When I first meet a prospective client and analyze their website, I look at a few key factors. One of the most important is which company is providing the hosting service, and specifically what that plan offers. I work mostly with WordPress-based websites, and that content management system is built on the PHP programming language. So naturally, determining which version of PHP is running on a client's hosting account is a significant detail. Here's what is so important about PHP and why using an old version can be so costly.

A Brief History of PHP Versions

PHP releases follow a structured lifecycle: at least two years of security and bug fixes, followed by at least one year of security-fixes only — a three-year window per version. After that, a version is considered end-of-life and receives no further support. Many hosting providers run severely out-of-date versions hoping their clients won't notice, but that means a significant security risk and poor website performance for those customers.

What Changes Across Different Versions of PHP?

Speed: Newer versions are optimized more intelligently and make better use of available resources, meaning websites load faster for visitors. I had one client on a host running PHP 5.4 where their website sometimes took upwards of 20 seconds to load. After moving to a host running PHP 7.0, combined with a series of optimizations, loading time dropped to under 4 seconds. None of those optimizations would have been possible without the underlying technology being current.

Efficiency: Current versions mean processes are more likely to run quickly and without errors. One of the most common reasons clients call me with tech support issues is plugins that fail during an update and break the website. Running a current PHP version dramatically reduces these failures.

Version-Related Limitations: Every WordPress theme and plugin has a minimum required PHP version and versions it cannot run on at all. The older your site's PHP version, the less likely you are to be able to do anything new with it. The odds increase that any new change you want to make will be incompatible with your platform. Keeping that underlying foundation current is critical.

Security: The longer any software is out and available to tinker with, the more vulnerabilities are discovered. Running a current version that continues to receive security and bug fixes is essential for good reason. An unsupported PHP version on your server is an open invitation.

Make a Plan

Moving hosting providers can be a pain and should never be rushed. Your hosting account is connected to or relies on other services that all need to be accounted for through any transition, including:

  • Email
  • Domains
  • Cloud storage
  • Any other services that depend on your existing site's IP address

There is a lot to consider, but the cost of staying on outdated infrastructure — in speed, compatibility, and security risk — is almost always higher than the cost of making the move.