PHP 8 is now the standard version running on most web hosting infrastructure. Many ExpressionEngine sites were built when PHP 7 was current and have never been reviewed for PHP 8 compatibility. If nobody has mentioned this to you, there is a reason for that, and it is worth understanding.
PHP is the underlying language that ExpressionEngine and most of its addons are written in. When PHP releases a new major version, the language itself changes. Some functions are deprecated, some are removed entirely, and new syntax requirements are introduced. A site that worked perfectly on PHP 7.4 may produce errors, display broken pages, or fail silently on PHP 8.x without any obvious warning.
Most managed hosting providers have phased out PHP 7 support or are in the process of doing so. If your hosting is still running PHP 7, you are probably on a legacy configuration that will not last indefinitely. If your hosting has already moved to PHP 8 and your site appears to be working, that does not mean there are no compatibility issues. It may mean that certain functionality is quietly not working, or that you are one PHP minor version update away from visible problems.
ExpressionEngine addons are written in PHP as well. An older addon that has not been updated since PHP 7 may generate warnings or errors on PHP 8, or may fail completely. Many businesses are using addons that handle important functionality, such as form submissions, search, structured data, or payment integrations, without any awareness that those addons have not been reviewed for the current PHP environment.
The honest answer is that many agencies that built ExpressionEngine sites no longer support ExpressionEngine, or no longer exist. The business that built your site in 2016 may have changed focus entirely. Even if your original agency is still around, if they are not actively maintaining your site, this is exactly the kind of thing that falls through the gaps. It is not malicious. It is just the reality of how web development agencies operate.
A PHP compatibility audit is not a large piece of work when done properly. It involves reviewing the current PHP version on your hosting, identifying the EE version and all installed addons, and checking each component against known PHP 8 compatibility requirements. The result is a clear list of what needs attention and what does not. If you are uncertain about your situation, that audit is the starting point.
If you do not know whether your ExpressionEngine site is compatible with current PHP, get in touch with Karl to check.
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If your website is running on ExpressionEngine 4 or 5, it may look fine on the surface. But underneath, you are carrying costs that most business owners do not see until something goes wrong. This is not about upgrading for the sake of it. It is about understanding what your current situation actually means.
Delaying an ExpressionEngine upgrade is easy to justify. The site still works, the budget is committed elsewhere, and nothing has broken yet. But delays in this area follow a predictable pattern, and the costs accumulate in ways that are not immediately visible.
There’s no single answer to when you should upgrade your ExpressionEngine installation, but there are several clear signals that tell you it’s overdue. Most business owners don’t think about this until something goes wrong. By then, the upgrade is usually more involved than it would have been if it had been done earlier.
Most clients come to us when their site has started to feel like a risk rather than an asset. Whether the agency relationship has ended, an upgrade has been delayed, or the site has simply grown beyond what it can handle, a conversation costs nothing.
Get in touch with KarlTrusted by established businesses and growing brands across the UK
Expression 37 works with a small number of clients at any one time. These are some of them.
Karl founded Expression 37 in 2007 and has worked exclusively with ExpressionEngine and Craft CMS ever since. He does not take on work in other platforms and does not hand work to other developers. Expression 37 is deliberately small, because the kind of support that matters to clients with business-critical sites is specific to their site, not something that scales in the conventional sense. If you work with Expression 37, you work with Karl.
Find out how we workOur ExpressionEngine site had been neglected for a while and we were aware it needed a proper upgrade, but we were nervous about the disruption that might cause. Expression 37 carried out a thorough assessment first and gave us a clear picture of what was involved before any work began. The upgrade was handled with no downtime and the site has been running much more reliably ever since. We now have ongoing support in place and the peace of mind that any issues will be dealt with quickly by someone who genuinely understands the system.
Sarah Connolly - Head of Operations
Propel London