Why You Must Upgrade PHP Now (Before Your Website Breaks)
Your Website Might Be Running on Borrowed Time
If your WordPress site is still running PHP 7.4 or lower, you’re already exposed. No security patches. No performance updates. No protection.
It’s like running your online business on a laptop from 2004 — with no antivirus, no firewall, and the door wide open.
And worse: when your host forces a PHP upgrade (which many are doing automatically), your site could instantly break.
Here’s Why It Matters
PHP is the underlying engine of your WordPress site — not the flashy front-end stuff, but the gears that make everything run.
And PHP 7.4 officially reached end-of-life in November 2022.
That means it’s:
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No longer secure
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No longer supported
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Increasingly incompatible with the rest of the modern web
And just because your plugins and WordPress core update doesn’t mean they’ll survive the jump to PHP 8.3. In fact…
The Most Common Scenario I See:
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Website still works fine
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WordPress says everything is up to date
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The business owner assumes all is well
Then…
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The host upgrades to PHP 8.2 or 8.3
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The site crashes completely
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Or, even worse, the site stays online but starts leaking spammy content or malicious links
This is especially true for:
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Older websites built 5–10 years ago
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Sites using bespoke themes or plugins that aren’t being updated
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Custom-coded functionality that was never touched again
The upgrade doesn’t just cause minor glitches. It can white-screen your entire website, throw up fatal errors, or leave your contact forms, sliders, or checkout completely non-functional.
So Why Hasn’t Your Host or Developer Already Upgraded It?
Honestly? In many cases, they’ve left it alone because the site seems to be working fine.
If nothing’s broken, and the client hasn’t asked for changes, many agencies will just leave things as they are — either unaware of the PHP risk, or avoiding it altogether.
Sometimes they’ve already tried upgrading and the site broke… so they rolled it back and never tried again.
It’s a bit like ignoring the warning lights on your car because the engine still starts — until one day it doesn’t.
You wouldn’t accept that from your mechanic. Don’t accept it from your developer.
Here’s What You Can (and Should) Do
Let’s make this simple and actionable.
Step 1: Check Your PHP Version
You can do this right inside WordPress:
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Log into your WordPress dashboard
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Go to Tools → Site Health
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Click the ‘Info’ tab at the top
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Expand the ‘Server’ section
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Look for PHP version
If it says 7.4 or lower, you’ve got two choices:
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Hope nothing goes wrong
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Or take control and get it upgraded safely
Step 2: DO NOT Upgrade Live
This bit is important. You can’t just flick a switch and update your PHP version from your cPanel or hosting dashboard. That’s a fast track to a broken site.
A proper upgrade looks like this:
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Clone the site to a staging/test environment
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Switch PHP version to 8.3
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Test everything: pages, forms, checkout, custom functionality
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Fix anything that breaks
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Migrate the site back to live
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Retest after go-live
And yes — something will probably break. Especially if your site’s got legacy plugins, an old theme, or custom code that hasn’t been touched in years.
This is where most DIY jobs go sideways.
That’s why I offer a one-off service to do the entire thing for you — start to finish — including backups, fixes, testing, and final launch.
No guesswork. No stress.
Don’t Wait for the Crash
If you’ve read this far and thought “That sounds like my site”… don’t sit on it.
I’ve worked with plenty of business owners who didn’t act until their site went dark. Or worse — was flagged by Google for spammy links they didn’t even know existed.
PHP 7.4 is out of support. That’s not a theory. That’s a fact.
The longer you delay, the higher the risk — of downtime, security issues, and lost enquiries.
Want peace of mind? I’ll do the upgrade for you, test it properly, fix what breaks, and keep your site running smooth and secure.
Just drop me a message. I’ll take care of the rest.