps track of where everything belongs, who can manage it, and how it can be found.

On a website, the CMS organizes pages, images, documents, menus, forms, users, and other information. It gives authorized staff a structured way to update the site without editing its underlying code.

The CMS also affects something visitors may not see: how much control your organization retains over the website after it launches.

That is one of the primary reasons interGen uses Joomla.

Your website remains under your control

Joomla is open-source software. It is not a rented website builder controlled by a single commercial platform.

A Joomla website can be hosted by different providers. It can be maintained by different qualified developers. Its files, database, and source code can be accessed, moved, reviewed, and adapted as an organization’s needs change.

That becomes important when:

• A hosting or vendor relationship ends
• Platform pricing changes
• The website needs functionality its original setup cannot provide
• Responsibility moves to another staff member or department
• The organization outgrows a system that once worked well
• A provider is no longer able to support the website

Moving a website still requires planning and technical work. Custom development, third-party extensions, hosting requirements, and the condition of the site all affect how complicated that transition will be.

Joomla does not make every transition effortless. It gives your organization options.

The underlying platform does not require you to remain with interGen—or any other single provider—forever.

An award-winning open-source platform

In March 2026, Joomla won Best Free CMS and Best Open Source CMS in the 14th Annual CMS Critic Awards.

The Best Open Source CMS award was Joomla’s third consecutive win in that category, following wins in 2024 and 2025.

Awards alone are not a reason to choose a content management system. Continued recognition does show that Joomla remains an active and respected option more than 20 years after the project began.

That longevity matters when an organization expects its website to remain useful for years rather than until the next redesign.

Joomla is free in more than one sense

Joomla can be downloaded and used without paying a license fee for the core software.  The more important freedom is what an organization is allowed to do with it.

Joomla is released under the GNU General Public License. That license allows people to use the software, study how it works, modify it, and share it.

For an interGen client, the practical consequences are clearer than the licensing language:

• You retain access to the website’s files and database.
• You can move the website to another suitable hosting provider.
• Another qualified Joomla developer can work on it.
• The platform can be extended or modified as requirements change.
• Joomla cannot be converted into a closed product by one commercial owner.
• Your continued relationship with interGen does not depend on technical lock-in.

We want clients to remain with interGen because the ongoing support is valuable, not because we have made it unnecessarily difficult for them to leave.

Learn more about the GNU General Public License and the principles of free software.

Open source does not mean unmanaged

There is no license charge for Joomla’s core software. There are still real costs involved in operating a dependable website.

A Joomla website may require:

• Secure and properly configured hosting
• Core software updates
• Extension updates and licenses
• Reliable backups
• Security monitoring
• Compatibility testing
• Performance management
• Accessibility improvements
• Technical support
• Custom development
• Planning for future changes

Many Joomla websites use professionally developed extensions for forms, calendars, directories, document management, e-commerce, and other specialized functions.

Some of those extensions require recurring license fees. Those fees support continued development, compatibility updates, security releases, and technical support.

Avoiding every software cost is rarely a sound long-term goal. A free extension that has been abandoned can become far more expensive once it creates a security problem or prevents the website from being updated.

A flexible foundation for complex websites

Joomla includes tools for managing pages, menus, media, categories, users, permissions, workflows, and other common website functions.

It can also support more specialized requirements, including:

• Event calendars
• Online forms
• Staff and department directories
• Searchable document libraries
• Member-only content
• Multilingual websites
• Detailed user permissions
• Content review and approval processes
• Connections with external systems
• Custom applications and integrations

Joomla’s extension system allows us to use established software for many common needs instead of building every feature from the beginning.

That can reduce development time and cost, but installing an extension is the easy part. The harder questions concern whether it is secure, actively supported, compatible with the rest of the site, and likely to remain sustainable.

interGen evaluates those factors before making an extension part of a website we will be responsible for supporting.

Joomla is built by a community

Joomla is developed and governed by an international open-source community rather than one commercial platform company.

Volunteers contribute code, documentation, translations, testing, accessibility improvements, support, governance, events, and other work needed to sustain the project.

Community governance involves tradeoffs. Decisions may take longer than they would inside a company controlled by one executive team. Technical requirements still change. New Joomla versions are released, and older extensions eventually reach the end of their supported life.

The difference is where control resides.

Joomla’s future is not determined by one company’s investors, acquisition plans, subscription strategy, or decision to pursue a different market.

For organizations that expect to depend on their websites for many years, that independence has practical value.

interGen’s involvement in the Joomla community

interGen has worked with Joomla for years, but our involvement has extended beyond using the software for client websites.

