Knowledge base
Use the newest version your code supports. Here is how to change it and how to find out what broke.
Use the newest version your application supports. Newer PHP is faster and gets security fixes; an end-of-life version gets neither.
Sites → your site → Software → PHP version. The change applies within seconds and does not need a restart you can see.
Take a backup first (Sites → your site → Backups), and update your plugins and theme — they are where PHP upgrades break. Use a staging copy (Sites → your site → Staging) to rehearse those updates without touching the live site. ⚠️ A staging copy runs the same PHP version as the live site, so it cannot trial the new version by itself: if the site misbehaves after the change, set the version back — it takes seconds.
The usual cause is one plugin or one library that has not been updated. Set the version back — it takes seconds — and read the error log at Sites → your site → Statistics. The log names the file and the line, which is normally enough to identify the plugin.
WordPress core supports current PHP well. Plugins are where the problems are, and the WordPress screen lists every plugin across your estate with its version, so you can see which sites carry the risky one before you move any of them.
⚠️ We do not upgrade your PHP version for you, and the choice stays yours because only you know what your code does. We keep the newer versions available and patched.
⛔ We do not currently warn you in advance that your version is nearing end of life, so do not wait to be told. If you open a support ticket while running a version we have already retired, the site check in front of the form points it out and suggests the newest supported one — but that is the only place it surfaces, and only once the version is already retired. Check the PHP version screen yourself once or twice a year.
An end-of-life version stops getting fixes from the PHP project. We keep several of those available deliberately, hardened and security-patched by our platform, so an older application can move in on day one rather than being rebuilt first. That is a real option and not a trap — but it is a floor, not a destination, and the newest version your code supports is still the right answer.
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