At Websupport, we continuously work to offer you a fast and secure platform for your website. To continue providing this service, we will offer paid extended PHP support for PHP 8.0 and earlier versions starting in July as an additional service for those with hosting. The additional cost for shared hosting will be reflected on your upcoming renewal invoice for your hosting services. You will find your affected services at the bottom of this email.
As of July, the additional cost for extended PHP support will be:
- Hosting Basic: 20 SEK excl. VAT / month
- Hosting Standard: 40 SEK excl. VAT / month
- Hosting Premium: 60 SEK excl. VAT / month
Please note that this price is in addition to your current hosting fee.
What is PHP and extended PHP support?
PHP is an open-source programming language. It is the most commonly used language in popular CMS systems, such as WordPress/Woocommerce, Joomla, Drupal, and Opencart. The PHP programming language is constantly evolving. A new version is released every year and has a life cycle of about 3 years. During the first two years, the version receives regular updates. In its third and final year, the version only receives updates for critical security vulnerabilities. That is why older PHP versions are a website security risk, as they no longer receive essential security updates. You can read more about the different PHP versions and when their support ends on PHP’s website.
However, to protect your website from attacks, we at Websupport will continue to update and fix any security flaws in older PHP versions. Your website will remain secure until you switch to a newer, more up-to-date PHP version. This is the service we call extended PHP Support. Historically, this service has been free of charge for our customers. However, as the service requires both internal and external resources, starting in July, there will be an additional fee if you use PHP 8.0 or earlier versions.
What PHP version do I have today?
You can easily see which domains use older PHP versions in your Websupport Webadmin.
I do not want extended PHP support, how do I turn off the add-on?
To avoid exposing your website to security risks, we recommend updating to PHP 8.1 or a later version if you don’t want to use our extended PHP support. On July 19 we will turn on the feature for all accounts with websites using PHP versions older than 8.1. If you do not want to use the extended PHP functionality, please log in to your Websupport account before July 19 and move your websites to PHP 8.1 or higher.
Please be aware that you might need to update the code on your website in order to make it work on newer PHP versions. Scroll down in this document for information about how to update your website.
How to turn the add-on off after July 19:
- Log in to your Websupport Webadmin control panel.
- Move any websites or cron jobs to PHP 8.1 or higher – see detailed instructions below.
- In the overview, click on your Web hosting package.
- Click on “Disable extended PHP support” and confirm the change. This can only be done if the websites, redirects, or cron jobs are using a PHP version newer than 8.1.
After this, you will not be billed for the service.
Can I switch to a later PHP version?
Absolutely! You can easily switch to a current PHP version in a few seconds in your Websupport Webadmin. Feel free to follow this guide if you need help updating PHP. We recommend updating to PHP 8.1 or later if you do not want to use the extended PHP support.
What do I do if it doesn’t work?
Should something not work after the change, you can quickly and easily switch back to the previous version. Fix any problems by solving them yourself or asking a developer for help. You can refer to one of the following guides:
If your website consists of custom code
Please read this guide from PHP on how to update your code..
If you use WordPress
Please read our guide on how to update WordPress.
If you use another CMS
Please note that we at Websupport, unfortunately, are unable to help you customize your websites. If you need help with this, we recommend contacting a web agency.
I feel unsure about this PHP thing, do you have any alternatives?
There might be several reasons why you don’t want to use PHP. You may think it seems complicated, or you might only use your website as a contact and information source for your business. Then it might be a good idea to switch from a PHP-built website to our Website Builder!
With our Website Builder, you can easily create a stylish, responsive, and SEO-friendly website for your company. With our AI, you’ll get up and running twice as fast. When you use Website Builder, we take care of all the code updates for you. Your website will continue to function without you having to do anything. In many cases, it is a much more cost-effective solution to switch to our Website Builder than to update the PHP code for your website.
If you want more information or learn how to move to our Website Builder, feel free to contact our support team – they are ready to help you with your questions!
