Upgrade PHP scripting language from version 8.1 implications - what should I do?

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Hello fellow Spakle/Sitely users. I’ve had a question from my hosting provider which has me, and my friend who deals with my hosting, confused as to the implications for my Sitely/Sparkle websites. I hope someone can help us make a decision.

The hosting company said, “As previously announced by email, you are currently benefiting from PHP Extended Support for version 8.1 free of charge, so that your website will continue to run securely even after the official end of PHP support.

What is PHP Extended Support? You are using the PHP scripting language version 8.1 for your website. This version is no longer supported by the PHP community and free security updates are no longer available. Our developers have ensured that websites continue to run securely and as usual on PHP version 8.1.”

I’m then given the option to pay for extended support or, “upgrade your web projects to a newer PHP version completely free of charge up to and including March 1, 2026. Before doing so, make sure that your website and all plugins and themes used are up to date and compatible with the new PHP version.”

My friend says he is happy to “activate the update buttons on the various websites. However, if it breaks things, I would not know how to fix it.”

Will it break things?

Are my Sitely/Sparkle websites version 8.1? If so, how do I get the “new PHP version” and upgrade?

Basically, confused website designer asks how do I deal with this?

Many thanks for any help

Annie

www.adriantchaikovsky.com

www.garforthsingingschool.co.uk

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PHP versions change quite frequently. Unless you use PHP scripts on your web server, I wouldn’t worry too much about it. Newer versions normally introduce new features, rather than deplete existing ones. Given that Sitely doesn’t use PHP (unless you embed a script into your pages) you shouldn’t have anything to worry about.

Of course, if you were running something like a Wordpress site, there may be more critical issues to think about. Such sites work with PHP and clearly, such sites have to ensure that they are up to date, both in terms of the base system, but also with plug-ins etc.

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I’ll just add a little bit here…
Sitely does use PHP for its forms and the Index blog page. But I think it would be best to check in with @duncan about this… You can get in contact with him about your PHP question at feedback@sitely.app

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Sitely uses PHP for a few features, as mentioned in our compatibility documentation page:

  • blogs;
  • contact forms;
  • site search;
  • Instagram recent images;
  • password protection;
  • countdown smart fields in some configurations;
  • the account information and countdown smart fields

So if you use any of these features, the Sitely-generated website does indeed use PHP.

However our customers use so many different hosting services that we ensure that the PHP code will work with all PHP versions we support, which is from 5.6 to the latest (currently 8.4). By the way PHP 5.6 is old, deprecated and buggy, please use a later version.

Since PHP versions occasionally introduce breaking changes, that mainly affect large and complex PHP systems such as big content management systems or Wordpress, web hosts will let you pick which PHP version your server should run.

There are many PHP versions, and web hosts have limited resources, so at some point they will try to incentivize people to switch to a recent PHP version so they can focus their efforts and servers. People are lazy and wouldn’t switch otherwise.

Unfortunately their communication is generally less than crystal clear, particularly if you’re not a developer.

The web hosting communication will state something like “your website uses some old PHP version”, but there’s no actual way to detect that from the code itself. What they are actually saying is “you picked this old PHP version to run your website”, a setting in their control panel. A setting that you possibly have never set, as it was the default when buying their service.

So if your website is all and only Sitely-based, now you know that the Sitely’s PHP code will run with any PHP version, and you can confidently go to the web hosting control panel and select the latest PHP version they support.

If you have other web apps running on your server (some script you downloaded and installed, or some application provided by the web host), you need to check with the provider before switching.

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Once again, Duncan, you are a complete and utter star! Thank you so much for this highly informative and detailed feedback.

Many many grateful thanks

Annie

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Thanks so much Stephie. That was super helpful :smiley:

Best of wishes

Annie

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