WordPress PHP8 Update: A step-by-step guide for Siteground and CPanel

Are you looking to upgrade your WordPress website to PHP8? In this blog post, I’ll walk you through how to do it quickly and easily using Siteground or CPanel.

Introduction

Updating to PHP 8 provides many benefits, including increased reliability, faster performance, and better compatibility with external dependencies. PHP 8 is also more compatible with Static Analysis tools and provides better code coverage. 

Furthermore, deprecated features have been removed, and other features have been changed to work with PHP 8, resulting in fewer compatibility issues. As a result, an update to the latest version of PHP will lessen the impact on the WordPress ecosystem. For these reasons, I recommend upgrading your WordPress sites to PHP 8 to benefit from these improvements. 

What is PHP8, and why should you consider updating WordPress to support it?

PHP 8 is the newest version of the popular open-source scripting language designed for website and web application development. 

Upgrading your WordPress website to PHP 8 can provide various benefits, including improved performance, better compatibility with newer plugins and themes, increased security, and more. 

With PHP 8’s new features, such as the JIT compiler and improved type system, you can expect significantly better performance when compared to earlier versions. The enhanced security features included in this version will help keep your website safe from malicious attacks or other vulnerabilities. 

Upgrading to PHP 8 is a way to ensure that your website remains up-to-date and secure.

Why should you use the most recent PHP version?

Using older PHP versions on WordPress can have some serious drawbacks. Some of the most common issues are increased security risks, decreased performance, and compatibility issues with modern plugins.

All versions of PHP before the current 7.3 are no longer supported, and it is strongly encouraged that anyone still running any of those older versions update immediately to the latest version. This is due to the lack of security patches and potential vulnerabilities that could arise from using an outdated version.

Furthermore, even version 7.4 reached its End of Life on November 28th, 2022 – meaning users should plan accordingly when upgrading to ensure they remain protected against any security risks.

It’s important to note that keeping your PHP up-to-date is important not just for security issues but also for performance reasons; newer versions often contain improvements in speed and accuracy, which can be essential for running larger applications or websites.

Additionally, staying updated with the latest PHP version usually implies that developers have access to more libraries and tools to help them create more efficient code.

All in all, regularly upgrading your PHP hosting editions is a necessary step toward maintaining a secure environment while benefiting from improved performance and additional features. As of this writing, we are on PHP 8.4

How do I know which version of PHP is my hosting provider supporting?

You must log in to your hosting account and check the available PHP versions.

My hosting provider for the popular CPanel is Namehero. It works the same with any other hosting provider that supports CPanel. I will show you where you can check it for CPanel and SiteGround.

CPanel

SiteGround

How do you update WordPress PHP8 in Siteground or CPanel hosting accounts?

Step 1: Back up your website

Backing up a website before updating WordPress is vital to protect it from potential issues. Backing up the website will provide peace of mind and ensure that all content can be quickly restored with minimal effort if something goes wrong during the update process.

Switching the PHP version to 8 is a significant change, and a good backup is necessary.

Siteground makes automatic daily backups for up to 30 days on all WordPress hosting plans. If you are on the GrowBig or GrowGeek plan, you can perform five backups manually.

CPanel also has some built-in backup options. However, based on my experience, I would not rely on them. I recommend installing a backup plugin. See my article tips for WordPress backup.

Step 2: What is my current PHP WordPress version?

Log in to your WordPress Dashboard to check your current PHP WordPress version. Go to Tools, Site Health, and wait until the results are loaded. Then, go to the info tab and open the server, and you will see the current PHP WordPress version. It is the best way to ensure which PHP version sees WordPress

Step 3: Prepare PHP 8 / Create a staging site – developers’ environment

Creating a WordPress staging site before upgrading the live site to PHP 8 is essential for several reasons:

1. It provides a safe environment to test the upgraded version of your website without putting your live site at risk.
2. It lets you identify potential issues or conflicts before changing your live site.
3. Having a staging site makes it much easier to roll back changes should something go wrong while updating your live site.

All in all, creating a staging site is an essential step in safely upgrading your WordPress website to PHP 8 and providing a smooth transition.

