WooCommerce is a free add-on for WordPress that turns your website into a webshop, with products, a shopping cart and a checkout. A shop is the one kind of site where downtime or a broken page directly costs orders.
What is WooCommerce?
WooCommerce runs inside WordPressWordPress is free software for building and editing a website in your browser. It is written in PHP, so it builds each page when someone visits., so your shop inherits everything that comes with it: the PHPPHP 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. runtime, the database, the 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. and every other plugin.
WooCommerce adds product types, stock handling, tax and shipping settings, customer accounts, orders and payment hooks to a normal WordPress site. Extensions add payment providers, subscriptions, bookings, invoices and links to other systems. Each extension is another WordPress 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., and the total is a larger amount of PHP code than a typical brochure site.
Because orders and customer details are stored in the database, the site holds data you must protect and keep intact. That raises the stakes for updates, backups and any change you make on the live server.
What WooCommerce means for your PHP site
A shop needs a 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. that WooCommerce and all its extensions support. If your host moves to a newer PHP version, or retires an old one, every extension has to work with it. An extension that no longer gets updates can block the upgrade and leave you choosing between an unsupported PHP version and a shop that does not run.
Updates are also more delicate on a shop. A change to a plugin can alter how checkout, taxes or emails behave, and you only see the problem when a customer hits it. For that reason we test on a copy of the shop, place a full test order and check the confirmation emails before touching the live site. When we update PHP in WordPress, that kind of test and a way back are included.
How to check your shop
Open the Site Health screen in WordPress and note your PHP version and any warnings. Then open the list of plugins and write down which ones are shop extensions, what each does, and when it was last updated. Check the notes of each extension for PHP support. Make sure you have a recent 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. that includes the database, since orders live there, and that you know how to restore it.
Moving a shop
Some shops outgrow their setup, or the owner would like fewer parts to maintain. There are a few directions: keep WooCommerce on a modern host with a supported PHP version, move to a hosted shop service, or split the site so that the content pages are a 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. and only the shop stays dynamic. In the last case the static part has no PHP or database during a page view, which reduces the attack surfaceThe attack surface is the total of all places where an attacker could try to get in, such as logins, forms, plugins and the code on your server. of most pages, while the shop keeps the care it needs.
Our PHP migration service can move a shop to another host or a modern stack, with the data checked before and after.
When to act
Act when your host announces a PHP change, when a shop extension stops being updated, or when checkout shows errors after an update. If the shop is already down, we can fix your WordPress website, which is the place to start. In every case, make a fresh backup first.
Frequently asked questions
Is WooCommerce a separate platform?
No. WooCommerce is a plugin that runs inside WordPress. Your products, orders and customers sit in the WordPress database, so the shop depends on your WordPress, PHP and 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. setup as a whole.
Why is a PHP update riskier for a shop?
On a shop, a failure during checkout costs orders. WooCommerce, its extensions, your payment plugin and your theme must all support the new PHP version, so a test on a copy with a full test order is wise before you switch.
Can a WooCommerce shop be static?
Not as a whole. A cart, accounts and checkout need a live application. You can sometimes keep the shop on a separate subdomain and make the rest of the site static, or move to a hosted shop service.
How do I know which PHP version my shop needs?
Check the WooCommerce requirements and the notes of each extension you use. Your site health screen in WordPress shows the PHP version your host runs, and any warnings about it.