Why Upgrade Your Site to PHP 8.x

PHP is a widely-used open source general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for web development and can be embedded into HTML, which is why most Content Management Systems like WordPress, Magento, Drupal, Joomla, etc. use PHP. It is not just limited to such sites, but a lot of open-source applications like SugarCRM, osTicket, etc. also use PHP for their applications. TD Web Services provides over 400+ PHP-based applications/scripts with 1-Click install within our Business Hosting.

Why Upgrade to PHP 8.4?

It’s Crazy Fast

Stats! Stats! Stats! give us tangible results—so don’t just take our word for it. PHP 8.x introduced significant performance improvements over older versions, and PHP 8.4 continues to enhance speed, memory efficiency, and execution performance. Modern benchmarks show faster request handling and better scalability, especially for CMS platforms and high-traffic websites.

More control over type declarations

PHP does not require you to declare variable types, as it determines them automatically. While this helps developers code faster, it can also lead to errors when types are mixed unintentionally. With PHP 8.x, you get stronger and more flexible type declaration features, allowing developers to define clearer rules for variables, parameters, and return values. This results in cleaner code, fewer bugs, and better long-term maintainability.

Preloading for Improved Performance

A boost in performance is always welcome. With PHP 8.x, OPcache preloading has become more mature and effective. You can configure OPcache to load and compile frequently used PHP files into shared memory when the server starts.

This means PHP no longer needs to compile these files on every request, resulting in faster execution times, reduced CPU usage, and improved overall performance—especially for large applications and frameworks.

Better Error Handling

All PHP developers dread the White Screen of Death. In older PHP versions, a single fatal error could cause the entire application to stop working.

With PHP 8.x, error handling has been significantly improved. More errors are now converted into exceptions, allowing developers to catch and handle them gracefully. This prevents unexpected crashes and helps ensure that your website or application continues running smoothly, even when issues occur.

Many Other Features

PHP 8.x introduces many additional enhancements, including:

• Improved Unicode and emoji support
  
• New language features and operators
  
• Stronger security with improved cryptographic functions and CSPRNG (Cryptographically Secure Pseudo-Random Number Generator), which relies on the operating system’s random source for secure password salting and token generation

These updates make PHP more modern, secure, and developer-friendly.

What Does PHP 8.4 Mean for WordPress Users?

According to WordPress.org official statistics, only a small percentage of websites are running on the latest PHP versions. While WordPress now recommends PHP 8.0 or higher, many sites are still using outdated and unsupported PHP releases.

A large number of WordPress websites continue to run on older PHP versions that no longer receive security updates. This increases the risk of security vulnerabilities, compatibility issues with modern themes and plugins, and slower website performance.

How to Upgrade your PHP Versions

TD Web Services enabled PHP 8.4 support to ensure customers always have access to the latest and most secure PHP version. We provide PHP with FPM, making your PHP experience faster and more efficient.

Log in to your control panel. Scroll down to the Software section and click on MultiPHP Manager.

All you need to do now is select the domain and choose the PHP version (PHP 8.4) you want to apply. That’s it.

It really is that simple to move to PHP 8.4!

If you are with a different hosting provider, you will need to contact their support team to switch your website to PHP 8.4.

Conclusion

Hopefully, by now you’ve made the switch to PHP 8.4 on TD Web Services. If you’re not a TD Web Services customer yet but like the way this sounds, give us a test run—you can spin up a free, PHP 8.4-ready demo site or submit a migration request.