If your WordPress site is currently running an outdated version of PHP, do not panic. You are in good company. Millions of WordPress sites run on unsupported versions like PHP 7.4, 8.0, or 8.1. and would benefit from a guide on how to perform a WordPress PHP update safely.
In the WordPress world, you will often hear that running an older PHP version is a massive security disaster. The truth is a bit more nuanced. While older versions are officially unsupported by the core PHP team, most good hosting providers actively monitor for major security flaws and will notify you.
So if your site is not going to break today, why should you bother updating? It comes down to performance, compatibility, and staying in control. When you PHP update your WordPress installation, you gain the benefits of improved performance and safety.
Performance and staying in control
Every PHP version has a life cycle. You can check the official timeline at https://www.php.net/supported-versions.php. Eventually, your hosting provider will stop supporting older versions to free up server resources. This is often when the need to update WordPress PHP becomes unavoidable.
When that happens, your host will force an upgrade. Forced upgrades happen on their schedule, not yours. If the update breaks a plugin on your site, you will have to fix it under pressure. By updating PHP yourself, you stay in control. You can do it when you have the time to double-check that everything works properly. I would update PHP on WordPress before your host does it for you and your site will probably break during the worst possible time.
More importantly, upgrading gives your site an immediate speed boost. Modern PHP versions execute code much faster. A faster server means quicker load times, which is great for both your visitors and your search engine rankings. Updating WordPress along with PHP makes sure your website stays fast and secure.
Why Burst Statistics requires PHP 8.0
We built Burst Statistics and Burst Pro to give you clear, actionable insights without slowing down your website. To do that, Burst requires your server to run at least PHP 8.0, so keeping your WordPress and PHP updated is necessary for full functionality.
Because Burst processes data locally on your server, efficiency is critical. PHP 8.0 introduced major performance improvements that allow us to handle data tracking without affecting your site speed, especially when paired with an up-to-date WordPress and PHP setup.
PHP 8.0 also introduced a feature called Union types, which lets us set strict rules for exactly what kind of data our code is allowed to accept. If unexpected or potentially malicious data tries to enter the system, PHP rejects it immediately. This strict validation catches bugs before they happen and makes Burst significantly more secure. This is one of the main reasons we chose to drop support for PHP 7.4. Keeping your WordPress install up-to-date, paired with regular PHP updates ensures you have less risk of security issues.
As we are a small business, it’s not worth it to keep supporting an outdated version of PHP. For us, making the choice to PHP update our WordPress site ensures we have fewer compatibility issues and spend less time troubleshooting.
How to check and update your version
Finding your current PHP version is very easy and takes just a few clicks. By the way, this is also useful when planning a PHP update WordPress operation.
Go to your WordPress dashboard, navigate to Tools, and click Site Health. Open the Info tab and look under the Server section. You will see your active PHP version listed there, which is an essential first step before updating WordPress PHP.
At the time of writing PHP 8.1 has just been set to unsupported. So, if your version is below 8.1, it is time to update your WordPress PHP environment.
Log in to your web hosting control panel. Most hosts have a simple setting to change your PHP version. If you cannot find it, just send a quick message to your hosting support team. It is a standard request, and they can easily update it for you. Before upgrading, I always recommend having a proper backup, as the upgrade could break your site. We use UpdraftPlus to back up our website. That way, your PHP update for WordPress can be reversed if needed.
Investing the time to upgrade to a newer version of PHP is worth it. It prevents you from having to deal with a forced upgrade in the future. In my experience, these forced upgrades always come at the wrong time, so I’d rather choose when to do it and prevent the stress. Also, the performance improvements are a nice bonus! Taking control early and running a WordPress PHP update puts you ahead of any potential problems.
