⚠️ Don’t Get Left Behind: Upgrade Your Website Before PHP End of Life

PHP, former Personal Home Page, is one of the most popular programming languages that is the power engine behind websites, applications, data encryption, etc. It also stands for Hypertext Preprocessor.

When there’s talk of PHP, HTML comes to mind as well, which stands for Hypertext Markup Language. Let’s Explain this in simple terms:

Every element you see on a website, like headers, paragraphs, blocks, etc., are all embedded using HTML. PHP is used for scripting, command line setup, sending, receiving, and encrypting data. Now before we talk about PHP EOL, let’s discuss the PHP version history.

PHP Version History

When a new version of PHP is released, it comes with a two-year security and updates support and a one-year critical security support. The first PHP — PHP 3.0 — release date was on 20th Oct 2000, and its latest version is PHP 8.3, which is scheduled to be released by the end of 2023.

Which PHP Version Should I Use?

You might already know this, but it’s not always the best idea to upgrade to a new version of a product or software. Your website may be running fine on an outdated version of PHP, and upgrading to a newer version might cause compatibility issues. For example, PHP 7.4 equips your website with certain plugins, and if you upgrade to PHP 8.0, those plugins might not work at all.

Choosing a version of PHP is sort of a trial and error process, so make sure your development team is up to the task and can handle unforeseen consequences.

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PHP EOL: What Does It Mean?

PHP EOL means PHP End of Life. We are covering the PHP 7.4 end of life. As of 28 Nov 2022, PHP 7.4 is no longer supported, which means there will be no security updates or improvements for that version from the PHP team.

PHP 7.4 End of Life

According to w3techs, over 60% of websites are running on PHP 7.4, and since we’re well past its end of life, it’s better to upgrade to an updated version of PHP as soon as possible. Security threats are always on the corner, and an outdated system or infrastructure is the easiest prey. If you have ignored the importance of PHP 7.4 EOL until now, it is likely that your website would be prone to these security threats:

• Phishing or ransomware attacks
• Data theft
• SQL injection
• Cross-site scripting
• Code injection
• CEO fraud and impersonation
• Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Attack
• Web Scraping
• Brute-Force Attacks

Although PHP EOL is a serious matter to consider, if you want to keep using an outdated PHP, you need to make sure your development team is monitoring your website constantly so that if and when a glitch or issue appears, it can be fixed before causing irreparable damage.

But keep in mind that if you want to benefit from PHP’s new features, you need to start the upgrading process.

PHP 8 End of Life

PHP 8 is better than PHP 7.4 in terms of performance and security, but as I mentioned earlier, an upgraded version of PHP might not be the best option for your website. The comparison below is a good guide for you to choose the most suitable version.

Here is a list of release date and EOL of PHP 8:

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What Are the Consequences of Ignoring PHP EOL? 

Ignoring the PHP EOL matter doesn’t just affect your website’s security; it affects the security of the whole internet because it literally is an open door for different types of malware. Here are other areas of your website which will be affected by using an outdated version of PHP:

Speed and Performance

It is absolutely crucial that website visitors get access to the data they need in seconds; otherwise, your traffic rates take a huge hit.

Application Downtime

Slow applications can get as annoying as slow websites for any user. We all get daily notifications to update our applications, and the reason behind it is the advancement of technology trying to protect us from malicious threats. Also, if applications run on outdated versions of PHP, frequent crashes and bugs are some of the things you can expect.

Waste of Resources

Maintaining and developing a website running on an outdated PHP is costly because the less efficient your website is, the better your development team should be, and expert developers are anything but cheap. If your development team is constantly battling bugs and creating security patches, they won’t have time to optimize your website or applications, which is what you are paying them for.

If you have a business, you know that your competitors are upping their development game daily to keep customers happy, so you should do the same and even better.

PHP Migration Options

You may have made up your mind about migrating from PHP 7.4 to PHP 8.0, but you simply don’t know how to do that. If you have a small code base you can read this migration guide provided by PHP and manually update your code so that it’s compatible with the new PHP changes. However, if you’re working on a larger project, going through every line of code may be daunting. Fortunately, there are some great tools for this scenario like PHP compatibility checker, PHP code sniffer, and PHP CS Fixer. These tools will review your code, automatically fix all the mismatches with PHP standard code, and replace deprecated features with the updated version.

Conclusion

Most people are hesitant when it comes to updating their applications or operating systems and for good reason. For example, if your website is running well on PHP 7.4 — an outdated version of PHP — you won’t want to risk your plugins or overall website performance by upgrading to, say, PHP 8.0. However, you must keep in mind that using any outdated program or software is an open invitation to all sorts of cyber threats. Also, your website might become slower while running on an outdated PHP, causing lower traffic rates and less revenue.

If your team can monitor your website for security vulnerabilities on the clock and your website is running at optimal speed, then keep using PHP 7.4; otherwise, it’s best to upgrade to a newer version of PHP that offers up-to-date security features.

FAQ

What is PHP EOL?

PHP EOL refers to the PHP end of life. For example, PHP 8.0 end of life is 26 Nov 2023, which means after that, there won’t be any security patches or updates for this PHP version.

Can I still use PHP 7.4 after its end of life?

More than 60% of websites are still running on PHP 7.4 even though we are well past its end of life, so yes, you can use it. However, if you want to have a secure website performing at an optimal level, you should test newer versions of PHP and see how they impact your website performance.

What should I do about PHP 7.4 end of life?

You can keep using PHP 7.4 or upgrade to a newer version; the decision depends on your needs and the infrastructure of your website. Some websites might not perform well while running on updated versions of PHP. If you are concerned about your website’s security, it’s best to consult with your development team about migrating to a new version of PHP.

Is there PHP long-term support? 

Yes. Zend and Heroku offer excellent and expert PHP long-term support. If, for any reason, you don’t want to upgrade to a newer PHP version, these companies offer security patches for PHP applications that will make development maintenance easier and cheaper.