PHP Development Company for Modern PHP 8 Applications

Choosing a PHP development company is really choosing between two kinds of PHP. One is the code many businesses inherited: an old version, no tests, business logic mixed into templates, and a developer who left years ago. The other is modern PHP 8: typed, fast, well tooled, with frameworks like Laravel and Symfony that handle queues, authentication and APIs cleanly. We are a custom PHP development company that writes the second kind, and we help you get from the first to the second.

As a PHP web development company, we work with businesses in the US, the UK, Canada, Australia and the UAE that need a new PHP application, an API, a WordPress or WooCommerce extension, or a rescue of an existing codebase. Our PHP web development services are part of our web application development practice.

Our PHP Development Services

• Custom PHP applications. Internal tools, booking systems, quoting engines and B2B platforms built on Laravel or lean PHP 8, depending on size and who will maintain them.
• APIs in PHP. REST and JSON APIs for mobile apps, front ends and partners, with token authentication, versioning and documentation. See our API integration services for connecting to third-party systems.
• Legacy PHP upgrades. Moving applications from PHP 5 or 7 to a supported PHP 8 release, replacing abandoned libraries and adding tests as we go.
• Code audits and rescues. A written review of security, dependencies, structure and hosting for apps you inherited, with a prioritized fix list.
• WordPress and WooCommerce extensions. Custom plugins and integrations in PHP. For full PHP website development services, see our WordPress development and WooCommerce pages.
• Back ends for dashboards and portals. The PHP layer behind custom dashboards and client portals.
• Performance work. Profiling slow pages, fixing N+1 queries, adding caching with Redis and moving heavy tasks to background queues.

Is PHP Outdated in 2026?

No. PHP is actively maintained, with a new release every year and a published support schedule for each version, and modern PHP looks very different from the code many teams remember. PHP runs a large share of the web, including WordPress and WooCommerce, and hosting for it is cheap and available everywhere. Modern versions added the features that used to push teams elsewhere: PHP 8.0 brought named arguments, match expressions, union types and a JIT compiler, and PHP 8.1 added enums, readonly properties and fibers.

We are not arguing for PHP from the outside. The CMS behind this website and Boiler Decoder is written in PHP 8 on SQLite. It handles drip-feed publishing, IndexNow pings, JSON-LD schema, an llms.txt file, cookie-free analytics and Search Console keyword reporting. Running it every day keeps us honest about what PHP does well and where it needs care. PHP is a weaker fit for apps built around long-lived real-time connections, where Node.js is often simpler, and we will say so in discovery if that describes your project.

How We Deliver PHP Projects

1. Scope or audit (1 to 2 weeks). For new builds, a discovery sprint produces the scope, data model and milestone plan. For existing code, we start with an audit of the repository, dependencies, server setup and test coverage.
2. Set up the foundations (3 to 5 days). We set up version control, a staging server, automated deployments, static analysis with PHPStan and a test suite. On inherited code, this comes first so every later change can be checked.
3. Build in milestones (two-week cycles). Features ship to staging every two weeks with tests for the business rules. A focused new application usually needs three to six cycles. Code goes through pull requests, so your team can review and learn the codebase.
4. Harden and launch (about 1 week). We review access control, input validation and dependency security, load real data on staging, and deploy with a rollback plan and error monitoring through Sentry.
5. Hand over or support (ongoing). You get documentation and a recorded walkthrough. Updates, PHP version upgrades and new features can continue on a monthly retainer.

PHP Development Deliverables and What Good Code Looks Like

Whether we build a new application or rescue an old one, you receive the same set of outputs:

• Source code in your own Git repository, with every change made through a reviewed pull request.
• A composer.json and lock file with current, maintained dependencies and no copied-in vendor code.
• An automated test suite (PHPUnit or Pest) covering the business rules that cost money when they break, running in GitHub Actions on every push.
• Static analysis with PHPStan at an agreed level, so type errors are caught before deployment.
• A README that lets a new developer run the app locally, plus deployment and rollback steps.
• For audits, a written report ranking every finding by risk and effort, with the fixes we recommend first.

Good PHP code is easy to check. The test suite passes, PHPStan reports no errors at the agreed level, composer audit shows no known vulnerable packages, the app runs on a PHP version that still receives security fixes, and error tracking shows no recurring unhandled exceptions in core workflows. Those are the measures we report against at handover.

