What is the best PHP version to run Wordpress?

wpspeedster · Apr 4, 2017

I checked and knew PHP 7.1 is released recently, I am running PHP 5.6 for my WP sites but reading that PHP 7 has better performance. Is it better to run Wordpress with PHP 7. What is best PHP version to run Wordpress in your personal opinion?

VirtuBox · Apr 4, 2017

wpspeedster said:
I checked and knew PHP 7.1 is released recently, I am running PHP 5.6 for my WP sites but reading that PHP 7 has better performance. Is it better to run Wordpress with PHP 7. What is best PHP version to run Wordpress in your personal opinion?

Currently php7.0 is the best version because you may have some compatibility issues with php7.1 for your wordpress plugins. But you can try php7.1, and if you have no error with this version, it will provide the best performance.

LJSHost · Apr 4, 2017

I would also say 7.0 for now maybe towards the end of the year when 7.1 is more tested a polished.

As virtubox said nothing stopping you from giving it a go, if no errors then just roll with it

gagah · Apr 4, 2017

On Wordpress, much better performance on PHP 7. From 208ms to 4ms response times according to this benchmark, and it's accurate according to my testing as well.

Funnily enough using 7.1 i found some things are not working but on PHP 7, everything works just fine, so just give it a go on a sandbox environment first if you're afraid of breaking things.

HyperHost · Apr 4, 2017

You should select PHP version according to your Wordpress version. The old WP can't support 7.0

LarsJ · Apr 4, 2017

Taken directly from WordPress.org: "WordPress will always work on the latest versions of PHP and MySQL, which are often faster and more stable."

alaingastonsome · Apr 5, 2017

If you are managing the host, then it is better to stick with the current version as you may face some compatibility issues with it. I have read a couple of feedback from users where they migrated to the new version and then found issues with it, which is not an issue though, but just compatibility thing. I have a couple of my websites on wpengine, and I have recently upgraded to the php 7.1 and haven't encountered any issues till yet. The whole idea is that if you have a good managed wordpress hosting plan, then compatibility also won't be an issue for your website as they do the technical changes and check for you.

fwh · Apr 6, 2017

wpspeedster said:
I checked and knew PHP 7.1 is released recently, I am running PHP 5.6 for my WP sites but reading that PHP 7 has better performance. Is it better to run Wordpress with PHP 7. What is best PHP version to run Wordpress in your personal opinion?

I am running a review section in a sub folder from this domain with Wordpress and running PHP 7.1 and mariadb but didn't see any errors with it.
But with this forum, there are some bugs in addons because they were not compatible with php 7.1 but luckily they are fixed now.

VirtuBox said:
Currently php7.0 is the best version because you may have some compatibility issues with php7.1 for your wordpress plugins. But you can try php7.1, and if you have no error with this version, it will provide the best performance.

I don't think php 7.1 has better performance than php 7.0
Are you test performance between 2 these versions?

LJSHost said:
I would also say 7.0 for now maybe towards the end of the year when 7.1 is more tested a polished.

As virtubox said nothing stopping you from giving it a go, if no errors then just roll with it

We don't need to wait untill the end of the year because our forum is running with php 7.1.
I saw it ran faster php 5.6 but since used https then its also slow a bit more.

HostaPolis · Apr 8, 2017

I am using PHP 7.1 with no issues at all, it is fully supported by Wordpress.
I imagine some plugins need updating but I haven't run into any just yet. Latest = greatest!

24x7CSM · Apr 8, 2017

One thing you should keep in mind that when you have sites running based on CMS , you must make sure that you have them updated. php 5.6 is going to be End of Life of soon , so in order to make sure that you website is secured enough , update the PHP version to the latest one.

fwh · Apr 8, 2017

VirtuBox said:
Here some benchmark between php7.0 and php7.1 on symfony :

I read this post before but to be honest, i didn't see more difference between php7.0 and php7.1

HostaPolis said:
I am using PHP 7.1 with no issues at all, it is fully supported by Wordpress.
I imagine some plugins need updating but I haven't run into any just yet. Latest = greatest!

You are right, Wordpress supports PHP 7.1 and plugins or themes that supported and updated regularly then we will not have any problems with PHP 7.1
But if we use many plugins on a WP site, we should check if there are some are not compatible with PHP 7.1 which can make your site not run perfectly.

rankmyhub · Apr 8, 2017

Official self hosted wordpress instance requirements:

https://wordpress.org/about/requirements/

I have tested php 7, php7.1 on test wordpress site, but did not used on production, due to some compitability issues with themes and plugins. If your theme and plugins work well with php 7 or 7.1, in staging. You can make it as production stack. However, still most plugins are not compitable with latest php. Also some extensions or php modules are still to be added to php 7. Some themes may break or stop working if they fail to meet their own requirements.

Testing is the best thing, you can do. Test it, and then see, how it is working for you. But if you are coming from php 5.6 to php7, yes you will see significant performance improvement.

Dewlance · Apr 9, 2017

For me, PHP 7 is best because of it work quickly while PHP 5 is bit slower so for performance I will recommended you PHP 7.

Also latest version of PHP is more secure and good for future while php 5 will be discontinued and also it will be not supported by various plugin after few month.

So for security, stability php 7 is good.

rankmyhub · Apr 25, 2017

Good to know, that it worked for you. Thanks

BlimpHosting · Apr 27, 2017

Would recommend using PHP 7.0. It's the best version out right now in my experience.

TwoPalmsHost · May 29, 2017

Provided your host has it available, I'd highly recommend PHP7. It's what the WordPress.org developers are recommending now and offers much quicker load times.

techman · Jun 8, 2017

wpspeedster said:
I checked and knew PHP 7.1 is released recently, I am running PHP 5.6 for my WP sites but reading that PHP 7 has better performance. Is it better to run Wordpress with PHP 7. What is best PHP version to run Wordpress in your personal opinion?

Definetly PHP7, once newer versions are more stable, then you should upgrade it.

DiamondIM · Jul 10, 2018

Wordpress always supports the latest version of PHP thus it will run as well on PHP 7.2 at this time without any problems.
I would suggest to upgrade to this version if you are running Wordpress.

Unisecure · Jul 16, 2018

To run WordPress we recommend your host supports:
PHP version 7.2 or greater is best

24x7serverman · Jul 16, 2018

It's recommended to always use the latest PHP version.

Wordpress now recommends using PHP 7.2 or greater - see https://wordpress.org/about/requirements/

What is the best PHP version to run Wordpress?

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