“Your site is running on an outdated version of PHP”: what WordPress means, and what to do

Four messages, by PHP version

Site Health shows one line about PHP, which depends on your version and on wordpress.org’s answer about it. With WordPress 7.1.2 and wordpress.org’s answers on 16 October 2026 (source):

The brackets hold your exact version, such as 7.4.33 or 8.2.29. Open the line, and Site Health adds “The minimum recommended version of PHP is 8.3.” The dashboard boxes are explained in your host is forcing a PHP upgrade.

Where the answer comes from

WordPress sends your PHP version to wordpress.org and keeps the answer for a week (WordPress 7.1.2 source). This is what wordpress.org answered for PHP 8.2:

{
  "recommended_version": "8.3",
  "minimum_version": "7.4",
  "is_supported": false,
  "is_secure": true,
  "is_acceptable": true
}

is_secure is the one that matters. WordPress’s own code explains it: “It only means it receives security updates.” (WordPress 7.1.2 source) For PHP 7.4 and 8.0 the answer was false, hence “outdated”.

One detail: wordpress.org gave PHP 8.1 exactly the same answer as 8.2, is_secure included, although php.net lists PHP 8.1’s security support as ended on 31 December 2025 (php.net). So a site on 8.1 sees the milder “older version” line while it runs without security fixes. Go by php.net’s dates:

Sources: supported versions and end-of-life list on php.net.

Does it break anything?

No. Nothing switches off, and the site keeps running exactly as before. What changes with time is outside your site: security problems found in an unsupported PHP version are no longer fixed, and hosts move sites off old versions, sometimes on a date they choose (what PHP 8.2’s end of life means).

What to do

For step 2, CompatNav is a free plugin on wordpress.org that reads the code of every plugin and theme on your own server, for the PHP version you choose (8.0 to 8.5). It reports only what changes between the version Site Health shows and that one, and gives one verdict: “Safe to upgrade”, or “Not ready yet” with what to do first. Getting started shows the first scan; reading the report explains each finding.