Core's PHP support clarification and which version client shops run

MellowThistle0520

On WordPress' Core blog this Spring, there was some clarification on PHP versions they support from WordPress Core itself in 2026: https://make.wordpress.org/core/2026/05/22/php-support-clarification-2026/

So I think, if you run a client shop, the question you ask yourself should be: wich PHP version are we gonna run by now (I.e. Not wait for the plugins or whatever that forces us to update)?

Should I try and move people off 8.1 now before things bite or just do it when it has to be done, right?

Andrew

For all new installs, we default to 8.3... And at renewal, all sites will go to 8.3--since the jump from 8.1 to 8.3 yields positive results for site performance (faster response times on checkout for large catalogs)

dustyfalcon

Where can a shop owner find out that information?

Will it break shop?

OOM

The site health report, under tools shows what php version you're running.

It's usually pretty trivial to change per site as your hosting panels offer that capability with the ability to fallback when one of your plugins throw errors.

ioan

Forcing the latest php version at renewal will get the call when that old payment plugin throws deprecation fatal. 8.2 is safer, until we audit all plugins.

Andrew

Yeah, that audit before the upgrade makes sense -- and it won't take long... Scanning each plugin you currently use to see what PHP version they've tested on takes less time than fixing one broken checkout.

So a little extra time now in scanning active plugins is much better than hours of debugging once that checkout breaks.

megan

It also should not be my problem that, for example, a payment plugin just was never updated. Just like I don't care if some gateway plugin was last touched in 2022. That's the plugin's own problem: that shop should be switching gateways not PHP versions.

So isn't finding a new gateway the better fix? 😉

John-Cohen

Yah - hard to do over the course of a year because when people are using the plugin they've been given their card(s) to save so subscriptions and all that kind of stuff get tied to the older gateway (I guess not sure how).

Question:

Is it getting any easier?

MellowThistle0520

Oh, back to PHP. So far all i've heard here is that you go on 8.2 or 8.3 depending on how well your plugin stack holds up in an audit.

Nobody i've heard from thus far is defending staying on 8.1.

sebastiao69

MellowThistle0520 wrote
Not wait for the plugins or whatever that forces us to update)?

The clarification was about how WordPress core is calling PHP 8 "supported" in their own usage statistics. Nothing about what you will need: your plugins and the PHP version's supported state by your host define it.

UrbanNoodle

Any suggestions for an easy way of this: before moving, find out broken plugins under new PHP version

sebastiao69

Using a PHP compatibility scanner plugin will already uncover a lot of them or you can move the site to staging and run PHP version of target + having debug logging activated, most issues will be revealed there

If some problems are still present after moving to the new PHP version, the rest will appear in the first hour of working on live with real orders coming in

Hidden_Panda

Since two weeks ago I updated 11 clients' shops to php 8.3, mostly clients used 8.1 version.

Only one shipping plugin required some updates (other than that nothing has changed). Imho this proves my point of view. The proactive way is better to be done, rather than to wait for these updates on all plugins (and be more time consuming - you never see one of them...).

But if there are people, that support this "wait and see" approach, thats fine, too, no problem

MellowThistle0520

Eleven shops updated and one plugin - thats the datapoint we needed.