Introduction
WordPress powers over 40% of all websites on the internet, and one of the core technologies behind it is PHP — the server-side scripting language that runs your WordPress site. Despite its importance, many WordPress website owners overlook the need to keep PHP up to date. This oversight can lead to security vulnerabilities, sluggish performance, and even compatibility issues. Staying current with PHP is not just a best practice — it’s essential.
1. Security Matters
PHP, like any software, evolves over time. New versions patch known vulnerabilities and protect against emerging threats. Running an outdated version of PHP is like leaving your front door unlocked — hackers actively look for sites with outdated code to exploit.
- Fact: Older versions of PHP no longer receive security updates. For example, PHP 7.4 reached end-of-life in November 2022.
- Impact: Your site becomes more vulnerable to malware, data breaches, and unauthorized access. Its only a matter of time until you start having troubles with your website if it’s not kept updated.
2. Performance Boosts
Each new version of PHP brings significant performance improvements. Upgrading PHP can dramatically speed up your WordPress site — sometimes by 2-3x — because modern PHP versions are more efficient at executing code.
- Real-world example: Upgrading from older versions of PHP like 7.4/8.0 to the latest can improve page load times and reduce server resource usage.
- Result: Faster load times = better user experience and higher SEO rankings.
3. Compatibility With Themes & Plugins
Many popular WordPress themes and plugins are optimized for the latest PHP versions. If your server is running an older version, you might experience:
- Broken features
- Incompatibility errors
- Inability to update plugins or themes
Staying current ensures that your site’s features continue to function as expected and that developers can support your configuration.
4. Long-Term Support and Maintenance
Hosting providers and the broader WordPress ecosystem are moving away from supporting legacy PHP versions. If you’re not keeping up:
- Your host may force an upgrade or drop support.
- Developers may stop troubleshooting issues tied to outdated versions.
Future-proof your site by staying aligned with supported technologies.
5. Need some help? Our Pros got you covered!
Many people hesitate to upgrade PHP out of fear that it might break their site. It’s good to be cautious as updating PHP can indeed cause problems on the website that will need to be resolved. These issues are generally minor issues that we’ve run into many times and require only small tweaks.
We take extra precautions to ensure the process doesn’t result in problems on your live site.
- Backup your site before making changes.
- Test the upgrade in a staging environment.
- Check for compatibility using plugins like PHP Compatibility Checker.
- Fix any minor issues which are more likely the longer the site hasn’t been updated.
What’s included in our one-time update package.
- Creating a backup of your site and sharing via Dropbox for safekeeping.
- Creating a staging version of the site, preferably on the same server, for testing.
- Update the staging version of the site. We include all updates in this package so in addition to PHP we also update MySQL if needed, WordPress itself, and all Plugins and Themes.
- Test the staging version of the site vs. the live version for reference.
- Fix any issues that take a few hours or less.
- Once ready, we then update the live site and compare it again to the staging to ensure everything is working correctly.
This service is $299 and generally takes about a week to complete. We offer a 100% Guarantee and provide a full refund should the update not be able to be completed. We’ll stop and provide a quote should some major issue arise.
Conclusion
PHP is the backbone of your WordPress website. Keeping it up to date ensures better security, faster performance, improved compatibility, and a healthier web presence. Don’t treat it as a technical detail — see it as vital website maintenance. Just like updating WordPress core, themes, and plugins, updating PHP should be part of your regular website care routine.
Take action today: Check your current PHP version and reach out if you’d like some help! We manage hundreds of WordPress websites and have a team of experienced experts ready to get started..
