Get PHP 8 ready

At the end of 2022, the last revision of PHP 7 will hit “End Of Life”, meaning that it no longer gets bugfixes or security updates. This means that any exploits and security holes that are found in PHP 7 will never get patched, leaving your old software vulnerable to hackers. To keep your website secure, you should get it upgraded to be PHP 8 compatible as soon as possible.

Like a Version

Most recent PHP code can move straight from PHP 7 to PHP 8 with very little modification, meaning that it can smoothly transition to newer, better, faster, and more secure servers. There are a number of things that have changed between PHP 7 and PHP 8, however, which makes a quick upgrade less possible. If your website hasn’t been upgraded in more than 5 years, there’s a very high chance that it will not run on PHP 8 without major changes.

There are also a number of improvements available in PHP 8 which can make your software easier to work with, cheaper to maintain, and significantly more stable.

What’s the Danger

Security

If you don’t upgrade from PHP 7, your software will be vulnerable to security holes and hackers. While security updates will continue to happen until the end of November 2022, hackers won’t stop when the updates do. Upgrading to PHP 8 is the best way to ensure that your software can keep up to date and secure well into the future.

Availability

As PHP 7 gets phased out, it will be more difficult and more expensive to find anywhere to host your software. Cheap web hosts will upgrade to keep their servers secure, which may make your website stop working unexpectedly one day. More expensive hosts may charge a premium to support the older software, as it opens up security holes on their hardware. Upgrading to PHP 8 will ensure that you have a choice of hosting options at competitive prices.

Future Support

When you want a new feature, or a bug fixed in the future, it will be harder and harder to find anyone who can help you out. PHP developers all over the world will upgrade, third party software will slowly become incompatible with PHP 7, and the cost of adding a small feature will grow exponentially. Upgrading to PHP 8 will ensure that your software can continue to receive updates, bug fixes, and new features.

Upgrade Experts

Determined Development are experts at getting old sites up to date with new standards. We can audit your software, and assess the steps required to make you PHP 8 ready. Whether you have your own development team or want us to upgrade your software, Determined Development can get you business upgraded and secure.