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PHP 8.1 Available

By on 3 September 2022

We are pleased to announce availability of PHP 8.1 on all our servers. With this, we are also giving notice of the end of availability of PHP 7.4.

PHP 8.0 general availability

PHP 8.1 was released in November 2021. It took us a while, but we are now ready for this, the latest and greatest edition of PHP to date. It is a major update from PHP 8.0 with many new features and some breaking changes. For a summary of new functionality and deprecations, please see php.net.

PHP 7.4 end of life

Active support for PHP 7.4 ended in November 2020, with security updates to end in November 2022. Depending on demand, we will continue to offer PHP 7.4 up to 31 March 2023.

For more information on PHP supported versions, please see php.net.

Wil your website work with PHP 8.1?

If you website works with PHP 8.0, then it will quite likley work fine with PHP 8.1. The latest versions of popular content management systems like WordPress are compatible with PHP 8.1. However, some plugins and themes may not be compatible.

To prevent disappointment, please check that your website is compatible with PHP 8.1 and make any necessary adjustments ahead of the events outlined in the “important dates” table below. We suggest the following steps:

  • Update your web application and all its plugins and themes to the latest versions.
  • For each plugin or theme, check the developer’s website for PHP 8.1 compatibility.
  • If your website uses custom PHP code, then definitely check with your web developer.
  • When you think it is safe, switch your website to PHP 8.1 (see below for instructions) and then test that everything works as it should. If you experience problems, switch back to PHP 8.0 and do the necessary troubleshooting.

To switch the PHP version of your website:

  • Log in to your cPanel.
  • Scroll down to the Software section, and open the MultiPHP Manager page.
  • Select the PHP version of your choice for your website. The “inherit” option makes your website inherit the server default version. See the “important dates” table below for details on the default PHP version.

We recommend using the “inherit” setting wherever possible, so that your website will use the server default PHP version. However, for testing purposes, you would want to override this by selecting a specify PHP version. Also, if you are awaiting updates to make your site compatible with PHP 8.1 and do not want the automatic version upgrade on5 November (see below), then you will also want to set an explicit version.

Troubleshooting steps if PHP 8.1 does not work well:

  • Enable detailed error message in your application. WordPress has a debugging option, for example.
  • Check the PHP error logs. Errors are written to error_log files in the relevant sub-directory under public_html.

Important dates

Date Change Default version Comment Status
2 September PHP 8.1 available PHP 8.0 To use PHP 8.1, use the MultiPHP Manager function in cPanel; all new websites will use PHP 8.0 by default Completed
30 September Change server default version to PHP 8.1 PHP 8.1 Automatic upgrade for all websites that use the “inherit” (server default) setting to PHP 8.1; all new websites will use PHP 8.1 by default Completed
7 October Remove option to select PHP 7.4 in cPanel PHP 8.1 PHP 7.4 will no longer be available for selection with the MultiPHP Manager function in cPanel; websites still set to use PHP 7.4 will continue to do so Completed
14 October Forced switch PHP 7.4 websites to PHP 8.1 PHP 8.1 Switch websites still using PHP 7.4 to the server default PHP 8.1; a client may request exception to keep a website on PHP 7.4 Completed
31 March* PHP 7.4 no longer available PHP 8.1 PHP 7.4 no longer available Completed

 

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