The EOL (End-Of-Life) process is a standard part of the release cycles of PHP (the open-source programming language that powers WordPress). Once a version has reached "end of life," PHP ceases to provide security support and it is no longer secure enough to remain on our hosting servers. 

For security purposes, our hosting company completely removes older versions of PHP from their servers once they have reached "end of life."   

With your website hosting, we take care of a lot for your monthly fee:  

• Secure hosting   
• Daily backups  
• Site monitoring  
• WordPress core system updates  
• Plug-in updates  
• Access to our help center and Success Team   

However, upgrading PHP requires more extensive testing and often coding changes to keep your website compatible with the new versions of the software. This level of testing and code updates is not included with our basic hosting.  

Your site must be on PHP 8.2 by December 31, 2024.  

We are offering several options to upgrade your website:  

• A $600 upgrade package.   
• A $0 upgrade package with the purchase of a Website Success Package.  
• $1,000 discount on a new website.  

The upgrade process typically requires approximately four hours of work by our team. Most of this time is spent testing the site and fixing any errors that may occur.  

In terms of the time required to complete the work for your company, that depends on which option you choose and our backlog at the time we receive your project.  

Please do not wait until December to contact us!   

Better site performance and security. For example, upgrading a website from PHP 5.6 to 7.2 resulted in speed improvements of up to 40%. From 7.2 to 7.3, we saw as much as 15% faster page transaction times. With 7.4, we saw around 10% performance improvement after upgrading!  

PHP is a flexible web development language that WordPress and many other web platforms run on. PHP is managed by a third-party team of developers from around the world who maintain, update and correct the language in stable version releases. Upgrading PHP is a lot like updating plugins or themes; it makes the site perform better and run more securely.  

Each PHP version is provided support by its developers for two years after the initial release date to receive improvements, bug fixes, and security patches. After those first two years, a PHP version will only receive critical security updates as needed. After three years, the PHP version is deprecated and no longer receives updates, making it not supported and insecure.