WordPress is written in the language PHP. Currently PHP7 is the most up to date family of PHP versions. PHP7 runs WordPress 2-5 times faster than PHP5 did. Since WordPress has been around for over a decade, it supports very old versions of PHP, which are slow and are may not be secure. While WordPress supports PHP7, PHP7 is recommended.
We strongly recommend PHP 7.0 or later as does WordPress.org.
All Caldera Forms add-ons require at least PHP 5.3 or later. Some require later versions of PHP, and that is listed on their product page.
Minimum Required Version Of PHP For Caldera Forms
By required version, we mean the version requirement that must be met, or Caldera Forms will gracefully fail to load. The minimum required PHP version that Caldera Forms will work with is:
- For versions in the 1.6.x release family and below, the required version PHP 5.2.
- Versions 1.6.0 of Caldera Forms shows a message beginning with “You are using a VERY out of date version of PHP” where the button to add a new form should be. If you see this message, your server is dangerously out of date. Contact your host and request an upgrade to PHP7 or get a better host.
- For versions in the 1.7.x family and above, the the minimum required version is PHP 5.6.
- Caldera Forms 1.7 or later will not display forms or an admin inter
- Caldera Forms 2.0 will support PHP7 only.
Why Are We Dropping Support For Out Of Date Versions Of PHP
Currently, we have are recommending to users on the latest version of PHP that they downgrade to PHP 7.1 or suppress deprecation notices. We have an issue with PHP 7.2 that the best fix, and a better way to write the code, is not PHP 5.3 compatible. We are no longer willing to put the needs of users on a version of PHP that has no security support above the needs of users who are on the latest version.
In addition, we can write better code using newer language features.
Why Do We Recommend PHP7?
Two reasons: speed and security.
PHP7 is fast — up to 400% faster than 5.2. It is also actively maintained. While PHP 5.6 will have security support until the end of 2018, no other version of PHP has security support from the PHP project.
All version of PHP5 besides 5.6 no longer receive security support.
Caldera Forms has full support for PHP7. This site runs on PHP7.
PHP 7.2 Compatibility
Caldera Forms is fully compatible with PHP 7 and PHP 7.1. Caldera Forms works with PHP 7.2, but calculation fields will emit a deprecated function notice. We will remove the offending function in Caldera Forms 1.7. If you are using PHP 7.2, you can suppress deprecation notices until Caldera Forms 1.7 is available.
How Can You Find Your PHP Version?
In the Caldera Forms menu, there is a sub menu page called Support. On that page, PHP version is listed under the Debug Information tab. You could also use the phpinfo() plugin.
Contact Your Host To Be Updated!
If you are not on PHP7, you should contact your host to be upgraded. If your host doesn’t offer PHP7, you should consider a better host. Here are some we have used and would recommend: