Joomla has achieved a major new milestone: this well known open source CMS has been recognized as a digital public good by the Digital Public Goods Alliance, an initiative backed by the United Nations. This well known open source CMS has been recognized as a digital public good by the Digital Public Goods Alliance, an initiative backed by the United Nations.
The Joomla team itself wanted to make it clear in its article that the distinction does not apply to the association that supports the project, but only to Joomla as a digital solution, which reinforces its role as a technology serving public administration, organizations and technical teams that require solid foundations to operate in open and auditable environments.
The achievement is no small matter, it is not awarded to just anyone. The international registry of the Digital Public Goods Alliance evaluates each candidate using public and verifiable criteria, which adds context and gives greater prestige to the recognition granted to Joomla.
To reach digital public good status, you must meet the Digital Public Goods Standard, which requires recognized open licenses, security and data protection safeguards, legal and ethical compliance, contribution to the SDGs, transparent governance, long term sustainability and a strong community commitment.
This framework not only encourages open source, it also prioritizes how the project is governed, how its evolution is audited and how its continuity is ensured beyond the enthusiasm of a specific stage of development.
The distinction underscores Joomla’s status as one of the most reliable and adaptable open source platforms. In practical terms, the recognition makes it easier for public procurement teams, data owners and legal departments to rely on an external standard to justify choosing a technology that meets demanding requirements without licensing costs and with a living ecosystem.
From an industry perspective, the digital public good label acts as an adoption accelerator in projects. For those who have not yet worked with Joomla, the news opens a clear entry point, since the recognition functions as a shortcut to trust.
Joomla joins a long list of CMS and technologies accepted as a public good. Drupal recently obtained this accolade, while, interestingly, WordPress is still not on the list. Joomla thus joins Fedora Linux, LibreOffice, Typo3, Wikipedia and many more.
* Original article written in Spanish, translated with AI and reviewed in English by Jorge Mediavilla.
