Set Your Site to Use Newest PHP Version

In this guide you'll learn how to make your site use the latest PHP version. PHP is a server-side scripting language, most often used in web development. The WordPress core and most WordPress plugins and themes are written in PHP.

If wp-php-compatibility-check returns errors, you can’t do a version update before the errors have been fixed. Seravo’s plans do not include fixing a plugin or theme to work with the newest PHP version. Seravo only updates the plugin or theme to the newest version and it is generally on the plugin developers responsibility to maintain the plugin. If you can’t fix the errors yourself, you can contact our customer support for recommendations on digital agencies or freelancers whom you could buy the necessary work to upgrade or fix the plugins you need. Common examples of errors include deprecated PHP functions or plugins not supporting the latest version (e.g., Call to undefined function create_function()). Updating or replacing problematic plugins/themes can resolve issues.

The list below indicates which PHP versions are supported by Seravo and which versions are being discontinued. The use of outdated, insecure PHP versions is not possible on Seravo's WP service. You can find the list of active and discontinued PHP versions used in our service here.

PHP updates usually include several security and performance related improvements. It is therefore recommended to change to the newest PHP version as soon as it's possible. Learn more on the WordPress Support site.

A major change in PHP versions occurred in late 2018, when official security support for the widely used 5.6 ended. Seravo's latest blog posts on the subject can be found on our website with the keyword "PHP". We always blog about all the most relevant changes!

Restoring the site from a backup is a part of our routine customer support, free of charge. Additionally, ensure that your WordPress core, themes, and plugins are updated to their latest versions and test updates in a staging environment to avoid potential risks on the live site.

By logging to the admin panel of your WordPress site and going to the Upkeep page under the Tools menu, you get to change the PHP version of your site to your liking. The same tool also shows the current PHP version used.

You can also use the command wp-check-php-version over SSH to display the current PHP version in use. If you use an older PHP version, the command will return a warning of the versions security has ended.

With a recent PHP version in use, command output will look like this:
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With an older PHP in use, command output will look like this:
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PHP version should be defined in /data/wordpress/nginx directory, where you should create a php.conf file and set in this file the following: set $mode php8.4;. The version number in the command must be changed to the desired one. After that you must restart the nginx by running wp-restart-nginx, because the nginx needs to restart to the new PHP version configuration can take place.

With the command below, you can choose to do all of the above at once:
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After the change, it's good to check the error logs of the site to make sure the change didn’t trigger any errors. Log file can be found from under the /data/log directory. You can also check this directly from the WordPress admin panel. If issues arise after the update, ensure all site components are updated and consider reverting to a previous PHP version temporarily.

Compatibility checking is done with the same tool you use to change the PHP version. Log in to the WordPress admin and open the Upkeep section under the Tools menu, where you will find the Seravo Plugin tool.

Site's plugins compatibility with the newest PHP can be checked with wp-php-compatibility-check, that’ll reveal PHP code incompatibilities and give you some details, why the plugin in question isn’t compatible.

The test results are logged in the file /data/log/wp-php-compatibility.log and inside the log file you will find warnings like the one below for some of the plugins you are using:
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You can use the wp-php-compatibility-check command to check the compatibility of an individual theme with the latest version of PHP:
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The command can also be used to check the compatibility of a specific plugin:
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Additionally, you can view compatibility for a specific version of PHP by adding the version number to the end of the command:
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To address compatibility issues for specific PHP versions, work with developers to refactor code as necessary or delay transitions until updates are available.