PHP support windows
PHP branches receive two years of active support followed by two years of security-only support. The published schedule is the authority; a release being installed widely does not extend its upstream support.
As checked on 14 October 2026 (unchanged since 1 October):
| Branch | Active support ends | Security support ends |
|---|---|---|
| 8.2 | 31 December 2024 | 31 December 2026 |
| 8.3 | 31 December 2025 | 31 December 2027 |
| 8.4 | 31 December 2026 | 31 December 2028 |
| 8.5 | 31 December 2027 | 31 December 2029 |
Use the official schedule when making an upgrade decision. PHP 8.2 and 8.3 are in their security-only periods at this verification date. On 31 December 2026, 78 days after this check, PHP 8.2 reaches end of life and PHP 8.4 moves from active to security-only support. An upcoming version's features must not be described as part of these stable branches.
The collected endoflife.date records (data/sources/eol-php.json) give the same dates for 8.2–8.5; they are a convenience copy, not the authority.
Related: framework support windows, adoption populations, PHP 8.5.11.