No, PHP is not dead. According to W3Techs, PHP is used by 69.2% of all websites whose server-side programming language is known (figure dated 29 October 2026, read on 30 October 2026). The language gets a new version every year, and PHP 8.5 is the current branch.
“PHP is dead” is a meme, not a measurement. It has been declared every year for so long that PHP developers now wear it as a badge. Here is where it comes from, what the numbers say, and why the joke refuses to die along with the language it keeps burying.
The numbers, with dates
| Fact | Value | Source (date) |
|---|---|---|
| Share of websites with a known server-side language that use PHP | 69.2% | W3Techs (29 Oct 2026) |
| Share of PHP sites on PHP 8 | 65.7% | W3Techs (29 Oct 2026) |
| Share of all websites running WordPress, which is written in PHP | 39.5% | W3Techs (29 Oct 2026) |
| Latest PHP branch | 8.5, released 20 Nov 2025 | php.net (read 30 Oct 2026) |
W3Techs measures websites, not developers or jobs, and it can only count sites where the server-side language is detectable. Treat the figure as a picture of the web, not of the job market. Even so, a language behind most of the measurable web is hard to call dead.
PHP also ships on a steady schedule. On php.net, 8.2 (December 2022), 8.3 (November 2023), 8.4 (November 2024) and 8.5 (November 2025) are all still supported, each with security fixes for several years after release.
Where “PHP is dead” comes from
We could not find a documented first use of the phrase. It shows up in blog titles, conference talks and forum threads year after year, usually right before a post explaining why PHP is, in fact, alive. If you know an early, dated source, we would like to see it.
The reputation behind it is easier to trace. PHP started small: according to the official PHP history, Rasmus Lerdorf created the first version in 1994 as a set of CGI binaries written in C. It grew fast and without a master plan, and older versions had inconsistent function names, surprising type juggling and many ways to write insecure code.
The most famous criticism is Eevee’s 2012 essay PHP: a fractal of bad design, which argues that “virtually every feature in PHP is broken somehow”. Much of that essay describes PHP 5. Plenty of it has since been fixed, deprecated or made stricter. The jokes stayed.
What changed since the jokes started
PHP 7.0, released in 2015, brought a new engine that php.net describes as up to twice as fast as PHP 5.6, plus 64-bit support and the null coalescing operator. The PHP 8 series added a JIT compiler, union types, named arguments, enums, readonly properties and the match expression. Modern PHP looks like this:
<?php
enum Status: string
{
case Paid = 'paid';
case Pending = 'pending';
}
final readonly class Invoice
{
public function __construct(
public int $amountCents,
public Status $status,
) {}
public function label(): string
{
return match ($this->status) {
Status::Paid => 'Paid',
Status::Pending => 'Waiting for payment',
};
}
}That code needs PHP 8.2 or later, because readonly classes arrived in 8.2. If your mental image of PHP is mysql_query() mixed into HTML, it is about fifteen years out of date. mysql_query() itself was removed in PHP 7.0.
Why the meme survives
- It is easy. “PHP bad” is a safe joke at any meetup. Nobody has to explain it.
- Legacy code is real. Many developers met PHP in a ten-year-old codebase, and that memory sticks.
- PHP is not trendy. It powers boring, profitable things: shops, blogs, CRMs, invoicing. Boring does not trend. It pays.
- PHP developers enjoy it. The community answers with irony, mugs and shirts. That is how a joke turns into identity.
Other languages get the same treatment in reverse. Rust gets mocked for being “blazingly fast” in every README. PHP gets mocked for being dead while it serves the request.
Get the shirt
We print three PHP designs: one defiant, one proud and one that is just the logo. All three are in the PHP collection. Buying for someone else? See our guide to gifts for PHP developers.
PHP Will Never Die T-Shirt · 24 €
The direct answer to every “PHP is dead” post.
I'm a Proud PHP Developer T-Shirt · 24 €
For Laravel, Symfony and WordPress people alike.
PHP Developer T-Shirt · 24 €
No joke, just the logo and the attitude.
All shirts are unisex, S to 5XL, printed on demand. Check the size guide before ordering. More ideas in the Christmas gift guide for programmers.
FAQ
Is PHP still worth learning?
If you want to work with WordPress, Laravel, Symfony or the many business apps built on them, yes. The language is maintained, gets a new version every year and runs a large share of the web.
Who uses PHP?
WordPress is the biggest user: W3Techs puts it on 39.5% of all websites (29 Oct 2026). Laravel and Symfony are the main frameworks for custom applications.
When was PHP first declared dead?
We do not know. There is no documented first use of the phrase. Treat any precise “first” date you see with suspicion.