Running an outdated PHP version on your website is like leaving your front door unlocked in a high-crime neighborhood. You’re not just risking a break-in, you’re practically inviting it. If you’re still running PHP 7.4 or earlier, you’re sitting on a ticking time bomb that could explode at any moment, taking your website, customer data, and business reputation with it.
The harsh reality? 35.68% of PHP teams are still using PHP 7.4 in their applications, despite the fact that PHP 7.4 reached end of life on November 28, 2022. That means more than one in three websites are running on completely unsupported code that hackers actively target.
Your website’s PHP version affects everything from security and performance to your ability to use modern web development tools. When you fall behind on PHP updates, you’re not just missing out on new features, you’re actively putting your business at risk.
With this comprehensive guide, you’ll learn:
- Why outdated PHP versions create serious security vulnerabilities
- How to identify your current PHP version and assess your risk
- Step-by-step instructions for upgrading safely using InMotion Hosting’s tools
- Best practices for maintaining current PHP versions going forward
Let’s get right into it!
The Critical Security Risks of Outdated PHP
Known Vulnerabilities Keep Piling Up
PHP remains one of the most targeted technologies, consistently ranking among the top software projects by CVE count. When PHP versions reach end-of-life, they stop receiving security patches entirely. That means every new vulnerability discovered becomes a permanent weak point in your system.
Consider what happened in 2024 alone. Several PHP 7.4 vulnerabilities have been discovered, including critical remote code execution flaws that allow attackers to completely take over your server. CVE-2024-4577, classified as critical severity, gives attackers the ability to execute arbitrary code on Windows-based PHP installations.
The longer you stay on an unsupported version, the more vulnerabilities accumulate. It’s not just one or two security holes—it’s dozens of unpatched weaknesses that criminals can exploit.
Your Data and Customer Information Are at Risk
A single weak point — like a poorly handled file upload or unsanitized user input — can result in full server compromise, data theft, or malware injection. PHP applications often handle sensitive customer information, payment details, and business data. When your PHP version has known security holes, you’re essentially giving hackers a roadmap to your most valuable assets.
The damage goes beyond your immediate website. Because PHP apps often run with elevated privileges, the damage can quickly spread across your infrastructure. A breach in one PHP application can become a gateway to your entire network.
Compliance and Legal Consequences
Many businesses must meet specific compliance standards like PCI DSS for payment processing or GDPR for data protection. Running outdated, vulnerable software can put you in violation of these requirements, leading to hefty fines and legal complications.
Insurance companies are also getting stricter about cybersecurity practices. Some cyber liability policies now explicitly exclude coverage for breaches that occur due to running outdated, unsupported software.
Understanding PHP’s Support Timeline
How PHP Support Actually Works
Each release branch of PHP is fully supported for two years from its initial stable release. During this period, bugs and security issues that have been reported are fixed and are released in regular point releases.
After this two year period of active support, each branch is then supported for two additional years for critical security issues only. This means you get four total years of some level of support, but the last two years only cover the most severe security problems.
Once the four years of support are completed, the branch reaches its end of life and is no longer supported. At that point, you’re completely on your own.
Current PHP Version Status
Here’s where things stand right now:
Actively Supported Versions:
- PHP 8.4 is a feature-rich PHP version that brings support for property hooks, asymmetric visibility support in classes, database driver-specific PDO classes, Lazy objects, a HTML5 support in the DOM extension
- PHP 8.3 is the latest stable PHP version, bringing typed class constants, Granular DateTime Exceptions, fallback value support for PHP INI Environment Variable syntax, and more
- PHP 8.2 is the latest PHP version which brings readonly classes, DNF types, null, false, and true types, sensitive parameter redaction support, a new random extension
End-of-Life Versions You Should Avoid:
- Support for PHP 7 has been discontinued since November 3, 2022
- Support for PHP 5 has been discontinued since January 10, 2019
- Support for PHP 4 has been discontinued since August 7, 2008
If you’re running any version of PHP 7 or older, you’re operating without a safety net.
Performance and Feature Benefits of Modern PHP
Significant Speed Improvements
Newer PHP versions aren’t just about security, they deliver substantial performance gains that directly impact your website’s speed and user experience. PHP 8.0, on the 25th year of PHP history, brings several important features such as Union Types, JIT, Constructor Property Promotion, Match Syntax, Named Parameters, and several more performance, syntax, and quality-of-life improvements.
The Just-In-Time (JIT) compiler in PHP 8.0 and later can dramatically speed up certain types of operations, particularly for CPU-intensive tasks. For many websites, this translates to faster page load times and better server resource utilization.
