PHP End of Life Dates: Every PHP Version EOL Date (7.0–8.5)

By Scott Bissett  ·  Last updated: August 18, 2026  ·  Covers PHP 7.0 through PHP 8.5

PHP releases a new minor version every year in November, and each version has a defined end of life date. Running an unsupported PHP version means your application is exposed to unpatched security vulnerabilities — many hosting providers and security scanners flag this as a critical risk. This guide lists the exact EOL date for every PHP version from 7.0 through 8.5, explains the PHP release cycle, and tells you which version you should be running right now.

Key Dates at a Glance

• PHP 8.1: end of life 2025-12-31
• PHP 8.2: end of life 2026-12-31
• PHP 8.4: active support ends 2026-12-31; end of life 2028-12-31
• PHP 8.3: end of life 2027-12-31
• PHP 8.5: active support ends 2027-12-31; end of life 2029-12-31
• PHP 8.0: end of life 2023-11-26
• PHP 7.4: end of life 2022-11-28

PHP EOL Risk Scores

An end-of-life date on its own does not tell you how urgent a version is. We publish an EOL Risk Score (0–100) for every tracked version, combining how long past — or how close to — end of life it is, the attack surface of the software class, whether CISA lists the product in its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, and whether commercial extended support exists. PHP is an internet-facing runtime named in the KEV catalog, so even supported versions start from an elevated baseline; extended support exists for the retired lines.

Scores update automatically at every site build as dates pass and the KEV catalog changes; live values for every version are on the PHP product page, and the methodology is on the EOL Risk Score page.

All PHP Versions — EOL Dates at a Glance

Understanding the PHP Support Lifecycle

Every PHP release (from 8.1 onwards) follows a predictable 4-year lifecycle split into two phases:

Active Support (2 years)

During active support, the PHP team releases regular bug fixes, performance improvements, and security patches. This is the phase where you can rely on the version being maintained fully. New PHP versions begin in active support the day they're released each November.

Security Support Only (2 years)

After active support ends, a PHP version enters a 2-year security-only phase. Only critical security vulnerabilities (CVEs) receive patches — no bug fixes, no performance improvements. This phase is intended to give users time to upgrade, not as a permanent hosting environment.

End of Life (EOL)

After the security support year ends, the version is fully end of life. The PHP team publishes no more patches of any kind. Any newly discovered vulnerabilities — including critical remote code execution flaws — will never be fixed. Running EOL PHP in production is a serious security risk.

PHP 8.4 — Active Support Ends December 31, 2026

PHP 8.4 was released on November 21, 2024. It leaves active support on December 31, 2026 (security fixes only until December 31, 2028), so it is a sound production target through 2026 with a defined date to move on to 8.5. Key improvements in PHP 8.4 include:

• Property hooks — getter and setter logic directly in class property declarations
• Asymmetric visibility — public private(set) property access modifiers
• array_find(), array_find_key(), array_any(), array_all() built-in functions
• HTML5 parser for the DOM extension (Dom\HTMLDocument)
• Implicit nullable types deprecated to reduce silent bugs
• Performance improvements over PHP 8.3

PHP 8.4 active support ends December 31, 2026. Security-only support extends to December 31, 2028.

PHP 8.3 — Security Only

PHP 8.3, released November 23, 2023, entered security-only support on November 23, 2025. It reaches full end of life on December 31, 2027. PHP 8.3 introduced typed class constants, the json_validate() function, the Randomizer::getBytesFromString() method, and significant performance improvements. If you're on 8.3, plan your upgrade to 8.4 — it's a smooth, backward-compatible migration.

PHP 8.2 — Security Only, EOL December 2026

PHP 8.2, released December 8, 2022, entered security-only support when PHP 8.4 was released (December 8, 2024). It reaches end of life on December 31, 2026. PHP 8.2 introduced readonly classes, the DNF types feature, AllowDynamicProperties deprecations, and the new Random extension. If you're currently on PHP 8.2, you should be planning a migration to 8.4 in 2026 before the EOL date.

