Minecraft / Practical guide
All Minecraft Versions in Order: Every Update From Java 1.0 to 26.3 With Release Dates
Every major Minecraft Java update and game drop in release order, with its official name, release date and headline features, then every one of the 103 full releases and the numbers behind them, as of 23 October 2026.
ALVIRAN Editorial · Reviewed 2026-10-23
In this guide
Java accounts from the Migrator era
Mojang gave the Migrator cape only to Java accounts that moved to Microsoft before the 2023 deadline, and each listing names its capes.
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All Minecraft versions in order: every major update
This is the Java Edition list, because Java is where Mojang's version numbers started. Names come from Mojang's own update history page, its changelogs and its deep-dive articles; dates come from the launcher's version manifest and Mojang's release posts. Since late 2023 Mojang also ships smaller "game drops" between the big updates, so from 1.20.3 on the list includes every drop.
| Version | Name | Release date | Headline features |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | Adventure Update (with Beta 1.8) | Nov 2011 | The End and the Ender Dragon with its egg, enchanting, potion brewing, nether fortresses, blazes. Mojang calls 1.0.0 the first official release |
| 1.1 | No name used by Mojang | Jan 2012 | Spawn eggs, beaches back in world generation |
| 1.2 | No name used by Mojang (1.2.1) | Mar 2012 | Jungle biomes, ocelots, iron golems, redstone lamps |
| 1.3 | No name used by Mojang (1.3.1) | Aug 2012 | Desert temples, cocoa pods on jungle trees (Mojang) |
| 1.4 | Pretty Scary Update (1.4.2) | Oct 2012 | The Wither, witches, bats, anvils, item frames, flower pots, carrots, potatoes, command blocks |
| 1.5 | Redstone Update | Mar 2013 | Comparators, hoppers, droppers, weighted pressure plates, daylight sensors, nether quartz ore |
| 1.6 | Horse Update (1.6.1) | Jul 2013 | Horses, leads, horse armor |
| 1.7 | The Update that Changed the World (1.7.2) | 25 Oct 2013 | New biomes such as dark forest, ice spikes, mesa, flower forest, mega taiga; stained glass, podzol, pufferfish |
| 1.8 | Bountiful Update | 2 Sep 2014 | Armor stands, rabbits |
| 1.9 | Combat Update | 29 Feb 2016 | Shields, reworked combat, a rebuilt End with chorus fruit and a new boss fight sequence, grass paths |
| 1.10 | Frostburn Update | 8 Jun 2016 | Polar bears, husks, strays, fossils, magma blocks, nether wart blocks |
| 1.11 | Exploration Update | 14 Nov 2016 | Woodland mansions, explorer maps, llamas, totems of undying, illagers, shulker boxes, observers |
| 1.12 | World of Color Update | 7 Jun 2017 | Concrete, glazed terracotta, colored beds, parrots, recipe book, advancements |
| 1.13 | Update Aquatic | 18 Jul 2018 | Coral reefs, drowned, turtles, dolphins, tridents, phantoms, kelp |
| 1.14 | Village & Pillage | 23 Apr 2019 | Rebuilt villages, pillagers and raids, crossbows, foxes, pandas, bamboo, bells, barrels, blast furnaces |
| 1.15 | Buzzy Bees | 10 Dec 2019 | Bees, bee nests and hives, honey |
| 1.16 | Nether Update | 23 Jun 2020 | Netherite, piglins, hoglins, striders, bastion remnants, new Nether biomes |
