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WORDPRESS · PHP 8 UPGRADE

WordPress is warning you about PHP.
I rebuild the theme so the warning is gone for good.

Your site still works. It is running on a version of PHP that stopped getting security patches years ago, and the theme it was built on cannot run on anything newer. I rebuild that theme on current technology so your site moves to PHP 8.4 cleanly, before your host forces the issue and takes the site down with it.

Get My Quote See what it costs →
24 hrs
TO A QUOTE
<2 wks
TO REBUILD
20+ yrs
DOING THIS
SOUND FAMILIAR?
PHP Update Required
Your site is running on an outdated version of PHP (7.4.33), which does not receive security updates and soon will not be supported by WordPress. Ensure that PHP is updated on your server as soon as possible. Otherwise you will not be able to upgrade WordPress.
  • Your design kept, rebuilt as a clean custom theme
  • Plugins checked and updated for PHP 8 compatibility
  • Built on a staging copy, so your live site is never at risk
  • Launched with no downtime, at a time that suits you
  • Price fixed in writing before I touch any code
Direct access to the people building it.
I lead a small team of WordPress design, development, and SEO specialists. No project managers, no ticket queue.
WHAT THE WARNING ACTUALLY MEANS

It is not a nag. It is a deadline you did not set.

PHP 7.4 stopped receiving security patches in November 2022. PHP 8.0 stopped in November 2023. If your dashboard is showing that warning, the software underneath your website has been unmaintained for years, and every vulnerability found since then is public and unfixed.

Here is the part most owners do not know: the reason nobody has simply changed the setting is that your theme cannot survive it. Themes built on older frameworks use PHP functions that were deleted outright in PHP 8. The moment the server moves, the site does not degrade, it stops. White screen, fatal error, gone.

Hosts are retiring old PHP versions on their own schedule now, sometimes with very little notice. You can handle this on a Tuesday with a plan, or on a Saturday because your site went dark.

  • Unpatched by definition End of life PHP gets no security fixes. Automated scanners look for exactly these versions.
  • One forced upgrade from dark When the host moves the version, an unprepared theme fatals on boot. There is no partial failure.
  • Updates you can no longer take Plugins and WordPress core keep raising their minimum PHP version. Eventually you stop being able to update at all.
  • Slower than it should be PHP 8 is measurably faster than 7.4. Old stacks drag page speed and Core Web Vitals down with them.
WHAT I DO ABOUT IT

Two ways forward. Both end with a site that is current.

The theme is the thing standing between you and a supported PHP version, so the theme gets rebuilt either way. The only real question is whether it comes back looking the same, or looking better.

Worth separating those two words, because they get used interchangeably and they are not the same job. A theme rebuild keeps the design you have and replaces the code underneath it. A theme redesign does that same rebuild, and gives you a new design on top of it.

MOST COMMON
Option 1

Theme Rebuild

$1,650 to $2,250fixed quote, confirmed before I start

Best for: a site that looks the way you want it to and simply needs to run on technology that is still supported. Typically 1 to 2 weeks.

  • Your current design rebuilt closely, page for page
  • Clean custom theme built for your site, no bloat
  • Runs on PHP 8.4, the current supported version
  • Plugins audited, updated, or replaced where needed
  • Fully responsive, checked on real devices
  • You pick the editing experience: classic, Gutenberg, or ACF fields
  • Built and reviewed on staging, launched with no downtime
Get My Quote →
Option 2

Theme Redesign

Starting at $4,250scoped and quoted after we talk

Best for: a site that was already dated before the warning showed up. If you are paying to open the hood anyway, this is the moment to fix the rest. Typically around 6 weeks.

  • Everything in the Theme Rebuild
  • New design built around what your business does now
  • Content structure and navigation reworked, not just restyled
  • Built for speed and Core Web Vitals from the start
  • Backend organized so your team can actually edit it
  • Design reviewed and approved before development begins
Talk Through a Redesign →

Both numbers are confirmed in writing after I look at your specific site, and they do not move afterward. Page count, custom functionality, and the condition of your existing plugins are what shift the figure. If your site needs something other than these two paths, I will tell you that instead of selling you one of them.

HOW IT GOES

Your website framework fully updated, in just four steps.

01
YOU SEND THE URL

Tell me the address.

That is genuinely all I need to start. The form below takes about a minute. No access, no credentials, no commitment at this stage.

02
WITHIN 24 HOURS

You get a real number.

I look at the theme, the plugin stack, and the PHP version, then send you a fixed price, a timeline, and a plain description of what I found. If the honest answer is that you do not need me, I will say so.

03
1 TO 6 WEEKS

I build it on staging.

A full copy of your site, the new theme built against it, plugins sorted out, everything tested on PHP 8.4. Your live site keeps running the whole time, untouched.

04
YOUR CALL

You approve, then it goes live.

You review the staged site and tell me what to adjust. Nothing changes on your domain until you say go, and the switch itself is a matter of minutes. The warning is gone when you log back in.

A RECENT ONE

This is what the problem looks like from the inside.

A custom home builder came to me with the same warning on their dashboard. Their site was on PHP 7.4.33 and could not move, because the theme was a commercial framework last updated in 2016. Inside it were 21 calls to create_function() and 11 calls to each(), both of which PHP deleted in version 8.0. The site did not just misbehave on PHP 8, it failed on the first line it ran.

