XF 2.4 XenForo 2.4 status and what's new under the hood?

Where are we?​

TL;DR: We're working hard to release XenForo 2.4 ASAP, but it's taking longer than expected due to scope changes and strategic decisions to wait for certain upstream developments that will benefit the long-term roadmap. Here's an analogy to explain why:

Software development is like planning a cross-country expedition with multiple destinations.

When you set out for version 2.4, you're not just driving to the next town over. You're charting a course through unknown territory with several strategic stops planned along the way - each representing a major milestone or feature release.

But the challenge is the landscape keeps changing along the journey.

• New roads open up (better technologies emerge)
• Bridges get washed out (dependencies break or become obsolete)
• You discover scenic routes that would benefit all future travellers (opportunities for architectural improvements)
• Weather conditions shift (market demands or user needs evolve)
• Your vehicle needs unexpected maintenance (technical debt must be addressed)

You can't just focus on reaching the immediate next stop. You must consider how each decision affects the entire journey ahead. Taking a shortcut to reach 2.4 faster might leave you stranded when trying to reach 3.0, 4.0 or even 5.0.

This is why scope changes occur: experienced developers are constantly recalibrating the route based on new information, ensuring the expedition can successfully reach not just the next destination, but all the strategic waypoints that follow.

The delays aren't detours, rather they're course corrections that keep the long-term journey viable.

To be slightly less cryptic, these are some of the specific challenges we have faced along the way:

A new Tiptap version is coming​

When we announced that Tiptap is coming to XenForo 2.4 it was 95% complete, and we then took a bit of a pause to work on other projects, which we have talked about since and will be discussing in this thread. Since then, Tiptap have announced Tiptap V3 which is currently in beta. Given how core the editor is to the forum experience, it makes a lot of sense to ship XenForo 2.4 with Tiptap V3 rather than Tiptap V2 as originally planned. While the changes involved are not too extensive, we also don't want to ship 2.4 with a dependency that is still in beta and subject to change. While we are not planning to wait for Tiptap V3 to be stable, necessarily, we do at least want to give it a little bit more time so we have a higher degree of confidence that we're shipping a stable editing experience.

We started talking about a rewrite (again)​

While this is not currently the direction we've decided to go in, it's responsible for us to at least consider all routes available to us to help us reach our destination.

After nearly 8 years since the release of XenForo 2.0, many of the technologies we use are showing their age, many of the decisions we made have started to slow us down more than we would like, and as a framework, XenForo becomes a less productive framework to work with. The solution to this problem can be to start from scratch, but we have ultimately decided that this is not something we need to do at this stage.

Instead, over the next few versions, including 2.4, we will be attempting to make iterative architectural changes to the framework so that we all have greater tools at our disposal to improve both the developer and user experience, particularly focusing on the implementation of developer tools and features that have become commonplace in other frameworks, such as Laravel.

Some of our best features are simply not finished​

There are one or two features that we see requested consistently from customers in our community forums and feedback channels, and we're excited to confirm they are coming in 2.4! However, it serves no one well if we release such highly-anticipated features before they are ready and before they have the usual level of quality, polish, and extensibility you would expect from a XenForo release. We'd rather take the extra time to get them right than rush them out and disappoint users with a subpar implementation that requires immediate patches or lacks the flexibility for customisation. We'll be sharing exciting details about what these features are and how they work in the coming weeks, so stay tuned!

We can't keep up!​

I just counted and there are about 15 features that have been merged or are pending to be merged into XF 2.4 that we haven't announced yet. Some of these are smaller and aren't worthy of a dedicated HYS of their own (so they'll probably be rolled into a "miscellaneous" HYS or two), and some of these are going to be mentioned below, but while we have been "cooking" (as the kids say these days) it has meant that things like code reviews, and writing HYS posts hasn't been easy to balance. There is also potentially more stuff coming from generous contributions from esteemed developers such as @Xon and @digitalpoint, assuming we have time to implement (otherwise they will wait for... a future version).


With all of that now being said, while 2.4 is taking longer than we wanted, we have been busy and we are very much nearing the end of development.

And, while disappointing (to all of us) it is important to maintain perspective. XenForo 2.2 was released in September 2020. XenForo 2.3 was released nearly four years later. XenForo 2.4 is not 3 more years away.

But, you clicked this to find out what's new, right? So let's go.

