Why and How to Upgrade Your Website to PHP 7+?

Do you want to double the speed of your site’s page in just 10 minutes? Sounds impressive, isn’t it? You can make that happen by your website to the latest version of PHP, which is 7+.

And more importantly, it is better to upgrade to the latest version as soon you won’t have a choice. Since PHP 5.7 will become the basic requirement to replace your website with PHP 7.0 version.

Undoubtedly, PHP is one of the popular scripting languages on the web and holds the market with 70% of websites running online.

Thus, when you hire PHP developer for web development, things become quite easier and more accessible.

Why There Is A Need To Upgrade Website To PHP 7?

Here are the top reasons explaining why you need to upgrade your website to PHP 7+ as soon as possible:

1. Enhances speed and performance

If your site is still running on the older version of PHP, updating to the latest version will give you fast performance gain. When PHP 7.0 was introduced, it was universally appreciated for giving substantial performance gains. The official benchmarking uses WordPress 4.1.1 that shows PHP 7.0 allows servers to perform at par as many requests per second comparatively.

Recently, the popular web host Kinsta issued performance benchmarks, analyzing PHP 5.6, PHP 7.0, PHP 7.1, PHP 7.2, and PHP 7.3. Their conclusions show PHP 7.3 performs thrice as many requests per second as compared to PHP 5.6.

2. Support and Compatibility

The compatibility of the website is another significant reason why one wants to be on the latest version of PHP. As we know that for any software, developers will only maintain older versions for a specific timeframe. For instance, outdated versions of the iPhones aren’t compatible with the latest version of iOS.

This rolls down to the fact that supporting old software and ensuring backward compatibility actively is expensive, often in terms of time for theme developers and plugins. It is essential that you move forward with implementing new features, security patches, and performance enhancements to your website. To make this happen, you can hire dedicated PHP programmers to upgrade your website to the latest PHP version.

3. Security

Another top reason why you should upgrade your website is security. Running the latest version of PHP assures that your site is secured against vulnerabilities recognized in older versions of PHP.

For instance, the popular Security vulnerability Datasource CVE details reveal, there were, unfortunately, 18 acknowledged vulnerabilities found in PHP this year. Subsequently, there were 43 security exploits found in 2017, and in 2016 107 vulnerabilities were detected.

These vulnerabilities include code execution, DoS, SQL injection, XSS, and many other kinds of exploits.

How can enterprises upgrade to the latest version of PHP?

It’s best to upgrade your site initially before upgrading your website. This will help you to be on the safe side and make sure there are no problems with the existing site.

• Upgrading PHP with cPanel

If you’ve employed a host provides that gives cPanel access to your website, you need to log into cPanel and change your version of PHP there itself.

All have to do is scroll down to the Software section and click on “Select PHP Version.”

On the next page, select the PHP version you want to practice and click “Set as current.”

After that, refresh your site to check whether it’s working fine or not. But if you have checked compatibility before, your site should work adequately.

• Upgrading PHP on your own server

If you manage your own server, you can upgrade to PHP 7.2 with a DIY approach by using the migration guides that you will find in the documentation at php.net. It’s vital that you consider some exciting features and functions, as well as features that might affect your site.

• Request your website host to upgrade the website

If your website host doesn’t provide you access to cPanel, another simple way to upgrade PHP is by contacting them. The upgrade process should be easier on their end without affecting your site. In case, if your host makes it tough to upgrade, or even denies doing it for you, it’s time to search for a new host.

Related: What is new in PHP 7.4? 10 Features to look for in 2020.

High-time to upgrade your website to PHP 7+

Probably, we’ve presented a compelling argument here to convince you to upgrade to the latest version of PHP. Not only will upgrading give you instant performance benefits, but your site will also be better secured against vulnerabilities found in older versions of PHP.

Before upgrading your site, make sure you check the compatibility of your site with the PHP version you want to switch to and run a backup. It is better to create a staging version of your site and test it before making your website live.

If you’re planning to hire a dedicated team from the top PHP development company, then look no further than Concetto Labs. Contact us now to know more.

FAQs

1. How much time will it take to upgrade a website to PHP 7+?

Updating to the latest version of PHP may take 2 to 4 hours, causing downtime to your website for a few hours.

2. Does upgrading to the PHP version matter?

Yes. When you upgrade to PHP’s latest version, it gives better features and enhances the overall security of the website, protecting it against vulnerabilities.

3. Which is better- PHP 5 or PHP 7?

The significant difference between the two is the performance of the website. When you write code in PHP 7, it runs faster than PHP 5.