BWF Hosting PHP Extended Support for End of Life Versions
for Shared and Multi Site Hosting
IMPORTANT
If your website already uses modern PHP 8.1 or higher you can ignore this announcement. If you do not know how to check your PHP version our team can help you determine the PHP version your website currently uses.
PHP powers many websites hosted on our network and the current recommended versions to use are PHP 8.2, PHP 8.3 and PHP 8.4. PHP 8.1 is still getting security support for another 12 months and PHP 8.0 stopped getting security patches 12 months ago. This means that any website that requires less than PHP 8.1 is considered insecure and an ongoing security risk to other sites hosted on our network.
Many hosts have started charging a fee to extend support for PHP to older versions and we plan to start charging from January 2025. If your website uses a modern PHP version you are unaffected and can ignore this announcement. If you need us to check what version your site is using, our team will be happy to assist.
The reasons we need to start charging for end of life PHP are two fold and we will explain below.
Old PHP Versions are no longer supported on Modern Linux Operating Systems
We have a rolling process where we plan to upgrade all shared servers to Rocky Linux Version 9 and the lowest supported version on this Operating System with cPanel is PHP 8.0. This means in order to support lower PHP versions we need to install additional third party software that requires us to purchase a license. Moving forward it is therefore no longer possible for us to host websites needing out of date PHP versions at our standard hosting rates.
Old PHP versions are insecure and responsible for a significant percentage of all malware
Old PHP websites running out of date and insecure software are responsible for the majority of malware detected on our network. In order to continue offering older PHP hosting we need to invest in specialist security software to help patch and keep these older websites secure. Whilst this will not guarantee that insecure sites will not get hacked this software will help protect all sites on our network as we move forward.
Is this unique to Big Wet Fish Hosting?
Other hosts have started charging for extended PHP support a long time ago including IONOS who charge between £7.81 to £15.82 per month per website hosted and Fasthosts who charge an additional £5.28 per month per PHP version per account.
What are Big Wet Fish Extended PHP Support Prices?
The price you pay to host older PHP versions will be determined by the lowest version of PHP you need us to host. The older the PHP version the more risky it is to continue to host such sites so clients needing PHP 5.6 will pay more than those needing PHP 8.0 for instance.
Our pricing is shown below:
Shared Hosting PHP 5.6: £6 + VAT per month / £60 + VAT per year
Shared Hosting PHP 7.x or higher: £3.50 + VAT per month / £35 + VAT per year
Multi Site 20 PHP 5.6: £10 + VAT per month / £100 + VAT per year
Multi Site 20 PHP 7.x or higher: £8 + VAT per month / £80 + VAT per year
Multi Site 40 PHP 5.6: £14 + VAT per month / £140 + VAT per year
Multi Site 40 PHP 7.x or higher: £12 + VAT per month / £120 + VAT per year
Multi Site 60 PHP 5.6: £18 + VAT per month / £180 + VAT per year
Multi Site 60 PHP 7.x or higher: £16 + VAT per month / £160 + VAT per year
All sites needing PHP 8.0: £2 + VAT per site per month / £20 + VAT per year
All sites lower than PHP 5.6: £10 + VAT per site per month / £100 + VAT per year
Our systems will be scanning our servers over the next 10 days to determine the current version of PHP installed and billing will be added automatically. If you wish to avoid this charge you would need to upgrade PHP on your site to PHP 8.1 or higher and our team can help you do that so you can test if your website is compatible. Alternatively you can quickly upgrade PHP within your control panel yourself and test your site, being able to switch back if your website does not work. If you do upgrade PHP it is very important you let our admin team know so we can remove your Extended PHP Support Billing.
Why are you charging me for this when it was free before?
As explained above, modern Linux no longer supports old PHP versions that are at the end of life so we need to invest in additional software to make this possible. We also need to invest in additional security suites to help stop increasing malware and hack attempts on older websites.
Can I opt out of this?
If you change your websites to use PHP 8.1 or higher just contact us and we will remove the extended support charge.
Why am I charged more for older PHP Extended Support versions?
There is an increase in vulnerabilities the older the version so we need to charge a little extra for older PHP.
My site still requires PHP 5.2 or 5.4. What will happen to me?
We will be keeping some old legacy servers specifically to host the oldest sites. We cannot guarantee we will keep these older servers beyond 12 months so you should make plans now to upgrade your website.
How long will you offer extended PHP support?
We cannot say for sure but we plan to have these plans available for at least 3 years on Rocky Linux 9. That said, having old PHP is very bad practice and you should make plans now to look to update your website.
Will you update my PHP for me in the background?
No, we prefer not to. We do not know how your website is built so we would need you to be on hand to check your website's functionality after a PHP upgrade. If you wish us to upgrade your PHP to avoid this charge we can do so and then pass it over to you to test. Just reach out to our team who will be happy to assist. If we do update your PHP after we add billing please let us know so we can remove the charge.
Finally, Can you help me update my website to work on modern PHP?
We are not web developers & have no developers on staff. It is your web developer who will be able to assist with this. We recommend you speak to the web developer who built your site. If you do not have a web developer please reach out to us and we can help you find a developer.
Please reach out to our team if you have any questions by replying to this email.
As always, we thank you for your continued business.
