What is Ideal WordPress PHP and the Server Requirements

May 18, 2022

The Internet relies on server that store information files for websites, apps, as well as various digital assets. That means every self-hosted WordPress site requires an internet server that can be used to store and manage PHP media files, multimedia elements, databases and other content.

However, did you realize there's WordPress PHP as well as server specifications you must think about before setting up your WordPress site?

WordPress demands PHP along with server setups. These are the absolute minimal setting to make the best possible site. WordPress can technically work with outdated code and servers However, it's not ideal and things can break and the site could run slower. This is why WordPress offers requirements for the server, as well as PHP code. While this does list some of their liabilities but it also instructs developers that these are the fundamentals needed by the server to avoid issues when creating the hosted WordPress site.

This tutorial provides information about WordPress PHP and server requirements as well as optional suggestions, to create an ideal environment. Additionally, we'll give specific instructions on how to verify your server's as well as PHP versions, and then update the versions to meet WordPress PHP specifications.

Continue reading and check it out!

Does WordPress Always Require a Server?

WordPress.org is hosted by WordPress.org and gives you full control over the server. While WordPress.com does not require for self-hosting, WordPress.com is still using physical servers, as well as web server software for hosting the website's content.

WordPress PHP along with server requirements

The first step is reviewing the PHP specifications in the following table. We'll then proceed to the server specifications.

WordPress Requirements PHP

WordPress is compatible and works with a wide selection of different versions of the PHP program language. Yet for the best efficiency, we suggest using PHP version 7.4 or higher.

That's:

  • PHP Version 7.4
  • PHP Version 8.0
  • PHP Version 8.1

WordPress offers PHP versions in accordance with whether they still get assistance from the creators of PHP. Most PHP releases get support for two years after that, they're moved into what's called"the "End of Life" phase.

The PHP versions have three steps to support:

  • Active Assistance
  • Security fixes are only for emergencies.
  • The end of life

During"Active Support" or "Active Support" phase, bugs and security issues are fixed and dealt with. Additionally, subversions are made available to enhance the version that is released at this period. The releases are released at the "Security Repairs Only" stage , where it's required to address an urgent security problem. "End of life "End of Life" stage is the time when the PHP PHP development team has stopped providing security or bug fixes This means that your website could be vulnerable to security issues if it's using the "End of Life" version of PHP.

Because of these phases, the recommendation is to immediately upgrade any website with an PHP version that is in"End of Life" or "End of Life" phase. These recommendations contain two PHP versions within of the "Active Support" stage. PHP version 7.4 is currently in the "Security Fixed Only" stage. It's the most basic requirement to run your WordPress website.          MDadSOcOmeCrcBKbSrLS       Supported PHP release as well as its phases.

The creation of PHP versions goes back to October 2000, when we introduced PHP 3.0. Since then, there have been constant updates until 8.1. It's the 7.3 Version of PHP is the most recent version and is in the "End of Life" stage that means it's no longer supported by any further improvements.

WordPress technically can be used with a range of PHP versions, but there are some that are obsolete. You can actually launch your WordPress website using PHP 3.0 But, it's guaranteed to result in severe functionality and security issues. If you're comfortable with any "Security corrections only" version, you should be able to change the version of your WordPress site's PHP to the latest "Active help" version.

How do you find and update Your WordPress PHP Version?

WordPress Server Requirements

The server requirements include a variety of elements: RAM, database version processing power, processor capacity storage capacity and the web server.

Here is a quick overview of the most common recommendations for a server when operating WordPress:

  • Web Server Nginx or Apache Mod-Rewrite Module
  • Disk space: At least 1 Gb
  • PHP: Version 7.4 or greater
  • Database: MySQL 5.015 or higher (An alternative is MariaDB, version 10.1 or higher)
  • RAM (Random Access Memory) Minimum 500 millibytes
  • CPU (Central Processing Unit) at minimum 1.0 GHz
  • Support for HTTPS

Let's now take a closer investigation of the logic of these web server recommendations.

1. Web Server

There is a wide variety of types of servers, and the term "web" servers typically refers to a piece of software, hardware, or both working in tandem. With regards to hosting websites, in the majority of instances, the word "web server" blurs the definition since the website's data is generally stored on a robust physical, computer-driven web server. The site files get accessed and delivered with the help of an application-based web server.

Do you have hardware or software web server requirements for WordPress?