| 1.17 | Caves & Cliffs: Part I | 8 Jun 2021 | Copper, axolotls, glow squid, goats, powder snow |
| 1.18 | Caves & Cliffs: Part II | 30 Nov 2021 | Higher world, taller mountains, new cave generation, larger ore veins |
| 1.19 | The Wild Update | 7 Jun 2022 | Deep dark, ancient cities, warden, allay, frogs, mangrove swamps, boats with chests |
| 1.20 | Trails & Tales | 7 Jun 2023 | Archaeology, sniffer, camels, cherry groves, armor trims |
| 1.20.3 | Bats and Pots (first game drop) | 5 Dec 2023 | New bat model, decorated pots that store items |
| 1.20.5 | Armored Paws | 23 Apr 2024 | Armadillo, eight new wolf variants, wolf armor |
| 1.21 | Tricky Trials | 13 Jun 2024 | Trial chambers, breeze, bogged, mace, crafter, vaults |
| 1.21.2 | Bundles of Bravery | 22 Oct 2024 | Bundles, Hardcore mode on Realms |
| 1.21.4 | The Garden Awakens | 3 Dec 2024 | Pale garden, the creaking, resin |
| 1.21.5 | Spring to Life | 25 Mar 2025 | Warm and cold farm animal variants, firefly bushes, leaf litter, wildflowers |
| 1.21.6 | Chase the Skies | 17 Jun 2025 | Happy ghast, dried ghast, harnesses, locator bar |
| 1.21.9 | The Copper Age | 30 Sep 2025 | Copper golem, copper tools and armor, copper chests, shelves |
| 1.21.11 | Mounts of Mayhem | 9 Dec 2025 | Spears, nautilus and zombie nautilus, camel husk, parched, nautilus armor |
| 26.1 | Tiny Takeover | 24 Mar 2026 | New baby mob models and sounds, Golden Dandelion, craftable name tags |
| 26.2 | Chaos Cubed | 16 Jun 2026 | Sulfur cube, sulfur caves, cinnabar and sulfur blocks, geysers |
| 26.3 | Wilderness Bound | 15 Sep 2026 | Dappled forest, poplar trees, abandoned camps, cushions, straw beds |
About the dates: for 2011 to 2013 the launcher stores placeholder times (22:00 UTC) and even a wrong month for 1.4.2, so those rows show the month Mojang gives in its own articles. Versions 1.2 to 1.7 are named after the first build the launcher still offers. For 1.12, 1.15, 1.20 and 1.20.3 the launcher shows a timestamp a few days before Mojang's release post, so we use the post. Version 1.0 is commonly dated 18 November 2011; the launcher entry is 17 November 2011, 22:00 UTC.
Every Minecraft Java release, line by line
Counting point releases and hotfixes, Java has 103 full releases. The table groups them by line, so you can see how long each update stayed current and how many fixes it needed.
| Line | Releases | Versions | Last one |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.0 to 1.1 | 2 | 1.0, 1.1 | 1.1, Jan 2012 |
| 1.2 | 5 | 1.2.1 to 1.2.5 | 1.2.5, Mar 2012 |
| 1.3 | 2 | 1.3.1, 1.3.2 | 1.3.2, Aug 2012 |
| 1.4 | 5 | 1.4.2, 1.4.4, 1.4.5, 1.4.6, 1.4.7 | 1.4.7, Dec 2012 |
| 1.5 | 2 | 1.5.1, 1.5.2 | 1.5.2, 25 Apr 2013 |
| 1.6 | 3 | 1.6.1, 1.6.2, 1.6.4 | 1.6.4, 19 Sep 2013 |
| 1.7 | 9 | 1.7.2 to 1.7.10 | 1.7.10, 14 May 2014 |
| 1.8 | 10 | 1.8 to 1.8.9 | 1.8.9, 3 Dec 2015 |
| 1.9 | 5 | 1.9 to 1.9.4 | 1.9.4, 10 May 2016 |
| 1.10 | 3 | 1.10 to 1.10.2 | 1.10.2, 23 Jun 2016 |
| 1.11 | 3 | 1.11 to 1.11.2 | 1.11.2, 21 Dec 2016 |
| 1.12 | 3 | 1.12 to 1.12.2 | 1.12.2, 18 Sep 2017 |
| 1.13 | 3 | 1.13 to 1.13.2 | 1.13.2, 22 Oct 2018 |
| 1.14 | 5 | 1.14 to 1.14.4 | 1.14.4, 19 Jul 2019 |
| 1.15 | 3 | 1.15 to 1.15.2 | 1.15.2, 17 Jan 2020 |
