Sectors
We partner with organisations across a range of sectors, delivering digital solutions that improve performance and support growth over the long term. Our approach is always tailored, combining strategy, technical expertise and creative thinking.
Priority Pixels builds websites on a LAMP stack of Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP. Every website is coded in custom HTML5, CSS3 and PHP without page builders, so the code stays clean, quick to load and straightforward to maintain. The same PHP skills cover WordPress themes, plugins, integrations and the custom functionality that sits around them. Our post on whether PHP is still relevant for business websites explains why it remains the language behind so many of them.
Each PHP branch receives two years of active support followed by two years of security fixes, according to the PHP supported versions page. After that the PHP project releases nothing more for it. We keep the websites we maintain on branches that still receive security fixes and plan each move well before a branch reaches its end date, instead of waiting for a vulnerability to force it.
Our managed UK hosting runs containerised PHP with isolated resources on PHP 8 or later, with security patching, file integrity monitoring and nightly encrypted backups handled by the team that maintains the code. When a PHP security release lands, the host patch and any version upgrade are planned as one piece of work.
Priority Pixels writes and maintains PHP for B2B and public sector websites, from version upgrades on existing WordPress builds to custom themes, plugins and integrations. W3Techs reports PHP on close to 70 percent of websites whose server programming language it can identify. Every WordPress website is among them. Audits, staging tests, upgrades and hosting are delivered by one team rather than passed between a developer, a host and a support desk.
When the PHP project fixed two critical vulnerabilities, CVE-2026-109618 and CVE-2026-109619, on 21 October 2026, every live website we maintain was already on PHP 8.3 or later, a branch that received the fix. We have written up what the October 2026 PHP vulnerabilities meant for website owners.
PHP runs WordPress, WooCommerce and most of the websites we support. The services below cover upgrades, audits, custom development, hosting and the ongoing work of keeping each website on a supported PHP version.
See how our web development projects have helped businesses launch high-performance, custom-built websites designed for long-term growth and scalability.
Littlefish Group
Transaid
V.Group
QI: East London NHS Trust
Acronyms IT Support
Westcountry GroupA PHP version change can break plugins, themes and custom code that rely on functions removed in newer versions. Every upgrade we carry out follows the same order of work, set out in more detail in our PHP upgrade checklist, so the live website changes once and only after the new version has been proven on a copy.
We record the current PHP version, the hosting environment, WordPress core, every plugin and theme and any custom code. Each component is checked against the target PHP branch, so incompatible code, abandoned plugins and deprecated functions are listed before anything changes. The audit also confirms how long the current branch has left on security support.
The website is copied to a staging environment running the new PHP version. We test forms, logins, checkout, search, integrations and scheduled tasks, read the PHP error log and fix what fails. Nothing moves to the live website until the staging copy runs cleanly.
A full backup of the files and database is taken immediately before the change. The live website is switched to the new PHP version at a quiet time, with the previous version ready to revert to if anything unexpected appears. Code fixes proven on staging go live alongside the switch.
For the days after an upgrade we watch error logs, uptime and the pages that matter most to the organisation, such as enquiry forms and checkout. Our hosting is monitored around the clock, so anything testing missed is picked up quickly and fixed by the team that made the change.
PHP branches reach the end of their support on published dates, so the next upgrade can be planned well ahead. We review the supported branches twice a year and schedule each move before security support ends, which keeps upgrades on a normal timetable instead of an emergency one. Our post on what is changing in PHP 8.6 covers the next release.
The questions we hear most about PHP versions, upgrades, ongoing support and taking over PHP websites built by other developers.
A PHP development company writes, upgrades and maintains the PHP code behind a website or web application. For most organisations that means WordPress themes, plugins and integrations, keeping the PHP version on a supported branch and fixing code that breaks when the version changes. Priority Pixels covers all of that alongside the hosting the code runs on.
A website should run a PHP branch that still receives security fixes. PHP 8.3, 8.4 and 8.5 have security support until the end of 2027, 2028 and 2029 in turn, while PHP 8.2 security support ends on 31 December 2026, according to the PHP supported versions page. For WordPress websites PHP 8.3 or 8.4 is the sensible target, in line with the WordPress recommendation of PHP 8.3 or greater.
The upgrade is tested on a staging copy of the website first. Plugins, themes and custom code are checked against the new version and failures are fixed on staging. A full backup is taken and the live website is switched at a quiet time with the old version ready to revert to, then error logs and key pages are monitored for the following days.
Ongoing PHP support sits inside our WordPress support retainer. It covers PHP version upgrades, core, plugin and theme updates tested on staging, security hardening, malware scanning, uptime monitoring, off site backups and prioritised fixes when something breaks.
The PHP project stops releasing security fixes for a branch once it reaches end of life, so any vulnerability found afterwards stays open. PHP 8.1 reached end of life on 31 December 2025 and PHP 7.4 on 28 November 2022, according to the PHP end of life list. Some hosts backport fixes to older branches, but that needs confirming in writing. The safer course is an upgrade to a supported branch.
Yes. The work starts with an audit of the PHP version, hosting, theme, plugins and custom code, so we know what the website runs on and what will fail on a supported PHP branch before anything changes. Problems are fixed on a staging copy first. WordPress websites can then move onto our WordPress support retainer, which includes PHP version upgrades.
PHP guidance from Priority Pixels, from which version a website should run to planning an upgrade that does not break anything.
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Prefer to talk it through? Call us on +44 1626 245 061 and speak to the team.
Know what you need and have a brief? Email it over to hello@prioritypixels.co.uk.
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