WooCommerce 11.6, planned for February 2027, will require PHP 8.1 or newer. To give affected stores time to prepare, WooCommerce 11.3 will add a dismissible admin notice for stores running PHP 7.4 or 8.0. The notice warns about the future requirement, but WooCommerce 11.3 continues to work on those PHP versions.
Stores on PHP 7.4 or 8.0 can keep updating WooCommerce through the rest of the year, up to version 11.5, while they prepare their hosting environment for the new requirement.
Why we’re changing the minimum PHP version
PHP 7.4 and 8.0 have reached the end of upstream security support. Maintaining compatibility with them also keeps WooCommerce tied to older dependency versions and extra code paths, and requires testing each release across more PHP environments. A PHP 8.1 minimum gives WooCommerce and extension developers room to update dependencies and use newer PHP features.
WooCommerce has already supported running on PHP 8+ for years. The new requirement sets a higher baseline for future releases.
We want to thank our developer community for their feedback on this proposal, which gives even more detail explaining why this change is happening. Based on community feedback, we have pushed the selected release to WooCommerce 11.6, giving stores plenty of time to test and upgrade after the peak selling season.
What the WooCommerce 11.3 notice means
If your store is running PHP 7.4 or 8.0, this dismissible admin notice will display your server’s current PHP version and recommend contacting your hosting provider about an upgrade. You do not need to change PHP to continue using WooCommerce 11.3. The minimum requirement changes when WooCommerce 11.6 is released.
Most WooCommerce stores are already successfully running on PHP 8+, and for an updated hosting environment, WooCommerce recommends PHP 8.3 or newer.
What to do if you see the notice
- Check your PHP version. In WordPress admin, go to WooCommerce > Status, then find PHP version under Server environment. The PHP update guide has more detail.
- Plan the change with your host. Ask your hosting provider to move the store to PHP 8.3 or newer if your site’s software supports it. PHP 8.1 meets WooCommerce 11.6’s minimum, while 8.3 or newer is WooCommerce’s current recommendation.
- Back up and test first. Make a backup and try the PHP change on a staging copy of the store. Check checkout and payment methods, shipping and tax calculations, order management, scheduled jobs, your theme, extensions, and custom code. Resolve any compatibility problems before changing the production site.
- Update production and verify. After changing PHP on the live site, check WooCommerce > Status again and repeat the store’s critical flows. You can then update to WooCommerce 11.6 when it becomes available.
If you need more time to upgrade PHP
You can remain on WooCommerce 11.5, the last planned release compatible with PHP 7.4 and 8.0, while you work through a hosting or extension constraint. WordPress normally prevents an update to a plugin version if your server does not meet the declared PHP requirement. The PHP requirement change will not deactivate an existing WooCommerce installation.
Staying on 11.5 is a temporary option. Under WooCommerce’s Security Patch Support Policy, fixes for vulnerabilities rated CVSS 9 or higher are backported to affected releases within a rolling window of 21 major release series. Other fixes generally ship only for the latest WooCommerce release. PHP 7.4 and 8.0 have also reached the end of upstream security support, so a WooCommerce patch may not address risks in the PHP runtime.
How many stores and extensions may be affected?
The latest published WooCommerce usage figures show approximately 7% of tracked stores on PHP 7.4 and 2% on PHP 8.0. Among stores that updated WooCommerce within the past year, the combined figure is closer to 6% and has been declining steadily. The actual numbers will be even lower when this change occurs. Usage tracking is opt-in, so these figures are a sample rather than a count of every WooCommerce store.
We also ran static analysis across our full extension marketplace for PHP 8.1 compatibility. Of the 1,357 extensions currently available for purchase, 0.22% showed potential issues that we’ll be reviewing manually with the developers. While this screening helps identify extensions that need closer review, it cannot guarantee that every extension, theme, or custom integration on a particular store will work after a PHP upgrade.
Guidance for extension developers and agencies
Test the versions of your extensions, themes, and integrations that stores will use with WooCommerce 11.6 on PHP 8.1 and on your recommended PHP version. Check declared PHP requirements and dependency constraints against the code you ship. If you continue to support stores on WooCommerce 11.5 and older PHP versions, keep those releases compatible with the PHP versions you claim to support.
If you find a compatibility issue, share the PHP and WooCommerce versions, the affected extension or integration, and steps to reproduce it on GitHub or in the comments below. That detail will help maintainers investigate before the requirement changes.
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