Is PHP web hosting the best option to safely deploy a new website?

PHP, a recursive acronym for “PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor,” is the name of a programming language. This open-source scripting language can be used to develop dynamic applications and webpages. Coupled with hosting infrastructure, PHP web hosting options make it even easier to get started with this language. Today, many content management systems (CMSes) such as WordPress and PrestaShop are written in PHP and run on top of its frameworks (Symfony, Laravel, Zend…). These CMSes require PHP hosting to run, so even if you're not a developer, PHP web hosting can help you easily create your WordPress blog. The ubiquity of PHP in the online world has lead to the existence of a wide selection of PHP hosting solutions.

While many versions of PHP have been released since 1994, the language only really took shape in 1997. Two students, Andi Gutmans and Zeev Suraski, created what was at the time the most refined version of the code (PHP 3) and founded Zend Technologies. Today, 25 years later, the seventh iteration of PHP is available on most hosting platforms. Not only does PHP 7 have significant improvements and optimizations over its predecessors, it has also considerably improved loading times for web pages hosted with PHP hosting.

Free PHP hosting is generally not available since hosting by definition requires the use of server resources, but you can find many quality low-cost options.

PHP hosting services are usually compatible with all the lastest versions of PHP. Currently, the versions supported for PHP hosting are typically PHP 5.6 as well as each declination of PHP 7. The version of PHP you'll need for your PHP web hosting will depend on how you'll use it. If you're planning to use a particular CMS, check the PHP version requirements and be sure to choose the right version of PHP when creating your PHP hosting.

To web developers, PHP is something of a comfort language that allows for a great degree of control. With these features, developers do not need to type thousands of lines code to generate a new webpage. Instead, they’re able to automate a large part of the process to save significant amounts of time when deploying a new website. PHP hosting simplifies the process even more by pre-installing PHP on your hosting instance for free. PHP hosting where the language comes pre-installed makes your life easy. Once your hosting instance ready you can link it very easily to your domain name too.

As mentioned above, the loading time for web pages has decreased with each version of the PHP language. PHP performs better for web applications than languages such as Java. And, as has been proven countless times, faster loading websites increase user retention. With PHP hosting, this high performance comes built in. Free PHP hosting is generally not available since hosting by definition requires the use of server resources, but this type of free PHP hosting, where PHP is provided pre-installed is standard.

Lastly, every PHP hosting solution at Gandi also includes free SSL certificates that encrypt all interactions between the user and the PHP web hosting server, increasing the confidentiality and security of applications hosted on your PHP hosting.

PHP hosting is now more than just an essential part of the web ecosystem; it has also become the way to go for web developers wanting simple and intuitive access to both the PHP programming language and databases such as MySQL. Developers prefer to have PHP installed automatically on specific PHP hosting, rather than having to install it on their own. PHP is a relatively simple language to learn, even for inexperienced developers, broadening the appeal of PHP web hosting to less technical users. PHP is also entirely free, just like the other software components the LAMP stack is comprised of (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP). Today, most websites use PHP because of its many advantages and exceptional performance. With PHP hosting, you can also benefit from these advantages.