I rebuilt it as a single theme on Timber 2 and Twig 3, matched the original design, and replaced six aging plugins with one small purpose built one. Same site to look at, entirely current underneath, and now editable without fighting a framework nobody maintains anymore.

7.4 → 8.4
PHP VERSION
32
FATAL CALLS REMOVED
6 → 1
PLUGINS REPLACED
NONE
MINUTES
OFFLINE

I have been doing this since 2003 for clients all over the country, currently based in Atlanta. You will work with me directly from the first email to the last. Andy Boone, Ask4Tech Web Solutions

Since you may have arrived here from an ad, worth saying plainly: this is the first advertising Ask4Tech has ever run. Every client I have taken on since 2009 came by referral. But a referral network can only reach people who already know someone who knows me, and the person staring at a PHP warning they do not understand usually does not. That is the whole reason this page exists.

NOT READY FOR A REBUILD?

There is a smaller version of this.

Not every site justifies $1,650. Maybe a full redesign is already budgeted for next year. Maybe the site is a brochure that has never brought in much, and you would rather not put real money into it. Both are fair, and I would rather tell you that than talk you into a rebuild you do not need.

So there is a narrower job: make the theme you already have survive PHP 8.4, and leave everything else alone. I want to be straight about what that is, because it is a time-buy rather than a fix.

What it does
  • Finds every place your theme calls a function PHP 8 deleted
  • Patches those call sites inside your existing theme
  • Updates or replaces the plugins that break on PHP 8.4
  • Tests on a staging copy, then moves the live site across
  • Gets the warning off your dashboard
What it does not do
  • Rebuild the theme or modernize the code underneath it
  • Improve speed, Core Web Vitals, or how the site is edited
  • Carry the same commitment a rebuilt theme gets
  • Last indefinitely. Expect 12 to 18 months before something reopens it
$475 diagnostic credited toward whatever you decide to do

I can't quote this blind, and neither can anyone else who is honest with you. The number of things needing patched or corrected is not knowable until the theme is audited. So the diagnostic comes first: I determine exactly what breaks and send you a fixed price before a single line of code changes. Most compatibility fixes land between $475 and $1,100 all in. If the theme turns out to be too far gone to update honestly, I will say so, and the $475 goes toward the theme rebuild instead.

One caveat worth taking seriously. If your website brings in meaningful revenue, this is the wrong choice. Patching buys you time on a foundation that is still old, and you will be back here. Put the difference into the rebuild instead.

Ask about the minimum fix →
BEFORE YOU ASK

The six questions I get every time.

Usually not, and this is the part that catches people off guard. The warning is about the server, but the reason nobody has already changed the setting is the theme. Themes written for PHP 7 often call functions that PHP 8 removed entirely. Flip the version on one of those and the site goes down immediately. The theme has to be made compatible first, either patched or rebuilt, and only then does the version change.

Not unless you want it to. The standard theme rebuild reproduces your current design closely, page for page. Most clients tell me it looks the same and just feels quicker. If you would rather use this as the moment to modernize the look, that is what the theme redesign option is for.

No. Everything is built on a staging copy. Your live site runs untouched the entire time, and you review the staged version before anything is switched. The launch itself takes a few minutes and is scheduled when it suits you.

Content and media come across as they are, since they live in the database rather than the theme. URLs stay the same, so your search rankings and existing links are not disturbed. Forms get rebuilt and tested end to end, including where the submissions go. If anything genuinely cannot carry over, you hear about it in the quote, not afterward.

Because page builders are how a lot of sites ended up in this position. They are large, they carry their own add-on ecosystems, and when one is abandoned it takes your site's future with it. A custom theme contains only what your site actually uses, built on a current, actively maintained foundation. The practical result is a site that stays cheap to change and does not need rescuing again in three years.

You do not need to find out. Send me the URL and I will check it along with everything else. If you would like to look yourself, it is in cPanel under Software, in a tool called Select PHP Version or PHP Version Selector. Anything that begins with a 7 is end of life.

Usually not, and I will tell you so if that is the answer. Most hosts can already run PHP 8.4, and being parked on an old version is not the same as being stuck on one. Where I do run into trouble is the cheaper shared plans that top out below 8.4, because a theme rebuilt for 8.4 needs a server willing to run it. I check that during the diagnostic, before you have committed to anything, so you are not left to find out afterward. If your host can do it, stay where you are: that is the cheapest answer and the one I will point you at. If it cannot, or if you would rather this was somebody else's problem from now on, I do host sites. My hosting starts at $35 a month and runs a current version of PHP as a matter of course, which is the whole reason this page exists.

GET YOUR QUOTE

Send me the URL. I will tell you what it takes.

One minute to fill in, a real answer within 24 hours: what is actually wrong, what it costs, and how long it takes. No obligation and no sales sequence afterward.

You are asking about a PHP 8 upgrade and theme rebuild. I review these personally and reply within 24 hours, usually a good deal sooner.
Quote back within 24 hours.
No pressure, no sales script. If your site does not actually need this work yet, I will tell you that and you can get on with your day.

WordPress PHP 8 Upgrade & Theme Rebuild | Ask4Tech Web Solutions

Ask4Tech Web Solutions rebuilds outdated WordPress themes so sites can move off end of life PHP versions onto PHP 8.4. Run by Andy Boone, founded 2003, based in Atlanta, GA, serving clients nationwide. Contact: (470) 202-8389 or info@ask4tech.com.

The problem this solves

Options and pricing

How the process works

Related reading: full article on WordPress PHP update warnings and outdated theme errors.

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