| 1.16 | 6 | 1.16 to 1.16.5 | 1.16.5, 14 Jan 2021 |
| 1.17 | 2 | 1.17, 1.17.1 | 1.17.1, 6 Jul 2021 |
| 1.18 | 3 | 1.18 to 1.18.2 | 1.18.2, 28 Feb 2022 |
| 1.19 | 5 | 1.19 to 1.19.4 | 1.19.4, 14 Mar 2023 |
| 1.20 | 7 | 1.20 to 1.20.6 | 1.20.6, 29 Apr 2024 |
| 1.21 | 12 | 1.21 to 1.21.11 | 1.21.11, 9 Dec 2025 |
| 26.1 | 3 | 26.1, 26.1.1, 26.1.2 | 26.1.2, 9 Apr 2026 |
| 26.2 | 1 | 26.2 | 26.2, 16 Jun 2026 |
| 26.3 | 1 | 26.3 | 26.3, 15 Sep 2026 |
1.21 is the longest line by far: 12 releases over 18 months, because Mojang put six game drops (1.21.2, 1.21.4, 1.21.5, 1.21.6, 1.21.9, 1.21.11) under one number before switching to year-based numbers. 1.8 comes second with 10 releases, and 1.8.9 stayed the newest version for almost three months before the Combat Update.
Accounts with the Vanilla cape
This cape went to players who owned both Java and Bedrock before June 2022, and every listing shows its capes and editions before checkout.
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Minecraft version history in numbers
The 61 older versions are 35 pre-classic, classic, infdev and alpha builds and 26 beta builds. The oldest is rd-132211 from 13 May 2009, and the last beta is b1.8.1 from September 2011, two months before 1.0.
| Year | Test builds | Year | Test builds |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 45 | 2020 | 49 |
| 2014 | 67 | 2021 | 54 |
| 2015 | 55 | 2022 | 49 |
| 2016 | 43 | 2023 | 54 |
| 2017 | 33 | 2024 | 58 |
| 2018 | 62 | 2025 | 61 |
| 2019 | 66 | 2026 (to 20 Oct) | 56 |
The launcher lists only four test builds for 2012, so years before 2013 are left out. From 2013 on, every year has between 33 and 67 test builds, and 2026 already has 56 with more than two months to go.
Minecraft versions 2026: why 1.21.11 became 26.1
There is no Minecraft 1.22. On 2 December 2025 Mojang announced that "version numbers in the year 2026 will begin with '26'". The last 1.x release was 1.21.11 (Mounts of Mayhem) on 9 December 2025. Since then the first number is the year and the second counts the drops: 26.1 was the first drop of 2026, 26.3 the third. Hotfixes add a third number, such as 26.1.2.
| Version | Drop | Release date | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| 26.1 | Tiny Takeover | 24 Mar 2026 | Game drop |
| 26.1.1 | 1 Apr 2026 | Hotfix | |
| 26.1.2 | 9 Apr 2026 | Hotfix | |
| 26.2 | Chaos Cubed | 16 Jun 2026 | Game drop |
| 26.3 | Wilderness Bound | 15 Sep 2026 | Game drop |
| 26.4 | Ice Caves drop | Not announced | In testing, "the final game drop of 2026" |
The switch follows Mojang's September 2024 plan to ship "a number of free game drops throughout the year" instead of one big summer update. For the details of every 2026 drop and the Ice Caves test builds, see our Minecraft updates 2026 page.
Bedrock versions and how they line up with Java
Bedrock Edition has its own numbers. Mojang says on its update history page that game drops and updates "release on the same day for both Bedrock and Java Edition", but the numbers differ: Bedrock moves in steps of ten and also releases between drops. The 2026 drops were Bedrock 26.10 (Tiny Takeover), 26.30 (Chaos Cubed) and 26.50 (Wilderness Bound), against Java 26.1, 26.2 and 26.3.
