PHP Versions Explained and Which One Your Website Should Run

PHP versions follow a fixed support calendar. The branch your website runs decides whether it still receives security fixes. For organisations planning PHP version upgrades for business websites, the useful questions are which branches are supported today, when each one stops and which one WordPress recommends.

Most of the pages that answer a search for PHP versions are release announcements, changelogs or statistics from a few years ago. This page brings the current picture into one place, with every date taken from the official PHP project pages and checked against them. For a plainer introduction, the guide to what PHP is and what it is used for covers the basics.

Which PHP Versions Are Supported

Four PHP branches are supported in September 2026: 8.2, 8.3, 8.4 and 8.5. The PHP project’s supported versions page lists 8.4 and 8.5 in active support, while 8.2 and 8.3 now receive security fixes only.

Everything older than 8.2 has reached end of life. The table below covers every branch from 7.4 to 8.5, because 7.4 is the oldest branch WordPress still runs on and many business websites have not moved far beyond it.

The end of life dates for 8.1, 8.0 and 7.4 come from the PHP project’s list of unsupported branches, which urges anyone still on them to upgrade. No further releases of any kind are made for those branches, so a vulnerability found today stays open on every website that still uses them.

Active Support and Security Support Explained

Each PHP branch has two stages of support. The difference between them matters when choosing a version. Active support covers bug fixes and security fixes in regular releases, while security support covers critical security problems only and releases happen as needed.

Branch

A major line of PHP such as 8.3 or 8.4. Smaller point releases within a branch carry fixes but do not change the support dates.

Active support

The first stage of a branch’s life. Reported bugs and security issues are fixed and released on a regular schedule.

Security support

The second stage, when only critical security issues are fixed. Ordinary bugs are left alone and releases come only when needed.

End of life

The point at which a branch receives no fixes at all. Any problem found afterwards stays unpatched.

A branch in security support is still safe to run, but it is on a countdown. Bugs that affect how a website behaves will not be fixed. The branch is also closer to the date when security fixes stop as well.

For planning purposes, the useful date is the end of security support. That is the deadline by which a website needs to be on a newer branch. The months before it are the window for testing the upgrade properly.

How the Yearly PHP Release Cycle Works

A new PHP branch is released each November. Every branch now receives two years of active support followed by two years of security support. The release cycle update agreed by the PHP project also moved the end of each support stage to 31 December, so the dates no longer drift with the release day.

Older branches worked differently, which is why the table above has some dates in November. PHP 7.4 and 8.0 had three years of support in total, ending on the anniversary of their release, while 8.1 had its security support extended to the end of 2025 under the newer rules.

Each new branch brings language features and performance work, along with deprecations that warn developers about features due to be removed in a later branch. The PHP project publishes a migration guide for every branch, listing the changes that can affect existing code. Those guides are the starting point for judging how much work an upgrade will involve.

The next branch, PHP 8.6, is scheduled for general release on 19 November 2026. The PHP 8.6 release timetable shows the beta stage ending in September, with release candidates running from late September to early November before that date.

Once 8.6 is released, PHP 8.4 will have only a few weeks of active support left before it moves to security fixes on 31 December 2026. PHP 8.2 reaches end of life on the same day, which makes the end of this year an important point in the calendar for any website still on 8.2.

Which PHP Version WordPress Recommends

WordPress recommends PHP 8.3 or greater. The WordPress requirements page says the software still works with PHP 7.4 and later, but warns that versions which have reached end of life may expose a website to security vulnerabilities.

That gap between what runs and what is recommended is where many business websites sit. WordPress core will load on an old branch, yet the server underneath it no longer receives fixes. Newer plugins increasingly set a higher minimum PHP version before they will install or update.

Plugins and themes are the usual source of trouble when a website moves up a branch. Code written for an older version may rely on functions that have since been removed. Our guide to WordPress PHP compatibility covers how to find those problems before they reach the live website.

Custom code needs the same attention. Bespoke themes and integrations built several years ago were written against the PHP version of the day, so they are worth reviewing before any upgrade rather than after one.

How to Check the PHP Version Your Website Runs

On a WordPress website, the quickest way to check the PHP version is through the Site Health screen in the dashboard. The steps below follow the route set out in the official WordPress guide to updating PHP.

If the number shown is lower than 8.3, WordPress treats the website as running below its recommended version. The dashboard may also show a “PHP Update Required” or “PHP Update Recommended” notice, which is the same check surfacing on its own.

For websites built on other PHP software, the hosting control panel usually shows the active PHP version for each domain. Where it does not, the hosting provider or the developer who manages the server can confirm it and say which branches are available to switch to.

How Many Websites Still Run Older PHP Versions

More than a third of websites that use PHP still run version 7 or older, according to W3Techs usage statistics. Every branch in those older versions has reached end of life, so all of those websites are running software that no longer receives security fixes.

PHP itself remains the most common language for the server side of websites, which our piece on how much of the internet runs on PHP looks at in more detail. That popularity cuts both ways, because a large population of outdated servers is also an attractive target for automated attacks.

Which PHP Version Your Website Should Run

For most business websites in September 2026, PHP 8.4 is the sensible choice, with 8.3 a reasonable alternative where a plugin or integration is not yet ready. Both meet the WordPress recommendation. Both have security support well beyond the end of this year. The post on when PHP 8.3 reaches end of life covers the dates for that branch.

PHP 8.5 is the newest branch and has the longest support ahead of it. It is a good target for new builds and for websites with well maintained code, but older plugins and custom work are less likely to have been tested against it, so it needs more careful checking first.

Websites on 8.1, 8.0 or anything in the 7 series are already running unsupported software. For those, the priority is a tested move to 8.3 or 8.4 rather than waiting for the next branch, since every month on an end of life version adds to the risk.

The language itself is not going anywhere, as our article on whether PHP is still relevant sets out. The real question for most organisations is not whether to stay on PHP but how to keep the version they run inside its support window.

Planning PHP Upgrades Around the Support Calendar

Because every support stage now ends on 31 December, PHP upgrades can be planned a year ahead with some confidence. A website moved to a branch in active support has at least two years before it needs to move again, often closer to three.

The work itself follows the same pattern each time. Check the current version, test the website on a copy running the new branch, fix any plugin or code problems that appear and then switch the live server, with a backup in place in case anything needs rolling back.

Priority Pixels includes PHP version upgrades in its WordPress support retainer, alongside uptime monitoring and backups. Updates are tested against a staging copy before they touch the live website, which is the same approach any PHP upgrade should follow whoever carries it out.