What Is PHP?

What Is PHP?

PHP stands for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor.

It is a language for writing the behind-the-scenes part of websites (PHP Manual: Introduction).

The spot of a legendary veteran

The NBA’s LeBron James has played for more than 20 years and is still at the top of the game (NBA.com).

PHP is more than 30 years old too, and new languages have kept arriving the whole time.

Even so, about 69% of websites whose server-side language is known still run on PHP (W3Techs, as of Nov 9, 2026).

That is a share of all sites running today.

The secret comes later.

By count, PHP is still the biggest active player on the web.

Building the page the moment it is opened

A web page is made of HTML, a file describing the text and images and how they are laid out.

A page of plain HTML is handed out exactly as written. Everyone gets the same thing.

Put PHP in the path and that changes. Every time the page is opened, PHP runs on the server, the computer that holds the website, and builds the HTML on the spot.

So the page can change with the visitor and the moment. An online shop can put your name and the current stock into the page it sends.

	Plain HTML	Through PHP
Content	Always the same	Built on every visit
Good for	Company profiles, explainer pages	Member pages, shops, search results

Only the finished HTML reaches the browser. The visitor never sees the PHP code (PHP Manual: Introduction).

The server builds it. You get the finished page.

Write it, and it runs

PHP is an interpreted language. Each time a program runs, PHP reads it and carries it out.

The writer never has to convert it into machine-ready form ahead of time (compiling). Put the file on the server, open the page, and it runs (PHP Manual: Your first PHP-enabled page).

Make a change, save, reload, and you see the result.

That is what makes development fast. No wonder people love it.

Mixed right into the HTML

PHP has one signature trait: you can mix the program into the HTML (PHP Manual: Introduction).

<p>Today is <?php echo date('F j'); ?></p>

The part marked “php” is the program.

The server runs only that part and swaps in the result. What arrives is HTML reading “Today is November 10.”

You can add to ordinary HTML a little at a time. The official manual calls it extremely simple for a newcomer (PHP Manual: Introduction).

That low barrier to entry is what spread PHP.

Why it has lasted this long

The biggest reason is WordPress.

• CMS: software for updating articles and images from an admin screen. The biggest, WordPress, runs on 39.4% of all websites (W3Techs, as of Nov 9, 2026) and requires PHP (WordPress.org).
• Frameworks: ready-made foundations for common designs, such as Laravel and Symfony.
• Frequent updates: new versions keep coming, with supported versions in an unbroken line (PHP: Supported Versions).

It runs in many places, and what it runs keeps changing.

That is its simple strength.

The weaknesses it keeps hearing about

Stay at the top for a long time and you take criticism for a long time.

PHP has long been criticized for inconsistent function names (Eevee: PHP: a fractal of bad design).

It grew by being added onto, so plenty of old ways of writing it remain.

It also runs where the web can reach it, so it needs protecting.

An old version out of support can be left with dangerous holes (WordPress.org).

This goes for anyone running an app or a site: not leaving it old is the best upkeep there is.

How it differs from other languages

Language	Main territory
PHP	The behind-the-scenes part of websites
JavaScript	Behavior inside the browser, and beyond it
Python	Data analysis and science, and web back ends too
TypeScript	A newer language that adds types to JavaScript, on both the front and back ends

The PHP manual names server-side scripting as its main target (PHP Manual: Introduction).

TypeScript, meanwhile, is JavaScript with syntax for types, rules for the shape of data (TypeScript). Mistakes show up before the code runs.

Its use in sites and apps keeps climbing.

In August 2025 it passed Python and JavaScript to become the most used language on GitHub by number of contributors (GitHub: Octoverse 2025).

Takeaways

Weaknesses and all, it is where it is because the whole world holds it up.

I’m a little jealous.

But the road ahead may be rough 🤔

With strict types, TypeScript gives AI fewer chances to slip.

PHP has so much old-style material out there that when AI copies it, security holes tend to stay.

Maybe CMSs themselves will stop being the mainstream.

I’d love to see it reach year 40...

Trivia

• HTML: the language for describing the text and images on a web page.
• Interpreted language: a language whose programs are read and carried out each time they run, with no compiling step ahead of time.
• CMS: software for updating articles and images from an admin screen. WordPress is the biggest.
• Types: rules for the shape of data, such as number or text, that help catch mistakes early.
• Function: a named, reusable part of a program.
• Laravel and Symfony: major PHP frameworks.
• Zend Engine: the core that runs PHP programs, introduced with PHP 4.
• JIT: a technique that speeds up programs by converting them to machine-ready form as they run.

History

The start: tracking visits to a résumé

In 1994, Rasmus Lerdorf wrote a small set of programs in C (PHP Manual: History of PHP).

The goal was to track visits to his online résumé.

He called them Personal Home Page Tools. It was a personal tool.

Walls and turning points: criticized, and changing its stride

With PHP 3 in 1998, a team took over and it came to resemble today’s PHP (PHP Manual: History of PHP).

The name’s meaning also became “PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor.”

PHP 4 in 2000 brought a new core called the Zend Engine (PHP Manual: History of PHP).

In 2003, WordPress, a CMS built on PHP, arrived (WordPress.org).

Criticism continued, including a long critique in 2012 (Eevee: PHP: a fractal of bad design).

PHP 7 in 2015 was up to twice as fast as PHP 5.6 (PHP 7.0.0).

PHP 8 in 2020 added a speed-up technique called JIT (PHP 8.0).

Every time it was declared finished, it changed its stride.

What is happening now

• November 2025: PHP 8.5 was released (PHP: Supported Versions).
• November 2026: the last release candidate of PHP 8.6 came out, with the final release planned for November 19 (PHP, Nov 5, 2026).

What comes next

The question is not keeping today’s sites running. It is whether new sites keep choosing PHP.

LeBron will leave the court someday. Whether that day comes for PHP, no one knows yet.