The only exception Mojang names is Vibrant Visuals, the graphics update that came to Bedrock in June 2025 and is still being brought to Java. If you play both editions, check the drop name rather than the number: the content of a drop is the same on both.
What the version history means for an account
Every Java account can run any release in the launcher, from 1.0 to 26.3, so an old account does not unlock old versions. What an account's age does show is in its capes: the Migrator cape for moving a Mojang account before the 2023 deadline, the Vanilla cape for owning both editions before 6 June 2022, and event capes from promotions that have closed. Our capes guide lists them, and the Mojang migration guide explains what happened to accounts that never moved.
Several updates on this list came from player votes: the phantom (1.13), the taiga foxes (1.14), the mountains (1.17 and 1.18), the glow squid (1.17), the allay (1.19), the sniffer (1.20) and the armadillo (1.20.5). The full story is in our mob vote history, and the hardest items these updates added are ranked in the rarest Minecraft items of 2026.
Frequently asked questions
What was the first version of Minecraft?
The first full release was Java 1.0 in November 2011, launcher-dated 17 November 2011 22:00 UTC and usually given as 18 November. The oldest build in the launcher is rd-132211 from 13 May 2009.
How many Minecraft versions are there?
As of 23 October 2026 Mojang's launcher lists 920 Java versions: 103 full releases, 756 snapshots, pre-releases and release candidates, and 61 alpha and beta builds from before 1.0.
What is the latest Minecraft version?
Java 26.3, the Wilderness Bound drop, released on 15 September 2026. The Bedrock equivalent is 26.50. The next drop is in testing as 26.4.
Is there a Minecraft 1.22?
No. Mojang switched to year-based numbers in December 2025, so the version after 1.21.11 was 26.1 in March 2026.
What are the Minecraft update names in order?
From 1.4: Pretty Scary, Redstone, Horse, The Update that Changed the World, Bountiful, Combat, Frostburn, Exploration, World of Color, Update Aquatic, Village & Pillage, Buzzy Bees, Nether, Caves & Cliffs I and II, The Wild Update, Trails & Tales, then the game drops listed in the table.
When did Minecraft start game drops?
Mojang's own update history says game drops began in 2023 with Bats and Pots, which was Java 1.20.3 in December 2023. Armored Paws followed in April 2024.
Which Minecraft versions had no name?
1.1, 1.2 and 1.3. We found no update name for them in Mojang's own articles, which refer to them only by number, such as update 1.2.1 and version 1.3.1.
How many game drops were there in 2026?
Three have been released: Tiny Takeover (26.1), Chaos Cubed (26.2) and Wilderness Bound (26.3). Mojang calls the Ice Caves drop the final one of 2026.
Play every version from 1.0 to 26.3
A Java account runs every release in the launcher, and each listing shows editions, capes and profile name before checkout.
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Sources and editorial scope
Reviewed 23 October 2026. Release dates and counts: Mojang's Java version manifest (920 entries, latest release 26.3, latest snapshot 26.4 Snapshot 5) and launcher patch notes. Names: Mojang's update history page, the Java changelogs on minecraft.net (1.13 to 26.3), release posts (World of Color, Buzzy Bees, Trails & Tales, Armored Paws) and Mojang's deep-dive articles for the 2011 to 2016 updates (nether brick, water bottle, dragon egg, spawn egg, anvil, horse, armor stand, shield, polar bear, explorer map). Numbering: new version numbering (2 Dec 2025), the future of Minecraft's development (8 Sep 2024).
Mojang says buying or selling accounts goes against its Terms of Service, that it cannot provide support for licenses bought from resellers or third-party sites, and that buying from a third-party seller does not make you the legitimate owner of a Minecraft license or account. The Microsoft Services Agreement restricts transferring account credentials. A check does not override those terms.