Modern Language Features That Matter
PHP 8.1, released in 2021, brings major new features such as Enums, Fibers, never return type, Intersection Types, and readonly properties. These aren’t just developer conveniences, they enable more robust, maintainable code that’s less prone to bugs.
PHP 7.4 brings typed properties, underscore numeric separator, and other minor improvements to PHP. Heredoc/nowdoc syntax improvements and a bunch of legacy code deprecations. Even if you’re “only” upgrading from PHP 7.3 to 7.4, you’re gaining valuable improvements.
Better Development Tools and Ecosystem Support
Modern PHP versions work better with contemporary development tools, frameworks, and libraries. Many popular WordPress plugins and themes now require PHP 8.0 or later. If you’re stuck on an older version, you’re locked out of using the latest and most secure extensions for your site.
How to Check Your Current PHP Version
Before you can upgrade, you need to know exactly what version you’re running. Here are several methods to check your PHP version:
Method 1: Create a PHPinfo Page
A phpinfo page shows you all of your php environment settings. This is the most comprehensive way to see your PHP configuration.
- Log into your cPanel
- In the Files section of your cPanel, open the File Manager option
- Navigate to the directory you are working with. This is important because each folder can actually be set to have different PHP settings. In this example, we are viewing the PHP settings for our main domain, so we are navigating to the “public_html” folder
- In the top menu, click +File option to create a new file
- When prompted for the file name, enter phpinfo.php
- Find the phpinfo.php file in your list of files (it should have automatically updated). Right-click on it and choose Edit
- Enter the following code into the phpinfo.php file: phpinfo(); ?>
- Then click Save Changes
Now visit https://yourdomain.com/phpinfo.php in your browser to see your complete PHP configuration.
Important Security Note: Your phpinfo page has many PHP settings that you don’t want to broadcast to the world. When you’re finished using the file, be sure to delete it.
Method 2: Use cPanel’s MultiPHP Manager
With just a few clicks, you can switch between different versions and even use different versions across sites in the same cPanel. The MultiPHP Manager also shows you which version each domain is currently using.
- Login to cPanel
- Click the MultiPHP Manager link in the Software section of cPanel
- You’ll see a list of all your domains and their current PHP versions
How to Upgrade Your PHP Version Safely
Pre-Upgrade Preparation
Before making any changes, we suggest performing a backup first. This gives you a rollback option if something goes wrong during the upgrade process.
Document your current settings using the PHPinfo page you created earlier. Take screenshots or save the output so you can reference your previous configuration if needed.
Test your website’s functionality in a staging environment if possible. Many hosting providers, including InMotion Hosting, offer staging areas where you can safely test changes before applying them to your live site.
Step-by-Step PHP Version Upgrade Process
InMotion Hosting offers a variety of features and tools to support PHP development, such as support for multiple PHP versions. The hosting platform currently supports PHP versions 7.4, 8.0, 8.1, 8.2, and 8.3, giving you flexibility in your upgrade path.
Here’s how to upgrade your PHP version using InMotion Hosting’s tools:
- Access the MultiPHP Manager
- Login to cPanel.
- Click the MultiPHP Manager link in the Software section of cPanel.
- Be sure to click on MultiPHP Manager and not MultiPHP INI Editor. The INI Editor is a different piece of software that helps you fine tune your PHP settings on individual sites.
- Select Your Domain
- Check the box for the site or sites you wish to update.
- You can upgrade multiple sites at once or handle them individually.
- Choose Your New PHP Version
- Select the desired PHP Version from the drop-down menu.
- Start with the next logical version. If you’re on 7.4, try 8.0 first rather than jumping to 8.3.
- Apply the Changes
- Click the Apply button.
- The change takes effect immediately.
- Test Your Website
- Once the PHP version has been changed, be sure to verify that your sites and applications are working as intended.
- Check your website’s front-end, admin area, contact forms, and any custom functionality.
Fine-Tuning PHP Settings After Upgrade
After upgrading your PHP version, you may need to adjust specific PHP settings to match your website’s requirements. The MultiPHP INI Editor in cPanel lets you make configuration changes to your PHP settings.
Using Basic Mode:
- In the Software section, click on MultiPHP INI Editor.
- Under Configure PHP INI basic settings click the dropdown menu that says — Select a location —
- Select the domain you would like to make changes to.
- Adjust common settings like
memory_limit,max_execution_time, orupload_max_filesize. - When finished making changes, click Apply.