Hardware Web Server Requirements for Hardware, Recommendations and Requirements

The most important thing is your processing capabilities of your hardware in terms of disk space, processor power, and RAM. This will be discussed in the subsequent sections. Also, you should be sure your hosting provider upgrades its hardware on a regular basis (like every other thing, outdated computers fail), has cooling systems within its data center and also implements physical security measures to stop intruders from entering the data center.

Requirements for Software Web Servers and Recommendations

WordPress suggests Nginx as well as Apache as the most suitable Web server software options to run the operations of WordPress. There is no requirement to utilize neither, but both have their benefits. You can use any web server for running WordPress.

The Nginx website - WordPress PHP requirements
Nginx is among the best web server software applications that can be used in conjunction with WordPress.

There is a fact that WordPress prefers Apache due to its popularity, customisation capabilities, and its reliability. Nginx also is superior to its rivals due to its capability to maximize the performance of containers that are isolated. Privateize server resources and provide better performance with better caching, resource management as well as integration with firewalls.

uses Nginx as part of its web server solution to package all performance-optimizing aspects into individual containers. So, all of the software like Nginx, Linux, and PHP can be found in one location.

These companies provide reliable, secure data centers as with outstanding server performance. But, they sell their servers as unmanaged hosting environments. This is why you should take advantage of alternatives such as My Google Cloud Platform to access its server functions while enjoying the ease of use as well as the additional server management capabilities of My.

2. Disk Space

Server hardware can store a specific amount of storage space on the form of an HDD. WordPress WordPress application requires an absolute minimum requirement for space of 1GB. It's a very low requirement, which means it should not be a problem to find an internet server that has sufficient space to host WordPress.

It's a popular belief that speed of processing is the main factor in server performance but the processor determines the amount and speed of the server calculation. Processing is crucial to the performance of your website but having a high-quality hard drive is equally important.

The disk type as well as the requirements for storage are contingent on the potential expansion of the WordPress website. A website with multimedia content that includes a continuously growing blogs as well as products pages will require more space on the disk. A personal blog with less images can work even on a tiny amount of disk space. Decide on size of storage need depending on the amount you'll require. It offers SSD storage beginning at 10GB and extending up to 250GB. Options for overage on disk space permit you to ensure that your website is running in the event that you go over the limit.

The type of hardware that is used influences its performance on the hard disk. Hosting providers and servers generally use hard disk drives (HDD) or SSDs (SSD) within the physical servers.

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This is how they differ:

  • SSD The HTML0 SSD is an advanced, high-speed hard disk without moving parts (solid-state) which is more resilient to physical harm. The solid-state build of an SSD will also speed up the transfers of data since it doesn't need the mechanism to switch for the transfer. Because of these advantages, SSDs are more expensive when compared to HDDs.
  • HDD: It's an old, less costly type of hard drive, with internal mechanical parts that move. It's an economical option to store data that isn't frequently used or data which requires less speed.

Some hosting providers choose to save databases on SSDs and then place other possibly less significant assets in HDDs. This results in a tradeoff between performance and cost.

Although WordPress works fine with an HDD however, it's advised to choose servers that have SSDs for the security of data transfers, fast processing, and the possibility to boost the popularity of your website.

3. Database

MySQL website - WordPress PHP requirements
MySQL is one of the databases that WordPress is able to support. WordPress.

It's strongly recommended to follow these best practices in database administration and to also follow:

  • Your database should be stored on solid-state drives.
  • Opt for a hosting provider which offers automatic database optimization.
  • Automatic backups for your database (and the entire website too).
  • Check that your server is able to support the configuration of multiple users.

It provides MariaDB on Google Cloud Platform, weekly MySQL optimization, automatic DB backups, and a multi-user system.

4. RAM (Random Access Memory)

The performance of servers greatly depends on random access memory. In its role as a bridge between CPU and hard disk, RAM prepares whatever data is stored on the hard disk and sends the data to be processed by the CPU (processor).

Servers benefit of RAM as it's simpler to connect than hard disks. Thus, having more memory means more data as well as processes being kept in the "waiting space" which the CPU is able to access after it has completed the previous task. Due to this information "waiting space" the processing of servers is much faster.

The WordPress application requires at least the RAM of 512MB. It's logical to add the RAM of any growing WordPress site, regardless of whether it's to handle larger databases, media, or anything else that needs processing.

The 8 GB RAM comes available with standard plans and staging environments. It also has options for upgrading if you're looking for it.

5. PHP and PHP Memory Limit

As we have mentioned previously in this article, we advise the most current version of PHP to run a WordPress website. What are PHP limit on memory?

