How To Upgrade & Change PHP Versions on WPAlpha Hosting

PHP is the programming language that WordPress runs on, and each new version of PHP is generally faster than the previous one. Ideally you want to run the highest version of PHP your site, plugins and theme will support. The catch is that not every plugin or theme supports the newest version straight away.

The WP Alpha hosting platform includes a tool that automatically tests your site and checks PHP version compatibility, so you can change or upgrade your PHP version more safely. In this video, we walk you through using the PHP testing tool before you change versions, and where to change the PHP version in the hosting admin console.

Step by step: test a new PHP version

1. Log in to the hosting admin console. You start in Websites & Domains, with your list of sites.
2. Click WordPress in the left sidebar to open the WordPress manager. Your site’s current PHP version is shown there.
3. Choose the option to try another version, select the version you want to test (for example 8.3) and click Check.
4. Wait for the result. The tool takes a clone of your site, switches the clone to the new PHP version and runs a series of tests to see whether anything breaks. It uses the same system as Smart Updates.
5. If everything passes, the tool gives you the option to change the PHP version.
6. If there are errors, the result may name the plugin that caused them. Fix or replace that plugin before switching.

Changing the PHP version manually

1. Go to Websites & Domains and open the Dashboard tab for your site.
2. Click PHP and choose the version you want.
3. Leave the handler on the dedicated FPM application served by Apache, which is the default. NGINX is only needed in some scenarios where you want to customise the configuration.
4. Click OK. The change takes about 10 seconds to apply.

Run the test first rather than changing the version blind, because switching without testing is likely to break things. If you do update PHP and something breaks, you can roll back in the same place: change the version back and click OK.

If the test finds a problem

When the test reports errors but does not name a plugin, it may still be a plugin issue. You may need to check your plugins manually to find the one that does not support the PHP version you are switching to. Quite often the culprit is a paid plugin that sits outside the WordPress update system and has not been updated in a long time. Updating it manually usually clears the compatibility problem.

If you get stuck, our support team can help. Log a ticket from the client area or start a live chat.