PHP

PHP is a programming language that builds your web pages on the computer that hosts your site, just before they reach the visitor. WordPress runs on it. If your website runs on WordPress or a similar system, PHP does its work every time someone opens a page, so its version and upkeep matter for your site.

What is PHP?

PHP is a server-side programming language: it builds each web page on the server before it is sent to the visitor’s browser. WordPress, WooCommerceWooCommerce is a free add-on for WordPress that turns your website into a webshop, with products, a shopping cart and a checkout. and many other content management systems are written in it.

PHP was created for the web and has been maintained as an open-source project for decades. A PHP file contains code and templates. When a visitor asks for a page, the web server hands the request to PHP, PHP runs the code, talks to the database and returns finished HTML. The visitor never sees the PHP itself, only the result.

That model is flexible. Content can change without touching files, logins and shopping carts work, and one themeA WordPress theme is a ready-made package that decides how your WordPress site looks and how its pages are laid out. Change the theme and the design changes. can render thousands of pages. The price is that PHP has to be installed, configured and kept up to date on the server, for as long as the site is online.

PHP is not one thing

The word PHP covers the language, the PHP versionA PHP version is a numbered edition of PHP, like 8.3. Each edition is looked after for a limited time, then gets security fixes only, then nothing. installed on your server and the settings in php.iniphp.ini is the settings file for PHP on your hosting. It sets limits, such as how much memory a script may use, how big an upload may be and if errors show.. Two sites on the same host can run different versions with different limits. When someone says “the site runs on PHP 8.3”, they mean the version that is active for that specific site.

What PHP means for your WordPress site

Your theme, your plugins and WordPress itself are PHP code. They only work on a PHP version they were written for. A pluginA WordPress plugin is an add-on you install in WordPress to give your site extra features, such as contact forms, SEO tools or a webshop. that is not maintained anymore may break on a newer PHP version, and an old PHP version may be too old for a current plugin. That is why a PHP update on a live business site always needs a backupA backup is a separate copy of your website's files and database, so you can bring the site back after a mistake, a hack or a failed update., a test and a way back.

PHP is also part of your security. Each branch of PHP gets bug fixes for a while, then only security fixes, and then nothing, see end of lifeEnd of life (EOL) means the makers have stopped looking after a version of software. It still works, but it no longer gets updates, not even security fixes.. A site on a branch without security fixes can be exposed to new vulnerabilities that will never be patched for that branch.

How to see which PHP version you run

The quickest routes are your hostingWeb hosting is the service that keeps your website's files on a computer that is always online, so visitors can open your site at any time. control panelA hosting control panel, such as cPanel, Plesk or DirectAdmin, is the web page where you manage your domain, email, databases and PHP version., which usually lists the PHP version per domainA domain name is the address people type to reach your website, such as yourcompany.com. It points visitors to wherever your site is hosted., or a phpinfo page that shows the version and the active configuration. Remove such a page again afterwards, because it reveals details about your server.

From the outside, some servers announce their PHP version in a response headerAn HTTP header is a short line of extra information that a browser and a website send each other with every page request, invisible to the visitor.. You can check your PHP version with a free tool that reads what is visible from the public side and shows you what a stranger could learn without logging in.

Then compare your version with the supported branches on php.net. As of October 21, 2026, PHP 8.2 and 8.3 only receive security fixes, until December 31, 2026 and December 31, 2027. PHP 8.4 and 8.5 are still in active supportActive support is the phase in which a PHP version is fully looked after: both ordinary bugs and security problems get fixed, with regular updates.. PHP 8.1 and 8.0 are end of life.

When to act on your PHP version

Act when your version is end of life, when it is close to the end of security supportSecurity support is a phase in which a PHP version only gets fixes for security problems. Ordinary bugs are no longer repaired., or when php.net publishes a security release for your branch. In that last case, updating soon matters more than updating perfectly. We update PHP in WordPress by moving your site to a supported version, with a stagingA staging environment is a private copy of your website where you try updates first, so any mistakes happen there and not on the live site. test first.

If maintaining PHP is more than your site needs, there is another route. A brochure site or a blog can often be rebuilt in a WordPress to static site move, which means no PHP and no database on the server when a page is viewed. You can read more about the choice in static websiteA static website is made of ready-made page files that the server hands over as they are, with no PHP code or database working behind the scenes..