Minimum versions for WordPress to work

Last Revised: October 2, 2021

What are the minimum versions required for WordPress to work properly? In principle WordPress works with MySQL, PHP and a web server, which leaves a very wide margin to work, although the most common configurations are Linux, nginx or Apache, MySQL and PHP.

• Operating system
• Web server
• Database
• PHP
• TLS Certificates (SSL)
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• About this document

Operating system

As for operating systems, WordPress works on any platform that supports the rest of the necessary software (database and programming language). The most common operating systems are CentOS and Ubuntu. In the case of choosing the latter, it is best to use an LTS (Long Term Support) version (with long-term support) so that for several years you will not have to worry about incompatibilities. A list of recommended minimum versions is:

NOTE: It is advisable to use stable and maintained versions of operating systems.

In any case, you must always use operating systems compatible with 64bits (all the above support it) although it will depend a lot on the server infrastructure that is going to be used.

Web server

As for web servers, there are several although the best known are Apache HTTPD and nginx. Both have a lot of documentation of configurations for WordPress and are the ones that have the most compatibility. A list of recommended minimum versions is:

NOTE: It is advisable to use stable and maintained versions of web servers.

Database

When working with databases we can have many configurations. As a general rule we will work in a monolithic system (not distributed) although the database can be scaled in the way that is necessary. In this case it will be something transparent for WordPress so the decision of scalability will be the system administrator.

Although there are differences between the different distributions of databases, in general for WordPress it is quite indifferent to work with one or the other. A list of recommended minimum versions is:

NOTE: It is advisable to use stable and maintained versions of the databases.

PHP

One of the points where WordPress has a long way to go is PHP and is that historically it has been very flexible with the use of this language and its compatibility with previous versions, but due to the release of new versions and with great improvements in encryption and security, it is best to use the latest stable version of PHP.

NOTE: It is advisable to use stable and maintained versions of PHP.

TLS Certificates (SSL)

Obviously, WordPress works via the web, and therefore works over HTTP, but nowadays it is essential to have a site with HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) and this implies using an encryption certificate. In this case, if we stick to specific security issues, the only option is to use a TLS 1.2 or TLS 1.3 certificate. To do this you can buy certificates of any kind, or use Let’s Encrypt certificates.

NOTE: It is advisable to use stable and maintained versions of TLS.

On the WordPress page you have some minimum requirements necessary to work properly.

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About this document

This document is regulated by the EUPL v1.2 license, published in WP SysAdmin and created by Javier Casares. Please, if you use this content in your website, your presentation or any material you distribute, remember to mention this site or its author, and having to put the material you create under EUPL license.