{"id":772,"date":"2020-10-14T17:39:56","date_gmt":"2020-10-14T14:39:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/?p=772"},"modified":"2022-08-30T13:32:59","modified_gmt":"2022-08-30T10:32:59","slug":"how-to-change-the-php-version-of-a-website","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/how-to-change-the-php-version-of-a-website\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Change the PHP Version of a Website"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If your job has anything to do with computers, you are most probably familiar with the constant reminders about the <\/span>importance of using the latest version of every single piece of software<\/b> you interact with. Chances are, you are even more familiar with the problems this could cause sometimes.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, far too often, compatibility issues, higher hardware requirements, and bugs go hand-in-hand with the process of applying software updates. Yet, despite this, experts continue to advocate the use of the most recent versions of<\/span> every single piece of software<\/b>. PHP, the programming language that powers close to <\/span>80% of the world’s websites<\/b>, is no exception. But do website owners actually heed the advice?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

PHP’s latest major release is <\/span>PHP 7.4<\/b>, but according to <\/span>W3Techs’ usage statistics<\/b>, about<\/span> 43% of all PHP websites still use PHP 5.<\/b> Of the rest, nearly a third employ <\/span>PHP 7.2<\/b>, which is rapidly approaching its <\/span>end of support in November 2020.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Changing the PHP version in SPanel<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Because PHP is so popular and because different websites<\/b> require different versions of the programming language, we needed to make sure that<\/span> changing the PHP version is quick and easy<\/b>. Here’s how to do it:
<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Log into SPanel’s User Interface and open the PHP manager.<\/strong>
    The default login URL for SPanel’s User Interface is https:\/\/yourdomain.com\/spanel <\/em>(make sure you swap yourdomain.com for your actual domain). The PHP Manager<\/strong> is available under the Tools <\/strong>section on the homepage.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n
    \"How<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    1. Click the Change button next to the website you want to modify.<\/strong>
      You’ll see a list of all the domains and subdomains hosted on your account. You can change the PHP versions of all of them individually.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n
      \"How<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
      1. Choose the PHP version you want to use and save the changes.<\/strong>
        A popup appears with all available PHP versions. Pick the one you want to use and click Change<\/strong>.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n
        \"How<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

        Why is it important to use PHP’s latest version?<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

        We had to give our customers the chance to <\/span>run their websites on older PHP versions<\/b>, but this doesn’t mean that we’re encouraging it. There are a number of different reasons why you should <\/span>switch to PHP’s latest version,<\/b> if possible.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        As always, the most important advantage that the new version brings is the added security. <\/span>PHP vulnerabilities<\/b> are discovered day in, day out, and you need to ensure that <\/span>you are protected from them<\/b>. Many people aren’t. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Quite a few websites run on <\/span>PHP 5.6<\/b>, for example, which <\/span>stopped receiving security updates in January 2019<\/b>. All the security holes that have been discovered since then remain unplugged for websites running on it.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Of course, there are other benefits to using the latest version. New <\/span>features and performance upgrades <\/b>are constantly introduced, and although there are teething problems and bugs sometimes, when the community supporting the <\/span>project is as big as PHP’s<\/b>, the issues tend to get sorted quite quickly.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        The only real problems that can appear are related to compatibility. <\/span>Older Content Management System plugins and themes<\/b> might not work correctly under newer PHP versions. If that is the case, however, chances are, <\/span>these themes and plugins<\/b> are security problems themselves, so you might want to think about ditching them for something more modern. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        In a worst-case scenario, you’d need to reconfigure the entire website to work with the newer PHP version, which could be a significant task. Even in such cases, however, the <\/span>security benefits outweigh any disadvantages by a mile<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        How to Change the PHP Version<\/p>\n\n\n\n