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Site down or erroring

My WordPress Site Broke After a PHP Upgrade

Your host upgraded PHP and your WordPress site went blank or shows an error. An old plugin or theme can't run on the new version. Your content is safe.

What it means

PHP is the language WordPress is built on. When your host upgrades it (usually automatically), plugins and themes written for the old version can crash - producing white screens, 500 errors, or fatal error messages.

Why it happens

Abandoned or unmaintained plugins are the usual culprits. The host often doesn't warn you because the upgrade is routine on their end.

What to do

  1. Note the exact error - the message usually names the plugin or theme file that failed.
  2. Update WordPress core, your theme, and all plugins to versions compatible with the new PHP.
  3. If a plugin has no update, replace it or temporarily disable it.
  4. If the site is fully down, rename the plugins folder via file manager and reactivate one at a time.

Still stuck? PHP-upgrade breakage is one of the most common emergency calls we get. We update what's safe, replace what's abandoned, and verify everything still works.

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