How to Check WordPress PHP Version and Extensions

admin

3 hours ago

How to Check WordPress PHP Version and Extensions WordPress maintenance tutorial for plugins, hosting, backups, cache, and verification

Check WordPress PHP Version and Extensions is a practical maintenance workflow for site owners, hosts, and agencies preparing for plugin updates, performance work, or WordPress version changes.

A WordPress maintenance plan should prove the site still works after updates. That means checking the business workflow, hosting layer, plugins, backups, cache, email, and access before a small issue becomes an outage.

When To Run This Check

Run this quarterly and before major WordPress, WooCommerce, builder, security plugin, or PHP upgrades.

Before You Start

Check the PHP version currently used by the site, not only the server default.
Review plugin and theme requirements before changing PHP.
Back up the site before changing PHP versions or PHP settings.
Pick a rollback path in the hosting panel before switching.

Maintenance Steps

Use Site Health, hosting panel tools, or WP Toolkit to record current PHP status.
Check for missing extensions that plugins require.
Change PHP on staging first when available.
Retest admin, public pages, forms, checkout, cache, and scheduled tasks after switching.
Keep notes about the old version, new version, and plugins that forced the change.

Hosting And Control Panel Notes

cPanel MultiPHP Manager, Plesk PHP settings, CloudLinux Selector, and managed WordPress dashboards may all control PHP differently.
Do not assume command-line PHP and web PHP are the same version.
Some older plugins may only fail under specific pages or scheduled tasks.

Verify It Works

Confirm Site Health does not show a new PHP warning, error logs are quiet, admin loads, and business workflows still work.

Backup And Rollback Notes

Take a backup before changing plugins, themes, PHP, cache, DNS, checkout, forms, email, or user access.
Use staging for risky changes on ecommerce, membership, booking, LMS, high-lead, or high-traffic sites.
Keep rollback ownership clear: who restores, who approves, and how the site is verified afterward.
Document the maintenance window and preserve version notes for future troubleshooting.