Upgrading Legacy PHP Applications

PHP 7.4 stopped receiving security fixes in November 2022, and older versions have been unsupported for longer. Running an unsupported version means unpatched security issues, and current releases of many libraries no longer install on it. An upgrade is usually less work than a rewrite, if it is done in the right order:

1. Freeze and measure. Snapshot the current app and add basic tests around the most valuable workflows, such as checkout, invoicing or login.
2. Automate the mechanical changes. Tools like Rector handle many syntax and API changes between versions, and PHPStan flags type problems before they reach production.
3. Replace abandoned dependencies. Libraries with no maintained release get swapped for current packages installed through Composer.
4. Upgrade step by step. We move one version at a time on staging, run the tests, fix what breaks and only then switch production.

PHP Frameworks and Tooling We Use

Laravel, Symfony or Lean PHP: Picking the Right Base

The framework decision shapes how fast we build, how easily you hire later and how much code there is to maintain. We recommend one per project and write the reasons into the scope.

Security Standards in Our PHP Web Development Services

Most PHP security problems we find come from a handful of old habits. Every project we deliver follows these rules:

• Database access through prepared statements (PDO or the framework's query builder), never strings built from user input.
• Passwords stored with password_hash(), which uses bcrypt or Argon2, never MD5 or SHA-1.
• Output escaped in templates by default, CSRF tokens on every form and secure, HTTP-only session cookies.
• Secrets in environment variables or a secrets manager, never committed to the repository.
• File uploads checked by type and size and stored outside the public web root.
• A supported PHP version, with composer audit run in the build pipeline to flag vulnerable packages.

Problems We Find Most Often in PHP Code Audits

• Logic inside templates. SQL queries and pricing rules mixed into HTML files, so a design change can break checkout.
• Forked or copied libraries. Third-party code pasted into the project and edited, which means it can never be updated safely.
• No staging server. Changes are made directly on production over FTP, with no record of what changed or when.
• Cron jobs nobody remembers. Scheduled scripts that send emails or sync data, undocumented and running on a server only one person can access.
• Slow pages from repeated queries. A list page that runs one query per row instead of one query in total. Fixing these is often the fastest performance win.

PHP Development Company, Freelancer or In-House Developer?

Why Choose 95 Solutions as Your PHP Development Company

• Our own products run on PHP 8. Unlike a PHP software development company that only builds for clients, we maintain PHP in production for our own CMS, which runs two live sites.
• Senior-led. Our founder, Mustafa, holds a BS in Computer Science and leads strategy on every account.
• No lock-in. Standard frameworks, documented code and repositories in your name mean any PHP developer can pick the work up later.
• US contracts and overlapping hours. USD contracts from our US LLC, with hours covering the US business day and overlapping UK hours.

Who Should Hire a PHP Development Company

A good fit

• Businesses running an old PHP app that still makes money but nobody dares change.
• Teams that want a new web app on a stack that is cheap to host and easy to hire for.
• WordPress and WooCommerce sites that need custom logic beyond existing plugins.

Probably not a fit

• Projects that must be written in another language by company policy.
• Quick one-off fixes with no access to the code repository or a staging server.

Project Team or Dedicated PHP Developer?

Hiring a PHP application development company as a project team suits work with a clear outcome: a new application, an upgrade or an audit, delivered against a scope and fixed-price milestones. If you already have a product manager and a steady backlog, a developer who works inside your team every day is often better value. We offer that through our dedicated developers service, full time or part time, with the same code review standards.

PHP Development Pricing

New PHP builds start with a paid discovery sprint that is credited to the build, followed by fixed-price milestones. Legacy upgrades start with a fixed-price audit. Ongoing maintenance and PHP version upgrades run on a monthly retainer.

Cost depends on the number of features and user roles, the integrations involved, and, for existing code, how far behind the PHP version and dependencies are and whether any tests exist. An app two major versions behind with no tests costs more to upgrade than a larger app that already has a test suite.

For an audit of an existing application, send us a short description of the codebase and we will reply with a custom quote.

Next Step: Talk to Our PHP Developers

Tell us what the application does, which PHP version and framework it runs on (if you know), and what you need changed. We reply within one business day and set up a short call. For existing code we usually ask for read access to the repository, then send a written audit scope; for new builds you get a discovery plan. Either way, you see a fixed price before any work starts. If you need a fully custom browser app rather than PHP work on an existing system, our custom web application development team handles that, and our web application maintenance plans cover upkeep after launch.