What PHP version is my site running, and is 7.4 still safe?
If your site runs PHP 7.4 or anything older, it stopped getting security fixes in November 2022. It still works. It just isn’t being protected any more.
How the check knows
Some servers announce their PHP version in a header sent with every page. If yours does, the check reads it and compares it with the dates PHP publishes for each version. Many hosts hide that header on purpose, which is why the check often says it couldn’t tell. That’s not a problem in itself. It just means you need to look in your hosting control panel instead.
What PHP is
It’s the language WordPress and most of its plugins are written in. Your server runs it to build each page before sending it to a visitor. Each version of PHP gets about two years of improvements and then about two more of security fixes only. After that, any hole found in it stays open.
As of late 2026: 8.1 and everything before it are out of support, 8.2 gets security fixes until the end of 2026, and 8.3 and newer are fine.
What it means for you
An unsupported version is the most common thing that makes an otherwise tidy site a target. Newer versions are also quicker. Moving from 7.4 to 8.x typically makes pages noticeably faster with no other change.
What you can do yourself
Most hosts let you switch PHP version in the control panel: a dropdown in cPanel, Plesk, SiteGround, Kinsta and the like. Take a backup, switch to the newest version your host offers, and click through the site. If something breaks, switch back. Nothing is lost.
When it’s a developer’s job
If switching breaks the site, an old plugin or theme is the usual reason. “Doesn’t work past PHP 7.4, the plugin has been abandoned” is a sentence we hear a lot. Then someone has to find a replacement, or fix the plugin, or both. That’s the kind of job the free first look is for: we tell you which it is before you spend anything.