PHP

WP Cloud follows a modified version of the official PHP supported-versions life cycle, which includes supporting a release branch of PHP for two years from its initial stable release plus an additional two years for critical security issues only.

With this life cycle in mind, deprecations and default version changes are scheduled in advance.

PHP Schedule

Advanced PHP version change notices and timelines are provided to hosting partners via this page and announcements are made via the WP Cloud blog.

Please refer to the PHP project’s Support Versions document for more on end-of-life dates and migration guides. WP Cloud has adopted a modified support PHP version schedule. Each year, hosts should work with their customers to upgrade sites away from the retiring versions by December 15th at 12:00 UTC.

To better inform clients of WP Cloud of the status and removal of PHP versions from the platform, the /verbose parameter is available via the get-php-versions endpoint. This response includes more detailed information about the available PHP versions, including the platform default and “until” and “status” details for each version. The “until” value is the removal date should be treated as the absolute end date for a given version on WP Cloud.

It’s recommended to start on the removal of the version as a user-facing option, default version change, customer communication, and upgrades as soon as possible and complete the process of updating all sites well before the platform removal date.

Important Dates

PHP Version	Available	Default Date1	Removal Date2
8.1	Nov 25, 2021	Oct 24, 2023	Dec 31, 2025
8.2	Dec 8, 2022	Dec 2, 2024	Dec 15, 2026 12:00 UTC
8.3	Nov 23, 2023	May 19, 2025	Dec 15, 2027 12:00 UTC
8.4 (Default)	Nov 21, 2024	Dec 4, 2025	Dec 15, 2028 12:00 UTC
8.5	Nov 21, 2025	TBA	Dec 15, 2029 12:00 UTC

_{¹Default Date: The date on which WP Cloud begins provisioning all newly created sites with the current default PHP version, unless an alternative supported version is specified via the php_version meta key during creation.}

_{²Removal Date: The date closely aligned with the PHP project’s security-support end-of-life. Any site still running the retiring PHP version after this date should be updated immediately. Sites on a retired version at the platform removal time may be force-upgraded by WP Cloud to the platform’s current default PHP release without the possibility of a rollback.}

PHP Upgrade Tips

On a yearly cadence, hosts should aim to perform the following to ensure end-user sites are upgraded well before the platform removal date. Giving a buffer time for site owners to resolve potential issues.

1. Plan early.
   • Schedule upgrade planning, testing, forced upgrades, option removals, version default changes, and customer communications immediately to avoid last-minute issues. The platform removal date is a hard cutoff, and grace periods are not available.
   • Leverage the get-sites endpoint’s php_version meta support and the get-php-versions endpoint’s /vebose parameter to guide tooling, UIs, and notices.
2. Communicate upgrades clearly & early.
   Use announcements, emails, and UI notices to inform users about the changes, timelines, and any required action.
3. Advance default versions quickly.
   After a PHP default version change, update your new site default version as soon as possible. Design upgrade cycles that encourage forward movement—e.g., by promoting new versions and making older ones less attractive and unavailable as they near end-of-life.
4. Retire deprecated PHP version options.
   • On your selectable option removal date—well before the WP Cloud platform removal deadline—remove the retiring PHP version from all user-facing PHP controls and new site provisioning.
   • On a later date, remove the version from internal developer and support tools. Ensure support teams stop using version rollbacks as a solution and guide users to supported versions.
5. Force-upgrade all remaining sites.
   On your set force-upgrade date, again ahead of the platform cutoff, auto-upgrade all remaining sites. Aim to match the platform’s current default PHP version. Leverage the site-error-logs endpoint to help identify PHP version-related errors.

Recent WP Cloud PHP Announcements

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WordPress Core

WP Cloud will update the “latest” version of WordPress on the platform shortly after a core release, with the “previous” pin trailing by 30 days to allow pinned sites to update any software they have and run the core update on their own schedule.

In addition to latest and previous available via the site-wordpress-version endpoint, WP Cloud provides a beta version pin that may be used to test certain release candidate and beta versions.

WordPress Schedule

Advanced WordPress version change notices and timelines are provided to hosting partners via this page, and announcements are made via the WP Cloud blog.

WordPress.org has published tentative release dates, included below, for planning purposes.

Please refer to the official WordPress roadmap and release announcements for the latest updates.

WordPress Version	Release Date
7.0	May 20, 2026
7.1	Aug 19, 2026
7.2	Dec 10, 2026

Recent WP Cloud WordPress Announcements