Please read my separate article on creating a staging website at SiteGround and CPanel. Overall, it is easy and requires only a few clicks.

Step 4: Upgrade PHP 8

Let me stress that you only upgraded to PHP8 on your staging site. 

The process is different between CPanel and Siteground. Let me start with CPanel.

CPanel

Above, we realized that in CPanel, there is a PHP select version option. However, if we change the version with this setting, it will affect all your websites hosted within your hosting account.

Of course, you won’t want to do that. You need to open a support ticket and tell them you only want to upgrade your staging site. Provide the website URL to ensure understanding. Support can change individual PHP versions with the Apache PHP handle. 

Here is a technical note about the issue with CPanel.

SiteGround

At SiteGround, you can select the PHP version for your staging and life site. It would be best if you had the GrowBig plan, as the StartUP plan does not offer the option of creating a staging site.

By default, SiteGround uses the UltraFast PHP setup.

Ultrafast PHP is SiteGround’s specialized version of PHP. It automates common tasks and processes to ensure your website performs at its peak.

With ultrafast PHP, your website can handle large traffic while keeping response times low. It also includes features such as an optimized opcode cache and enhanced security settings that help keep your site secure. In short, SiteGround has its own method for tweaking PHP.

To select the PHP Version for your staging site, you must change the PHP setup to standard from Ultrafast. After, you can choose a different PHP version for the staging site.

Step 5: Test for WordPress PHP 8 compatibility problems

Testing for WordPress PHP 8 compatibility when updating WordPress is crucial to ensure that all website components, including plugins and themes, will work properly after the update. The best way to test your website is just browsing every page and testing all functionality, like filling out the contact form.

Without testing for compatibility beforehand, the website may experience unexpected issues after updating to PHP 8, which could result in downtime or other unforeseen problems. Creating a staging environment and testing plugins and themes before an update is the best way to ensure everything works as expected when upgrading WordPress.

Step 6: Turn on PHP 8 for your live WordPress website

For SiteGround, you would go to PHP Manager and change the version on the Live Site tab (see picture above)

For CPanel, you could change the current PHP version or if you have multiple websites in your hosting account, contact support again.

What are some potential compatibility issues that could arise after upgrading to PHP8?

– Incompatible themes or plugins: 

One potential issue you may encounter when upgrading to PHP in WordPress is incompatible themes or plugins. If you have any themes or plugins that are not compatible with the new PHP version, they will need to be updated or replaced. 

– Outdated code: 

Another issue that can arise from upgrading to PHP in WordPress is outdated code. It can cause errors and issues with your website. If your WordPress site uses old code, it needs a fix for the new PHP version. 

– Security vulnerabilities: 

Security vulnerabilities are a further potential issue to be aware of when upgrading PHP in WordPress. If your WordPress site is not up-to-date with the latest security patches, it may be at risk for attack. 

What are the values of updating WordPress to PHP8?

The WordPress PHP 8 Update brings many advantages to users, including: 

• Improved performance: This update offers improved performance as it utilizes a new execution engine, which is more efficient and faster than previous versions. It means your website will be able to handle higher amounts of traffic and offer shorter response times.

• New features: PHP 8 offers several new features, such as support for named arguments, union types, match expressions, type declarations for internal functions, and the JIT compiler. These features can make coding more manageable and more efficient. 

• Increased security: With the WordPress PHP 8 update comes increased security. It includes enhanced security settings like additional error reporting options that help identify potential vulnerabilities in your code or plugins. It can also help protect against malicious attacks by blocking specific requests before they reach your server.

FAQ

Wrap up

A step-by-step guide for Siteground and CPanel discusses the importance of upgrading to PHP 8.0 to avoid potential issues. It highlights performance improvements, new features that come with PHP 8, and the compatibility of both Siteground and Cpanel with this version. 

You may have noticed that SiteGround already offers PHP 8.2 and Namehero PHP 8.1. I have upgraded all my websites, including this one which is hosted at Namehero, to PHP 8.1. 

What is your experience with PHP upgrades? Please let me know in the comment section below or write me an email at info@edywerder.ch