Confused About Which PHP Works Best For WordPress- Check this out!

abhishekcis

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Are you building a new eCommerce website for your business? If you are considering WordPress as your alma mater for building a website then you must be wondering which PHP is best for your website?

This is a detailed guide to help you choose which PHP version is best suitable for your website.

However, before we begin it is vital that you understand that the only reason why WordPress endures its popularity is because of its open-source. PHP is the scripting/coding language that contributes to the seamless functions and features of a website.

How to benchmark the best version of WordPress PHP version for your website?

We tested the basic WordPress version 5.7 against other versions of PHP that includes:

As a PHP development company, we always wanted to test out WordPress with its default configuration. That’s why we used the pre-installed Twenty Twenty-One WordPress theme.

Cloudways Server Configuration:

RAM: 4GB
Bandwidth Transfer: 3TB
NVMe SSD Disk: 80GB
Processor: 2 Core
MariaDB: 10.1
Server Location: San Francisco
Cloudways Server: DigitalOcean Premium Server
Varnish Disable

The application configurations were:

WordPress Version: 5.7
We installed a few must-have plugins like Bot Protection, Elementor, and more.
Breeze Disable
Twenty Twenty-One Theme

Loader Test Settings:

Tested Pages: 1
Test type: Maintain Client Load
Clients: 0 to 20
Duration: 1 Min

The results we got from Benchmarking: We observed a constant improvement in site performance when shifting from PHP version 5.6 to 8.0. According to our study and experience as a PHP development company, the result for PHP 8.0 is a clear winner as it offers the fastest loading time of 164 ms. While PHP 5.6 is the slowest one and is almost 3 times slower compared to PHP 8.0

The Advantages of Upgrading Your PHP Version:

Speed

Okay, so let us state the obvious first. When you hire a PHP web development company the first thing that you would ask them is about speed since it’s a critical factor for any good website. When getting PHP website development services, you must ensure that they provide you with the best product in the world and a functional and aesthetic website. But if the website loads slowly, no one is going to stay on your website and consequently buy your product.

Increased Security

If your PHP development offers PHP 5.6, PHP 7.0, or PHP 7.1 then we would advise refraining from business with the PHP web development company since these versions are not protected. That is right! All these PHP versions are commonly known as EOL or end of life which means that these versions do not receive any updates, whether that be for bug fixes or security.

Using an old version of PHP is automatically putting a business website in trouble. Even if your PHP web development company offers a PHP 7.2 you are running a risk of support ending soon.

As an experienced PHP web development company, we are not saying that your website is going to be hacked if you use an old PHP version but this definitely puts you at risk in the nefarious hands of a third party. To keep it safe, ask your PHP web development company to upgrade your website to PHP 7.3 or PHP 7.4.

Maintained

What does your PHP web development company intend to do when there is a bug? Well, most PHP development companies at some point fix the bug and the hosting web company automates the functions and applies the patch to its servers before you even notice.

But, what about bugs in an outdated PHP version or EOL? Well, unfortunately, in this case, you are out of luck! The key in such cases is to fix the bug by upgrading it to a newer PHP version.

However, we would recommend you upgrade your website before it reaches a critical state. It is better to upgrade it while taking your time deciding on the right PHP version and also it is much safer. Having to upgrade your PHP version because there’s a problem with the version you currently use is not ideal.

You get better compatibility with newer software

By using WordPress plugins like MailPoet, we have observed a faster shift and drop support with the plugin for outdated PHP versions.

If you wish to try and use MailPoet with PHP 5.6 you will observe an error notice that will ask you to upgrade your PHP version.

Please keep in mind that this trend will continue for all the new features and functionality that will be introduced by Wordpress. PHP development companies want to implement newer plugins and software, and most times to do this successfully, developers have to drop support for older PHP versions.

The newest version of WooCommerce also dropped support for PHP 5.6. While as an end-user, you may feel hard done by to no longer have your software work with older PHP versions, developers are doing it with your best interests at heart as well.

Disadvantages of Using an Older PHP Version

PHP Errors

Have you ever upgraded your WordPress version with a theme or a plugin and then came across an unexpected error? You will only see this error when your website runs a PHP version less than 5.3. But if you upgrade your PHP version that uses the double colon operator then you wouldn’t face this issue.

How do you upgrade your PHP version?

You can always hire a PHP development company to help with the upgrading. However, PHP development depends on the hosting provider of your website. Most major hosts provide a way to upgrade through their cPanel system but hiring PHP website development services is optimal. Select your hosting provider from the list below to see how to upgrade PHP with that host. If your host isn’t listed, you can probably find upgrade instructions by searching Google for “upgrade PHP” followed by the name of your host.