 

[SoulReplicant]

Nowhere does that say XF will pull an Adobe and abandon those who want a copy of the software to self-host.

Yet.

 

[Suzanne O]

Yet.

They're a small business so don't make up garbage

 

[duderuud]

The last 6 weeks have been the UK summer holidays, so there have been a number of staff breaks/holidays but things will probably be back in full swing next week.

Is that the (official) explanation of why 2.4 is taking so much longer?

 

[Lee]

No lawsuit, no company being sold, nothing like that.

There is lots going on in the background in a good way, XenForo Cloud is booming and one could argue that financially and stability wise the company has never been in a better position.

The last 6 weeks have been the UK summer holidays, so there have been a number of staff breaks/holidays but things will probably be back in full swing next week.

Oh, I built a fence. Isnt it lovely?


View attachment 327126

Fence looks great, funnily enough I enjoy things like this.

I am moving soon, lots of DIY to get on with after

 

[Digital Doctor]

They look like steel-reinforced concrete posts and gravel boards to me.

which are amazing. Not sure i've even seen them before. Must be a UK thing.

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concrete fence posts and "gravel board" and wooden fence panels

Concrete Posts

concrete post - UK Bricks, Timber, Pavers, and Building Supplies

CONCRETE POSTS (EACH)

www.buildland.co.uk

Fence Panels

fence panels - UK Bricks, Timber, Pavers, and Building Supplies

Superior Fence Panels 6ft x 6ft

www.buildland.co.uk

Concrete Gravel Boards

Concrete Gravel Boards - UK Bricks, Timber, Pavers, and Building Supplies

CONCRETE GRAVEL BOARDS (PLAIN) (1825 X 300MM) - 6"

www.buildland.co.uk

I feel the freeze thaw cycles in my neck of the woods could heave the concrete all over the place unless you really got below the frost line.

Cool fence design.

Although it makes me want Concrete Fence Panels

 

[smallwheels]

Oh, I built a fence. Isnt it lovely?

It looks a bit defencive defensive. It clearly needs better options for content discovery! When will the next version (Fence 2.4) be ready? Why hasn't it been ready already months ago? Unacceptable! And what can we expect from Fence 3.0 and when will it be ready? Give a promise!

My hourly is "never doing this ever again"

Is that the (official) explanation of why 2.4 is taking so much longer?

Seems so. Maybe, if you pay enough, Fence 2.4 may be possible. It will however be delayed anyway by ground breaking but complex changes in architecture that are needed to make it future proof for further developments. Should not be a huge problem, as the current Fence version is working fine and it probably does not influence your life too much if Fence 2.4 comes out a couple of months earlier or a couple of months later.

 

[Slavik]

Is that the (official) explanation of why 2.4 is taking so much longer?

Nope. The official explanation is the one Chris provided.

 

[Digital Doctor]

Spoiler: Personal Opinion

My prediction is digialpoint replaces Ashley as a shareholder and Xenforo Framework takes over the Internet in 2026.

 

[Wing]

Spoiler: Personal Opinion

My prediction is digialpoint replaces Ashley as a shareholder and Xenforo Framework takes over the Internet in 2026.

The shareholder was already changed. Looks like a update was made back in June if you look at the business records on Gov.UK

 

[Digital Doctor]

back in June

The poor saga dragged on a long time.
$ettling the details might drag on.

 

[smallwheels]

The shareholder was already changed. Looks like a update was made back in June if you look at the business records on Gov.UK

You really seem to love to create drama, rumors and distrust. The filings you refer to were made in June 2025 but only officially file changes that already happened in 2018 and 2021, so four respectively seven years in the past. Absolutely nothing revolutionary has happened regarding shareholders, neither now nor back then according to those filings. It is all written within those filings and they are publicly accessible. Why then do you create rumors from nothing? What are your intentions in doing so?

 

[Wing]

You really seem to love to create drama, rumors and distrust. The filings you refer to were made in June 2025 but only officially file changes that already happened in 2018 and 2021, so four respectively seven years in the past. Absolutely nothing revolutionary has happened regarding shareholders, neither now nor back then according to those filings. It is all written within those filings and they are publicly accessible. Why then do you create rumors from nothing? What are your intentions in doing so?

How is that creating drama? Was just answering the clarification about shareholders. No one said anything revolutionary happened…

 

[smallwheels]

Was just answering the question about shareholders.

