PHP 8 support clarification
tl;dr: Use of the “compatible with exceptions” label for PHP 8 support has been retired and has been retroactively removed from all versions. WordPress 6.3 and later is now documented as fully supporting PHP 8.0 and 8.1, and WordPress 6.6 and later is now documented as fully supporting PHP 8.2. Support for PHP 8.3 and 8.4 remains in beta as of WordPress 6.7 and the upcoming 6.8.
WordPress has supported PHP 8 since version 5.6 back in 2020, but due to the acknowledgement that WordPress is rarely used in isolation (without any theme or plugins) this support has been labelled as “beta support”, and later as “compatible with exceptions” following the guidelines that were adopted as a result of the proposal for criteria for removing the “beta support” label from each PHP 8+ version.
In order to provide clarity and confidence to users and to encourage web hosts and users to continue updating to the latest versions of PHP, use of the “compatible with exceptions” label has now been retired. Documented support for any given version of PHP will now go straight from “beta support” to fully supported once the agreed criteria for removing that label have been met. The label has been removed retroactively from all versions.
What prompted this change?
The criteria for removing the “beta support” label were adopted in 2023 just prior to the release of WordPress version 6.3. In that version a significant amount of work was done to resolve remaining PHP compatibility issues and to switch to using the “compatible with exceptions” label for PHP 8.0 and 8.1. The same was done in WordPress 6.6 for PHP 8.2, and the number and significance of these documented compatibility exceptions is now very low.
Since then it’s become apparent that some end users and web hosts remain reluctant to update to PHP 8 when the documented support in WordPress is still labelled as “compatible with exceptions”, despite the actual support being complete as far as most sites are concerned (over 60% of WordPress sites run PHP 8+). The label has served its purpose over the last 18 months but now risks being detrimental to the continued adoption of newer versions of PHP.
Removing this label – while still documenting the exceptions where necessary – will help continue the adoption of newer and fully supported versions of PHP and provide confidence to the remaining 40% of sites to update.
What are the criteria for removing the “beta support” label?
These criteria have not changed. The criteria are:
- Enough sites: At least 10% of all WordPress sites running on a specific or newer PHP version for at least 3 months.
- Issues:
- All reported and known compatibility issues are resolved.
- All accepted incompatibilities are documented as exceptions from full compatibility.
- BC: Full backward compatibility is maintained for all older PHP versions WordPress supports, demonstrated with automated tests for each compatibility change.
Usage of PHP 8.3 and higher is at 8.9% of all WordPress sites as of April 2025. Once this surpasses 10% and assuming no further compatibility issues are reported then it’s expected that the beta label for PHP 8.3 support will be removed in the subsequent major release of WordPress.
What’s the minimum supported version?
The minimum supported version of PHP remains unchanged at 7.2.24+.
Props to @desrosj @joemcgill @garyj for input on this change.