Update Very Old WordPress?
Updating an old WordPress site is not easy. You can’t just apply the latest version and expect everything to keep working. We can help with this headache.
Our ‘old WordPress update service’ can take very old versions of WordPress right up to the latest version. We’ll also update your plugins or replace them if no longer supported. And sort out themes, php versions and database issues too.
- Old WordPress Updated
- Old Plugins Updated
- Old Theme Updated
- Old php Updated
Friendly Support To Get your WordPress Up To Date
No need to put the headache off any longer, let us take care of it for you.
Create a help ticket, tell us about your WordPress website.
We check out your site and confirm with you what updates need doing and the price.
You give us the ‘go ahead’ and we go to work updating your old WordPress site and plugins.
What Can We Update?
Update (Very!) Old WordPress
We’ve successfully upgraded WordPress websites that haven’t been touched for 9+ years. Sites using plugins where support/updates ended over 5 years ago. Sites still running on old unsupported versions of php (5.2, 5.6) and using outdated MySQL databases from years ago.
2012 was a popular year for new WordPress sites, when version 3.5.1 was released. But a lot of sites got stuck in time – to now update WordPress 3.5.1 a lot of steps and intermediate stages are required.
“Your php version requires an update”
This is a common (and important) ‘nag’ from WordPress. php is the programming language that runs your WordPress site. And just like WordPress your version of php also needs to be updated from time to time. Partly to keep your site secure but also so it will still work when WordPress and plugins are updated.
Many websites are still stuck on php 5.6 which is a very old version of php. It actually reached it’s official end of life date on 31 Dec 2018. That means it receives no further updates at all – not even security fixes. But since then php 7.0, 7.1, 7.2 and 7.3 have all reached their end of life dates too. All WordPress sites should now be using a minimum of php 7.4 (with plans to move to version 8 very soon).
WordPress Plugins Not Compatible With php7
Many WordPress plugins are provided free and rely on the enthusiasm of just one programmer to keep them going. So it’s not surprising a lot fall by the wayside. Over time without updates those plugins can lose compatability with the latest php (the programming language behind WordPress).
Sometimes the fix for this can be to make code changes to incompatible plugins. But often it’s better to replace them with actively supported plugins to limit the same problem happening again. We take into account future WordPress website maintenance requirements when making replacements.
Clean Up Old Plugins
Plugins are easy to install, but not so easy to remember why you installed them years later. So we commonly see sites overloaded with plugins that are actually not doing anything useful.
When we clean up old WordPress plugins sites typically work better all round. The front end and admin area are often faster loading, and the admin menus and screens become a lot less cluttered and easier to use.
Removing old and unused plugins is also better for site security, particularly if those plugins are no longer being maintained and updated.
Questions About Our ‘Old WordPress Update’ Service
No. The first thing we do is create a backup of your website. We then work on a copy of your website on one of our web servers. Once everything is updated and tested, we then copy that working and now up to date website back to your web hosting/server.
Typically this means any downtime is a few minutes and not days or weeks!
Our prices start at $250 for a standard WordPress site and $500 for an e-commerce WordPress site. The actual price will depend on how complex the updates are – so how old the WordPress version is, what plugins and theme are involved and if there are any custom programming changes needed.
If you have any plugins (or themes) that require licenses for updates to be applied then you will need to ensure your licenses are up to date if you want to continue using those plugins. Our prices don’t include license fees required by 3rd parties.
This applies to plugins such as Gravity Forms, WPForms, Backup Buddy, WooCommerce Bookings etc.
We can help with this too, but one thing at a time. 🙂
Please use our fix my WordPress site service for this first. Depending on urgency we can either get the site functioning and then look at what needs updating. Or take care of both things at the same time.
Get Help Now To Update Your WordPress Website
Please complete the form below to let us know about your site. We will get back to you to confirm what needs doing and provide a quote for the updates.