This is one of the reasons why the percentage of sites still using outdated versions of PHP is far from small.
PHP Versions WordPress Stats 2021
WordPress PHP Versions (January 2021)
Let's take websites that were developed in WordPress. About 18% of them use the PHP 5 version .
Furthermore, if we add together the users who have installed the no longer supported versions of PHP 7 , it becomes clear that the majority of sites continue to use versions older than the latest and therefore not updated.
The official data from WordPress saudi arabia phone numbers Stats , at the time of writing, cross-referenced with the graph below, makes it even clearer: a full 81% of all WordPress websites use unsupported versions of PHP. Only 19% have PHP 7.4 installed , the version recommended by WordPress (PHP 8 is not even indicated in the pie chart at the moment).
WordPress Supported PHP Versions 2021
Supported PHP Versions (Image source: Supported Versions )
However, just like WordPress, various themes and plugins need to be updated to their latest version to ensure optimal functioning, so in the same way, PHP also needs to be updated to improve its performance , including speed and security of your website.
What version of PHP are you using?
Now that you know what the latest version of PHP is, you can check if you already have the updated version . If you don't know how

check php version with pingdom
The first HTTP request header will show the PHP version used corresponding to the X-Powered-By header.
As an alternative to Pingdom, another tool to clarify any doubts is Google Chrome Devtools or access the “Site Health” section in the WordPress backend and click on the “server” item. The choice is yours!
PHP 7 vs PHP5: WordPress Speed Almost Triples
PHP7 is capable of processing more than double the number of requests per second compared to PHP 5.6, which is quite a difference, isn't it?
This has in fact been called the year of PHP , thanks to the results that were obtained during the tests carried out. Kinsta shares the benchmarks after testing 24 platforms/configurations using the latest version of each.
One of the first platforms that was tested was WordPress , the site was analyzed for one minute with 15 concurrent users with the Twenty Nineteen theme (1.0).