Craft CMS 6 is currently in development, with beta releases expected around Q3 2026 and general availability targeted for Q4 2026. Pixel & Tonic has shared substantial detail about what’s planned, giving us a clear picture of where Craft is heading.
The Release Timeline
Based on Pixel & Tonic’s announced roadmap, we’re looking at roughly a year until beta releases become available. General availability will follow after beta testing identifies and resolves issues. This timeline could shift based on development realities, but it provides a reasonable planning horizon.
When Craft 6 reaches general availability, Craft 5 automatically becomes Long-Term Support (LTS). From that point, Craft 5 will receive security updates for five years. This means sites on Craft 5 have no pressure to upgrade immediately and can evaluate Craft 6 thoroughly before migrating.
Major New Features
Pixel & Tonic has outlined several substantial additions planned for Craft 6:
Content Releases allow grouping related changes across multiple entries for coordinated publishing. Instead of publishing individual pieces separately, you can prepare entire content campaigns and release them simultaneously.
Scheduled Drafts extend Craft’s existing draft functionality with time-based publishing. Create content in advance and schedule it to go live at specific times without manual intervention.
Content Importing brings native import capabilities into Craft’s core. Currently, content migration typically requires custom scripting or third-party plugins. Built-in importing should simplify content migrations and regular data updates.
Content Approval Workflows add editorial oversight directly to Craft. Define approval processes where content requires review before publication, supporting organisations with established editorial hierarchies.
Edit Page Commenting enables collaboration within the control panel. Authors, editors, and stakeholders can discuss content directly alongside the work rather than through separate communication channels.
Element Activity Logs provide visibility into content history. Track who changed what and when, useful for auditing, troubleshooting, and understanding content evolution over time.
The Laravel Migration
Perhaps the most significant technical change: Craft 6 moves from the Yii 2 framework to Laravel. This represents substantial internal restructuring. Laravel offers modern PHP practices, extensive documentation, and a massive developer community.
Pixel & Tonic recognises this creates plugin compatibility challenges. They’re building a backward compatibility adapter specifically to help existing plugins continue working during the transition period. This adapter should reduce the immediate burden on plugin developers whilst giving them time to migrate to Laravel patterns properly.
For site owners, the framework change is largely invisible. Your templates won’t care about the underlying framework. The migration primarily affects plugin developers and anyone with custom modules or deep system integrations.
Control Panel Improvements
Craft 6 includes visual and accessibility improvements to the control panel. Dark mode arrives as a built-in option. The interface moves to a mobile-first design approach, making content authoring work better on phones and tablets.
Accessibility receives meaningful attention, targeting WCAG 2.2 compliance. This benefits all users but particularly helps organisations with accessibility requirements or content teams that include people using assistive technologies.
What This Means for Your Site
If you’re currently on Craft 5, you’re in an excellent position. You’re running the current version and will continue receiving updates for years. When Craft 6 releases, you can evaluate its features and determine whether they justify the upgrade effort for your specific needs.
Craft 4 users should plan to upgrade to Craft 5 well before Craft 6 releases. This two-step approach (4 to 5, then eventually 5 to 6) is less rushed than trying to jump directly to Craft 6 whilst also dealing with deprecated Craft 4 features.
Sites still on Craft 3 or earlier need to prioritize upgrading now. The longer you wait, the more difficult migrations become. Multiple major versions of accumulated changes create compounding complexity.
Planning Ahead
Knowing Craft 6’s direction helps inform current decisions. If content approval workflows or scheduled publishing would solve problems you face today, you might build interim solutions or adjust processes knowing native features are coming. Understanding the Laravel migration helps with plugin selection and custom development architectural choices.
We’re monitoring Craft 6 development and will begin testing with beta releases as they become available. This hands-on experience will help us guide clients through eventual migrations when the time comes.
If you want to discuss how Craft 6 might affect your site or need help planning upgrades to position yourself well for the future, get in touch. We can assess your current situation and create a sensible roadmap that aligns with your needs and Craft’s evolution.