Using Editor Mode for Advanced Changes:
- In the top-left hand section of the MultiPHP INI Editor page, click on Editor Mode.
- Select the domain you would like to make changes to.
- Add custom PHP configuration directives directly.
- When finished making changes, click Save.
Common Upgrade Challenges and Solutions
Deprecated Function Errors
When you upgrade PHP versions, some older functions may no longer work. You’ll typically see errors mentioning “deprecated” or “removed” functions.
Solution: Review your error logs to identify problematic code. Many deprecated functions have direct replacements. For example, the old mysql_* functions were replaced with mysqli_* or PDO alternatives.
Plugin and Theme Compatibility Issues
WordPress plugins and themes may not be compatible with newer PHP versions, especially if they haven’t been updated recently.
Solution: Before upgrading, check with your plugin and theme developers to confirm compatibility. Update all plugins and themes to their latest versions before changing your PHP version.
Increased Memory Usage
Newer PHP versions sometimes use more memory than older ones, which can cause out-of-memory errors on sites with tight resource limits.
Solution: Monitor your resource usage after upgrading and increase memory limits if necessary using the MultiPHP INI Editor.
Session and Cookie Handling Changes
PHP 8.0 and later versions have stricter requirements for session and cookie handling, which can break some older applications.
Solution: Update your session handling code to use proper parameter formatting and ensure cookies are set with appropriate security flags.
Maintaining Current PHP Versions
Set Up Monitoring and Alerts
Don’t wait for problems to surface. Set up monitoring to track your PHP version status and get alerts when security updates are available. Many hosting control panels, including cPanel, provide update notifications.
Regular Update Schedule
Establish a routine for checking and applying PHP updates. Consider scheduling updates during low-traffic periods and always test in a staging environment first.
Our SysAdmins install the latest versions of PHP on our Shared, Reseller, and cPanel-based WordPress servers after testing and troubleshooting. The ‘default’ version of PHP for newly created sites is often one or two versions behind for the sake of stability— but feel free to update to the latest version as soon as it is available!
Development Best Practices
Utilize tools like PHPStan, SonarQube (for static analysis features), or RIPS Code Analysis to examine your PHP code without execution. These tools identify unsafe functions, insecure coding patterns, and potential misconfigurations.
Run composer audit regularly to check your project’s dependencies for known security vulnerabilities in the PHP packages you are using.
Professional Support Options
If managing PHP upgrades feels overwhelming, consider professional assistance. Pain Free PHP offers cutting-edge solutions to help you seamlessly transition to the latest PHP versions. Our expert team of PHP developers and security specialists will guide you through the entire upgrade process, ensuring your applications remain protected and fully compatible.
For businesses still running PHP 7.4 or earlier versions, we offer comprehensive security audits. Our expert team will identify weaknesses and implement robust measures to fortify your PHP projects.
The Business Case for Staying Current
Reduced Security Costs
The cost of preventing security breaches is always lower than the cost of recovering from them. Maintaining current PHP versions is one of the most cost-effective security measures you can implement.
Improved Performance and User Experience
Faster websites lead to better user engagement, higher conversion rates, and improved search engine rankings. The performance improvements in modern PHP versions directly translate to business benefits.
Future-Proofing Your Technology Stack
Running an EOL PHP version means spending time on things like building or backporting patches for security issues and bugs. For supported PHP versions, this isn’t an issue, and allows teams to better focus on improving the security, performance, or functionality of your application.
Competitive Advantage
While 35.68% of PHP teams are still using PHP 7.4, staying current puts you ahead of more than one-third of your competitors who are still running vulnerable, outdated code.
Take Action Today
Your website’s PHP version isn’t just a technical detail, it’s a critical business decision that affects your security, performance, and competitive position. Every day you delay upgrading is another day your website remains vulnerable to known exploits.
Start by checking your current PHP version using the methods outlined above. If you’re running anything older than PHP 8.1, make upgrading your top priority. If you’re on PHP 7.4 or earlier, treat this as an emergency, you’re running code that’s been unsupported for years.
InMotion Hosting’s UltraStack infrastructure offers PHP accelerators and caching tools that optimize the performance of PHP-based websites and applications. Combined with the latest PHP versions, this gives you a powerful foundation for a fast, secure website.
Don’t let outdated PHP versions put your business at risk. The tools and knowledge are available, now you just need to act on them.
Ready to upgrade your PHP version safely and efficiently? InMotion Hosting’s PHP management tools make the process straightforward, even for non-technical users. Start protecting your website today.