PHP 8.1 — End of Life

PHP 8.1 reached end of life on December 31, 2025. It received no further updates after that date — not even security patches. PHP 8.1 introduced enums, fibers (coroutines), intersection types, readonly properties, and never return type. Despite being a significant release, it is now unsupported. If your application is on PHP 8.1, upgrade immediately.

PHP 8.0 — End of Life

PHP 8.0, a landmark release that introduced JIT compilation, union types, named arguments, match expressions, and nullsafe operators, reached end of life November 26, 2023. No patches of any kind have been issued since. Running PHP 8.0 in production is a security liability.

PHP 7.4 — End of Life (November 28, 2022)

PHP 7.4 was the last PHP 7.x release and was widely used for years. It reached end of life on November 28, 2022. As of 2026, PHP 7.4 is nearly 4 years past its EOL date. Hundreds of CVEs have been discovered in PHP 7.x since then that will never be patched. Many hosting providers have dropped PHP 7.4 support entirely or flag it as a critical risk in compliance audits.

PHP 7.3 — End of Life (December 6, 2021)

PHP 7.3 reached end of life on December 6, 2021. It has been unsupported for over 4 years. PHP 7.3 introduced flexible heredoc/nowdoc syntax, list() reference assignment, and is_countable(). These features are all available in PHP 8.x. There is no reason to remain on PHP 7.3.

PHP 7.2 — End of Life (November 30, 2020)

PHP 7.2 reached end of life on November 30, 2020. It introduced the sodium extension, object typehints, and deprecated the each() function. As of 2026, PHP 7.2 has been unsupported for over 5 years. Running it in any environment connected to the internet is critically dangerous.

PHP 8.5 — Newest Release, Active Support to December 31, 2027

PHP 8.5 was released on November 20, 2025, following the annual November release cadence. Active support runs until December 31, 2027, and security-only support extends to December 31, 2029. Migration from 8.4 to 8.5 is smooth — PHP 8.x has maintained strong backward compatibility across minor releases.

How to Check Your Current PHP Version

From the command line:

php -v
# Example: PHP 8.4.7 (cli) (built: Apr 15 2026)

From a PHP script:

<?php
echo phpversion();
// or
echo PHP_VERSION;

From WordPress admin: Settings → Site Health → Info → Server → PHP version.

How to Upgrade PHP

The upgrade path depends on your platform:

Ubuntu/Debian

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php
sudo apt update
sudo apt install php8.4
sudo update-alternatives --set php /usr/bin/php8.4

RHEL / CentOS / AlmaLinux

sudo dnf module reset php
sudo dnf module enable php:8.4
sudo dnf install php

Managed Hosting

Most cPanel, Plesk, and managed WordPress hosts let you switch PHP versions from their control panel. Look for "PHP Version Manager" or "MultiPHP Manager" in cPanel, or "PHP Settings" in Plesk.

PHP Version Compatibility Notes

• PHP 8.0 → Deprecated many previously valid constructs. Test thoroughly for E_DEPRECATED notices before upgrading from PHP 7.x.
• PHP 8.1 → Enums and fibers are additive. Passing null to many internal functions that don't accept nullable types now emits deprecation notices.
• PHP 8.2 → Deprecated dynamic properties (use #[AllowDynamicProperties] or fix the issue). Deprecated some deprecated string interpolation forms.
• PHP 8.3 → Largely backward-compatible with 8.2. Typed class constants may require attention in strict type environments.
• PHP 8.4 → Implicit nullable parameter types (e.g., function foo(Type $x = null)) are deprecated — the fix is explicit ?Type. Check your codebase before upgrading.

Frequently Asked Questions

Related Resources

• PHP version data on endoflife.ai
• Django End of Life Guide
• Node.js End of Life Guide
• RHEL End of Life Guide