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PHP

The server-side scripting language behind WordPress, Laravel and much of the web. A new minor version comes out every November.

  • Active project
  • Latest 8.5.12Oct 2026
  • Supported 4 versions
Download Official site 160 PHP guides
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At a glance

Type
Programming language
Developer
The PHP Group and The PHP Foundation
First release
8 Jun 1995
Release cadence
Yearly (November); 2 years of bug fixes + 2 years of security fixes
Paradigm
Imperative, object-oriented, functional
Typing
Dynamic, with optional type declarations
Engine
Zend Engine
Package manager
Composer
Runs on
Linux, Windows, macOS, BSD
License
PHP License
Website
php.net

Newest release

PHP 8.5

Released 20 Nov 2025 · latest update 8.5.12

Support status

8.5 Supported

Until 31 Dec 2029 · in 3 years

Active support until 31 Dec 2027

8.4 Supported

Until 31 Dec 2028 · in 2 years

Active support until 31 Dec 2026

8.3 Security fixes only

Until 31 Dec 2027 · in 1 year

Active support ended 31 Dec 2025

8.2 Security fixes only

Until 31 Dec 2026 · in 1 month

Active support ended 31 Dec 2024

8.1 End of life

Ended 31 Dec 2025 · 10 months ago

Release history

VersionReleasedLatestActive supportSecurity / EOLStatus
8.520 Nov 20258.5.1231 Dec 202731 Dec 2029Supported
8.421 Nov 20248.4.2731 Dec 202631 Dec 2028Supported
8.323 Nov 20238.3.3631 Dec 202531 Dec 2027Security fixes only
8.28 Dec 20228.2.3531 Dec 202431 Dec 2026Security fixes only
8.125 Nov 20218.1.3425 Nov 202331 Dec 2025End of life
8.026 Nov 20208.0.3026 Nov 202226 Nov 2023End of life
7.428 Nov 20197.4.3328 Nov 202128 Nov 2022End of life
7.36 Dec 20187.3.336 Dec 20206 Dec 2021End of life
7.230 Nov 20177.2.3430 Nov 201930 Nov 2020End of life
7.11 Dec 20167.1.331 Dec 20181 Dec 2019End of life
7.03 Dec 20157.0.334 Jan 201810 Jan 2019End of life
5.628 Aug 20145.6.4019 Jan 201731 Dec 2018End of life
5.520 Jun 20135.5.3810 Jul 201521 Jul 2016End of life
5.41 Mar 20125.4.4514 Sep 201414 Sep 2015End of life
5.330 Jun 20095.3.2930 Jun 201114 Aug 2014End of life
5.22 Nov 20065.2.172 Nov 20086 Jan 2011End of life
5.124 Nov 20055.1.624 Aug 200624 Aug 2006End of life
4.411 Jul 20054.4.931 Dec 20077 Aug 2008End of life
5.013 Jul 20045.0.55 Sep 20055 Sep 2005End of life
4.327 Dec 20024.3.1131 Mar 200531 Mar 2005End of life
4.222 Apr 20024.2.36 Sep 20026 Sep 2002End of life
4.110 Dec 20014.1.212 Mar 200212 Mar 2002End of life
4.022 May 20004.0.623 Jun 200123 Jun 2001End of life

Release data: endoflife.date and vendor announcements, checked 13 Nov 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.

Support timeline

The 12 most recent releases, from release day to the end of support.

  • Active support
  • Security fixes only
  • Today
8.5
8.4
8.3
8.2
8.1
8.0
7.4
7.3
7.2
7.1
7.0
5.6

History

PHP started in 1994 as a set of C tools Rasmus Lerdorf wrote to track visits to his online CV, released publicly in 1995 as “Personal Home Page Tools”. Andi Gutmans and Zeev Suraski rewrote the parser for PHP 3, and their Zend Engine has powered PHP since version 4. The name now stands for the recursive “PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor”.

After the abandoned PHP 6, PHP 7 (2015) brought a large speed-up, and PHP 8 added a JIT compiler and modern language features. Releases now come out every November. Each version gets two years of active support and two years of security fixes. The PHP Foundation, formed in 2021, pays core developers, and Composer and frameworks such as Laravel and Symfony make up the modern ecosystem.

Milestones

  1. 1995Rasmus Lerdorf releases Personal Home Page Tools
  2. 1998PHP 3 is a rewrite by Andi Gutmans and Zeev Suraski
  3. 2000PHP 4 introduces the Zend Engine
  4. 2004PHP 5 brings a new object model
  5. 2010The Unicode-focused PHP 6 is abandoned
  6. 2015PHP 7.0 roughly doubles performance with the new engine (phpng)
  7. 2020PHP 8.0 adds a JIT compiler, named arguments and match expressions
  8. 2021The PHP Foundation is formed; PHP 8.1 adds enums and fibers
  9. 2024PHP 8.4 adds property hooks and asymmetric visibility
  10. 2025PHP 8.5 adds the pipe operator

PHP guides

Browse all 160 PHP guides →

Frequently asked questions

What is the latest version of PHP?

The newest PHP release is PHP 8.5, released on 20 Nov 2025. Its latest update is 8.5.12 (21 Oct 2026).

Which PHP versions are still supported?

As of 13 Nov 2026, 4 versions are supported: PHP 8.5 (until 31 Dec 2029); PHP 8.4 (until 31 Dec 2028); PHP 8.3 (until 31 Dec 2027); PHP 8.2 (until 31 Dec 2026).

Is PHP 8.1 still supported?

No. PHP 8.1 reached end of life on 31 Dec 2025 and no longer gets free security updates. Upgrade to PHP 8.5.

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