The Future of PHP is Looking Strong

By Adam Khoury
🕒 3 minute read
Published: December 4, 2025 | Last Edited: December 4, 2025

With the release of PHP 8.5 on November 20, 2025, the ecosystem is embracing immutability, performance optimization, and streamlined syntax, all while maintaining its accessibility for web developers worldwide.

📈 Trends Shaping PHP’s Future

PHP has long been the backbone of the web, powering platforms like WordPress, Facebook, Wikipedia, Etsy, Mailchimp, Slack, Tumblr, Laravel, and many more. While some critics have predicted its decline, the language continues to evolve and adapt to modern development needs. PHP 8.5 signals a future focused on predictability, immutability, and performance, ensuring the language remains relevant in the next decade of web development.

Let's look at PHP 8.5’s new features, performance benchmarks, and migration tips, proving the future of PHP is looking strong.

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🗝️ Key Features in PHP 8.5

Array Helpers
Direct access to the first and last elements:

<?php
$people = ["Jim", "Sara", "Paul", "Erin"];
echo array_first($people); // Jim
echo array_last($people);  // Erin
?>

Pipe Operator (|>)
Cleaner, left-to-right function chaining without temporary variables:
( JavaScript also got this operator in its recent upgrades )

<?php
$result = "  Hello World  "
    |> trim
    |> strtoupper
    |> strlen;

echo $result; // 11
?>

Clone with Property Updates
Duplicate objects and update properties in one step:

<?php
class User {
    public function __construct(
        public string $name,
        public int $age
    ) {}
}

$original = new User("Alice", 30);
$clone = clone $original { age: 31 };

echo $clone->age; // 31
?>

JSON Validation
Validate JSON strings without decoding:

<?php
$json = '{"name":"Alice","age":30}';

if (json_validate($json)) {
    echo "Valid JSON!";
} else {
    echo "Invalid JSON!";
}

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❌ Deprecations to be aware of

- Non-canonical scalar type casts (boolean, double, integer, binary).
- mysqli_execute alias → use mysqli_stmt_execute.
- curl_close and curl_share_close deprecated (no-ops since PHP 8.0).

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📊 Benchmarking PHP 8.5 vs PHP 8.4

JSON validation (new json_validate) → +62% improvement
JIT-heavy math workloads → +10% avg improvement
Array access (first/last) → Cleaner + faster
More Benchmarking will be done in the coming months

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💡 Pro Tip: Developer Checklist for PHP 8.5 Upgrade

Use this quick checklist to prepare your project for PHP 8.5:

🔍 Audit Deprecated Features – Remove non-canonical type casts and old aliases.
🏗 Refactor Dynamic Properties – Explicitly declare all properties.
🧩 Adopt New Helpers – Use array_first() and array_last().
🔗 Leverage the Pipe Operator – Simplify complex function chains.
🛡 Test JSON Validation – Replace custom logic with json_validate().
⚡ Benchmark Performance – Confirm JIT and helper improvements.
🧪 Stage Before Production – Deploy to staging first to catch issues.

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As of late 2025, about 73% of all websites whose server-side language is known use PHP.

📶 Detailed Breakdown

Version distribution:
PHP 8.x → ~53.9% of PHP sites
PHP 7.x → ~36.5%
PHP 5.x → ~9.5%
PHP 4.x → ~0.1%
Developer adoption: Around 18.2% of developers report PHP as their primary language in 2025.
Key driver: WordPress remains the dominant factor, since it runs on PHP and powers a huge share of the web.

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In Summary

PHP 8.5 is more than a maintenance release, it’s a statement of intent. By embracing immutability, modern syntax, and performance improvements, PHP is positioning itself as a language ready for the next decade of web development.

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Sources

1️⃣ PHP 8.5 Release Notes — https://www.php.net/releases/8.5/en.php
2️⃣ RFC: Pipe Operator — https://wiki.php.net/rfc/pipe-operator
3️⃣ RFC: Clone with Property Updates — https://wiki.php.net/rfc/clone-with-property-updates
4️⃣ RFC: Array First/Last — https://wiki.php.net/rfc/array_first_last
5️⃣ RFC: JSON Validate — https://wiki.php.net/rfc/json_validate