PHP memory limitations refer to the amount of memory available to websites to use PHP-based applications. The aim of the PHP memory limits is to reduce the chance of RAM-consuming resources destroying your website. Server providers and hosting companies decide on to set the PHP memory limit to your server. So, it is possible consult with them in order to raise or decrease the limits.

A typical WordPress installation can be used with 64 MB of PHP memory limits, but it's not uncommon for hosts to provide as high as the 256MB memory necessary.

6. CPU

The CPU, also known as the central processing unit, is the processor chip in the hardware server. It is often referred to as the command center for any server. The CPU determines how many tasks could be running on the server and what speeds they run at.

WordPress is perfectly running on 1.0 GHz of processor processing power. But that's only if you've done nothing else to your website. Most hosts don't care about power consumption now and instead focus on the fact that ability to figure out the number of processing cores they have available , which makes it easy to identify what's needed (saying five cores is much simpler than saying 50 GHz).

In addition, hosts' processors have become so efficient that you don't have to worry about RAM, especially when running applications that are lightweight, such as WordPress.

But, the RAM requirements differ depending on the kind of website developed on WordPress. Processing refers to the capacity for the server to do multitasking, so it ties into the overall efficiency equation. The hard drive transmits information to the CPU, and RAM allows it to get that information from the CPU more quickly and with less effort.

However, the CPU is the one that actually processes information. So, the higher the number of CPUs can make more effective use for the CPU. Two cores handle more than one core. And six cores perform twice as many operations as three cores.

So, a WordPress website that has hundreds or even thousands of users who are accessing a variety of file types at the same time should look to increase the number of CPUs that operate on its servers.

7. Bonus Recommendation The Server Place

There's no reason why server place shouldn't be an issue with the rise of cloud hosting as well as virtual private servers. But with those hosting types there is a server sitting someplace in the world, storing the content of your WordPress site. The server is physically location, therefore making it distant from certain users as well as closer to other users. The distance between the physical and virtual locations affects the speed at which you can run your WordPress site is able to load.

WordPress does not require or suggest an exact server address to run the software however we suggest choosing a server which connects to a global server network. If you connect to a global server network, the data of your site are stored on the server that you choose which is likely to be close to the customers you serve. It is recommended to choose an server located in the United States if most of your customers reside within the US. Maybe you'll select a specific location, for instance, the West or East Coast of the US which will provide more accessibility to the content available for customers.

We also suggest using a service that comes with CDN (content delivery network) options, which permit users to choose their preferred server, but make use of several servers that are part of the network which can speed up WordPress website delivery time across the globe.

's server locations.
The server locations for's servers.

8. Bonus Recommendation: A Unique Server Account Username

Most servers have the default username, which is used by all the users of the server. So, it is suggested that you use an PHP program like WordPress with your own username rather than using the default username offered by your hosting service. Make contact with your web hoster for this modification.

What can you do to find out possibility that a Web Host supports WordPress PHP, and the server's requirements

A host may provide details concerning its support for PHP and server specs in the specifics of their pricing plans. The pricing page offers, for example, support for the most current version of PHP and gives details on the SSD capacity for storage, WordPress databases, performance as well as server locations because of its use of the Google Cloud Platform. It also clarifies how they make use of MariaDB as part of its Google Cloud Platform, LXD containers, and Nginx for a quick platform of up-to-date servers, processing, and databases.

If you're building a WordPress website with a different host, get in touch to customer service and find out if the host (and the service you're buying) supports WordPress PHP as well as server specs.

Ask for assistance to be contacted with a quick message, such as this:

We'd love to have the version that is free of WordPress that uses (insert the name of the company hosting). I'm trying to determine if my hosting plan supports these needs:
  •  MariaDB 10.1 or higher and MySQL 5.6 or higher
  •  Version PHP 7.4 or higher
  •  Web Server: Apache or Nginx with mod_rewrite module
  • support for HTTPS

Thanks.

Summary

WordPress Server and PHP requirements are in place to ensure the security of your websites and to keep running correctly. This is why it's crucial to select a hosting provider that meets these needs and also provides automatic updates and dashboard tools to allow access to the server and PHP versions.

If you're considering a web host, check out the pricing page for information on which plans support what you need for your website. Ask the host any questions.

We are aware of any requirements that are new for servers so you don't have to worry about them. If your websites are in use, you will be able to see the PHP versions in My and WordPress dashboards. WordPress and My dashboards. You can then decide to make the necessary changes to the current version of PHP when it is you are able to.

What additional aspects must be considered while analyzing a web host's PHP and server services for hosting the WordPress site? Comment below in the comments section.

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