ECMAScript (or JavaScript) is just a specification. One gets published every year it seems and it becomes the standard. Browsers work to support the syntax. Server-side environments like Node and Deno add support to.

Compare releases

See the ESNext on the JavaScript Tutorial website. The term “ESNext” just means the next release, it is not a fixed name.

That page compares releases in order, with a short write-up for each. Further down, there is a table of ES1 to the latest version.

Here are the most recent rows. I left off the release date, as the official name also tells you the year at least (since ES5.1 that is).

Edition Official name
ES11 ES2020
ES10 ES2019
ES9 ES2018
ES8 ES2017
ES7 ES2016
ES6 ES2015

ES6

An overview of ES6.

ECMAScript6 or ES2015 was the first major change to JS since 2009. Here is an overview of the features - git.io/es6features.

ECMAScript 2015 (ES6) and beyond on the Node site.

ES6 Tutorial on the JavaScript Tutorial website.