Core Web Technologies
Server-Side Engine
PHP
The language running behind WordPress, quietly building each page and handling your forms on the server.
- Category
- Core Web Technologies
- Stack role
- Core Platform
- Tool type
- Development Language
- Best suited for
- WordPress and Dynamic Websites
- Hosting model
- Self-Hosted
- Software price
- Free
- Made by
- The PHP Group
- First released
- 1995
- License
- BSD 3-Clause (PHP License, version 4)
Our rating, from hands-on experience building client projects. Not a public review average.
What is PHP?
PHP, in plain English.
PHP is a programming language that runs on the web server, not in the visitor's browser. When someone opens a page on your WordPress site, PHP gathers the content from the database, puts it into the page template and sends the finished page back. It also handles form submissions, logins and checkouts.
It began in 1994 as a personal project by Rasmus Lerdorf and is now maintained by a worldwide community. It is free and open source, and it is available on nearly every web host, which keeps hosting simple and affordable.
You will not see PHP on your site, but you feel it. WordPress and WooCommerce are written in it, so the speed of your pages, the safety of your forms and the flexibility of your custom features all depend on how well the PHP behind them is written.
In our stack
Why we use PHP.
WordPress runs on PHP, so we write it every week: custom features, form handling, and connections to other services. We follow WordPress security practices and keep our code tidy, so what we add is safe and easy to maintain.
Runs Behind WordPress
The same language as WordPress means custom features fit in cleanly.
Widely Hosted
Nearly every web host supports it, so you are not tied to one provider.
Free to Use
There are no license fees, and a large community keeps improving it.
Related tools
Works well with PHP.
Build with us