PHP Compatibility and WordPress Versions

WordPress aims to support new versions of PHPPHP The web scripting language in which WordPress is primarily architected. WordPress requires PHP 5.6.20 or higher on the day they are released as much as possible. As a project, the process of supporting these new versions begins after each new PHP version has hit feature freeze and are tagging betaBeta A pre-release of software that is given out to a large group of users to trial under real conditions. Beta versions have gone through alpha testing in-house and are generally fairly close in look, feel and function to the final product; however, design changes often occur as part of the process. versions. This prevents having to revert or make additional changes to WordPress if a planned feature is removed or the implementation changes.

Past changes to supported PHP versions have been as followed:

• In WordPress version 4.1: Added support for PHP 5.6.
• In WordPress 4.4: Added support for PHP 7.0 (dev note).
• In WordPress 4.7: Added support for PHP 7.1.
• In WordPress 4.9: Added support for PHP 7.2.
• In WordPress 5.0: Added support for PHP 7.3 (dev note).
• In WordPress 5.2: Dropped support for PHP 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5.
• In WordPress 5.3: Added support for PHP 7.4 (dev note).
• In WordPress 5.6: Added “beta support” for PHP 8.0 (dev note).

Supported Version Chart

WP Version	5.2	5.3	5.4	5.5	5.6	7.0	7.1	7.2	7.3	7.4	8.0
3.7	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N	N	N	N	N	N
3.8	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N	N	N	N	N	N
3.9	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N	N	N	N	N	N
4.0	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N	N	N	N	N	N
4.1	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N	N	N	N	N
4.2	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N	N	N	N	N
4.3	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N	N	N	N	N
4.4	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N	N	N	N
4.5	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N	N	N	N
4.6	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N	N	N	N
4.7	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N	N	N
4.8	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N	N	N
4.9	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N	N
5.0	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N
5.1	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N
5.2	N	N	N	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N
5.3	N	N	N	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N
5.4	N	N	N	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N
5.5	N	N	N	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N
5.6	N	N	N	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y*
5.7	N	N	N	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y*

Last updated: March 8, 2021