What versions of PHP are available at DreamHost?

DreamHost pre-installs the following versions of PHP on its servers:

PHP 8 is currently only available on Shared servers and new VPS servers running Debian Buster. Older servers running Debian Stretch do not support PHP 8.

Debian Stretch servers will soon be upgraded to Debian Buster, but if you would like to upgrade immediately to gain access to PHP 8, you have two options.

• Purchase a new VPS in the panel, then migrate your current users to it.
• Contact support to manually upgrade your current server.

• PHP 8.0.2 — Available in the panel (Shared and Debian Buster servers only).
• PHP 7.4.15 — Available in the panel.
• PHP 7.3.27 — Available in the panel.
• PHP 7.2.34 — Available in the panel.
• PHP 7.1.33 — No longer available in the panel. Officially End-Of-Lifed by php.net.
• PHP 7.0.33 — No longer available in the panel. Officially End-Of-Lifed by php.net.
• PHP 5.6.40 — No longer available in the panel. Officially End-Of-Lifed by php.net.

Please note that PHP versions continually update. View the following page for a timeline of PHP versions:

• php.net/supported-versions.php

When you run the command php -v in a shell terminal when logged into your server, the output displays the current default version used.

[server]$ php -v

If you wish to use a different PHP version in the Shell, you’ll need to specify the full file path.

[server]$ /usr/local/php74/bin/php -v
PHP 7.4.15 (cli) (built: Feb 18 2021 21:36:17) ( NTS )
Copyright (c) The PHP Group
Zend Engine v3.4.0, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies
with Zend OPcache v7.4.15, Copyright (c), by Zend Technologies

These are the current versions you can use via SSH. Older versions are not available on some servers.

/usr/local/php56/bin/php
/usr/local/php70/bin/php
/usr/local/php71/bin/php
/usr/local/php72/bin/php
/usr/local/php73/bin/php
/usr/local/php74/bin/php
/usr/local/php80/bin/php