Members of our team have participated in Joomla events including:

• Joomla World Conference in Rome
• Joomla World Conference in Boston
• JoomlaDay Chicago
• Joomla Developers Conference in Chicago
• JoomlaDay Florida

interGen president Brian Mitchell has served as a member and team leader of multiple Joomla Teams, and has served as an Officer.  That involvement gave interGen direct experience with Joomla’s community, governance, and long-term development—not merely the experience of installing the software for client projects.

It also reflects our belief that companies benefiting from open-source software should contribute to the communities sustaining it.

Why interGen uses Joomla

We use Joomla because it provides a strong balance of structure, flexibility, and organizational control.

It works particularly well for organizations whose websites need to:

• Remain useful for many years
• Grow beyond a basic collection of pages
• Support multiple departments or content managers
• Control who can view, create, edit, or approve content
• Add new features as organizational needs change
• Avoid dependence on a closed website platform
• Remain transferable to another provider

The platform is only one part of what makes a website dependable.

A well-built Joomla website can still deteriorate when updates are deferred, extensions are neglected, backups are inconsistent, or nobody is clearly responsible for what happens after launch.

interGen provides that ongoing responsibility.

We manage hosting, software maintenance, backups, security oversight, support, training, and technical planning. We address many routine issues before they require escalation, while keeping the website on a platform your organization continues to control.

Joomla provides the foundation. interGen provides the continuity required to keep that foundation secure, stable, and useful.

Put Joomla to work for your organization

To learn more about what Joomla and interGen can provide for your company or organization, call (888) WEB-GET1 or (888) 932-4381, or send us an email.

We will help you plan a website that meets your organization’s needs today without giving up control of what happens to it later.

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interGen Web Solutions is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Joomla! Project or Open Source Matters. The Joomla! logo is used under a limited license granted by Open Source Matters, the trademark holder in the United States and other countries.

One of the reasons we love Joomla! is because they consistently adapt to stay current with the fast pace of technology in today’s world.  What that looks like today: Joomla 5 is currently available.  Not only is interGen building all of our new client sites in Joomla 5, we are also automatically updating any of our Joomla 4 sites to the new Joomla 5 platform at no cost.   Learn more

Every Joomla 4 migration that we’ve done is also compatible with Joomla 5.  This means that the earliest your website might need another migration would be Fall 2027 - when Joomla 5 will no longer be supported.  

Migration can be a complicated process that almost always requires significant web developer expertise.  Most extensions have a well-defined process for migrating the content and functionality of your current site to Joomla 4. 

If you want to try to do the migration on your own, we can set up a development version of your site on the server where you can work on trying to migrate yourself.  The cost for that dev site is $25/month (or $250/year).  If you need interGen’s assistance once you get started, we would be happy to help at our hourly development rate of $150/hour.

We provide this information for transparency - we STRONGLY recommend you not attempt the migration without an experienced developer.

The terms migration, upgrade, and update are commonly used interchangeably, but they are different processes. 

An Update is when you install the newest stable version of a program or extension over the top of the older version (all data and settings are retained).  Updates include bug fixes, security fixes, and can include several patches.  They increment update releases (sometimes called bug or patch releases) by the third digit (3.10.9 to 3.10.10) and happen ad hoc whenever needed.   For example, in June, Joomla 3.10.10 was released that included a few very minor bug fixes.  

We include updates as part of the weekly maintenance we do on your site.  

An Upgrade is similar to an update, but will often include new features in addition to simple fixes and patches.   An upgrade is when an application is moved from one minor point release to another.  They increment the releases by the second digit (3.9 to 3.10) and are scheduled to happen every six months. For example, in August of 2021, Joomla 3.10.0 was released. The key new feature provided in this upgrade, was a compatibility checker that helps make the migration to Joomla 4 easier.   

Upgrades are also included in the weekly maintenance we do on your site. 

A Migration is the most complex as it involves “migrating” data from an old system to a new system. Migrations often include major software overhauls, and they increment releases by the first digit (Joomla 3 to Joomla 4).  

Migrations involve creating a staged or sandbox version of your site (not accessible to the public) and working through the process to export all your content, extensions, templates, and data from the old software and importing it into the new software.  Because of the significant software overhaul involved in migrations, the import process often causes major site errors that have to be identified and resolved.  Sometimes, if sites are significantly out of date they have to be completely rebuilt in the new software version. Migrations happen years apart and have historically gotten less complicated (and less costly) with each major release of Joomla. There have only been 4 major releases (3 migrations) since Joomla was created 17 years ago.

Due to the infrequency, expertise, and time required to do migrations, these are not included in regular site maintenance.  We work with our clients to plan for migrations for both Joomla and other extensions in a way that allows you to budget for the costs and causes little to no downtime for your website.