Where exactly was there a question? The post your commented looked more like a joke to me:

Spoiler: Personal Opinion

My prediction is digialpoint replaces Ashley as a shareholder and Xenforo Framework takes over the Internet in 2026.

The shareholder was already changed. Looks like a update was made back in June if you look at the business records on Gov.UK

How is that creating drama?

Falsely suggesting, a shareholder change had happened in June this year when in fact this happend already many years ago is what I would call creating drama, doubts, distrust and destructive rumors. Especially in a situation like the one in this thread atm, where people are speculating wildly and eagerly take up whatever someone claims for their wild phantasies.

 

[Wing]

Where exactly was there a question? The post your commented looked more like a joke to me:






Falsely suggesting, a shareholder change had happened in June this year when in fact this happend already many years ago is what I would call creating drama, doubts, distrust and destructive rumors. Especially in a situation like the one in this thread atm, where people are speculating wildly and eagerly take up whatever someone claims for their wild phantasies.

This is literally all I said "The shareholder was already changed. Looks like a update was made back in June if you look at the business records on Gov.UK"

That is frankly the reality of the records. If I need to link them in here, I can as well - but I don't really see the need. It actually looks like you are just attempting to cause drama and accuse people of things. None of these record changes "cause doubts, distrust, or are destructive rumors". They are simply what is legally documented for the Xenforo company. You will be okay.

 

[Konon]

Roses are red
Violets are blue
Slavik is back ||||||
Chris will be too

 

[PhineasD]

Roses are red
Violets are blue
Slavik is back ||||||
Chris will be too

 

[nodle]

My prediction is digialpoint replaces Ashley as a shareholder and Xenforo Framework takes over the Internet in 2026.

Wait, can we take shares out with Xenforo stock? Here I was investing all my money into @Slavik ® coin.

 

[SoulReplicant]

They're a small business so don't make up garbage

You can tell

 

[Suzanne O]

You can tell

Mate, they're on holidays. They aren't splitting up, nor are they taking people to court.
These guys have families to worry about.
@Slavik and @Chris D have already told us what's happened.
But here we are with some impatient people telling them all to hurry up with some code.
Also we have some people in here who think everything should be given to them on a silver platter.
Pretty sure i reckon they're close to giving us some smaller updates.
It's been almost three months since 2.3.7 has been released.

 

[Grover]

Gratefulness

You know what? I am in the process of letting my antique vBulletin 3.8.11 forum be upgraded to this outstanding state-of-the-art community platform, better known as XenForo.

The other day I just got this feeling of gratefulness when I realised that there is this high quality platform out there, for me (and many others who have the need) to switch to if your current other-brand community package does not serve your needs anymore.

I have been a fan of the Jelsoft produced vBulletin since 2001 (when I started my forum and became a passionate contributor on their company forums) and so when XenForo saw the light of day in 2010 (time indeed flies), developed by the same people (@Kier and @Mike) who were responsible for the fantastic quality of vBulletin in those days (until Internet Brands took over and well…), it was a no-brainer to look forward(s) to XenForo, to propel my community to a new future, software wise.

Some people are eager to see the next XenForo updates roll out and it’s understandable people can get somewhat impatient when you’re excited about new features. I am not sure the way this impatience is expressed sometimes in threads like these is so helpful. Communities often can get caught up in frustration and forget there are real people behind the code. If I was a developer overhere, I wouldn’t want to be confronted with all this negativity, when in the background you are hard at work to give your customers your very best effort.

So I just want to take a moment to recognise the developers and the work they put in behind the scenes. Software development isn’t just about writing code quickly - it’s about making sure everything is stable, secure, and future-proof. Rushed updates often create more problems than they solve, and XenForo’s track record of reliability shows how much care goes into the process.

Instead of focusing (in a negative way) only on what’s maybe missing for you, or on timelines that simply required adjustment, or posting yet another animated gif expressing your frustrations, wouldn’t it be more helpful to show some appreciation? And some respect. Past updates have given us so many tools to run better communities: let’s offer some encouragement to the team as they continue building.

So, to the XenForo devs: thank you for your hard work, patience, and dedication to this forum software package of exceptional quality. Even if bigger updates take longer than some people over here like, people should realise that this product already in it’s current state outshines so much what is out there in the community software world. And to state the obvious: it already gives you what 95% of forum owners need and it comes in a very high quality package. And I am grateful for this.

Keep up the good work!