Change your PHP version and settings

Change the PHP version your site runs on, and adjust settings such as memory_limit or upload_max_filesize. Applies to shared, reseller and Premium hosting.

How you do this depends on whether your site uses Bolt-Cache. Bolt-Cache is an NGINX and PHP-FPM stack available on Premium plans, and it bypasses the cPanel PHP Selector entirely. If you are not sure which applies, check cPanel → Bolt-Cache — if it is not there, or shows as disabled, use the first method.

Shared and reseller hosting

Use the PHP Selector, part of CloudLinux. You never need to edit php.ini, .user.ini or .htaccess by hand.

The page opens on Account Global Settings, which apply to every domain on the account. To change one domain only, use the Per Domain Settings tab — otherwise you will move all of them at once.

Change the version

1. In cPanel, open Select PHP Version.

2. Choose the version you want from the PHP version list.

   

3. Select Apply.

The change takes effect immediately.

Change settings such as memory_limit

1. In cPanel, open Select PHP Version.
2. Select the Options tab, beneath the version selector.
3. Find the setting you want and change its value.

Changes save as you make them. The values most people come here for are memory_limit, upload_max_filesize, post_max_size and max_execution_time.

Enable or disable extensions

On the same page, select the Extensions tab and tick the ones you need. Reset PHP Extensions to default undoes the lot if you lose track of what you changed. This is where you turn on redis for object caching — see Enable Redis object caching.

Premium hosting with Bolt-Cache

Bolt-Cache replaces Apache with NGINX and PHP-FPM. The PHP Selector no longer applies, and any changes made there are ignored.

Change the version

The PHP version is set when you enable Bolt-Cache. To change it, reconfigure Bolt-Cache from its cPanel interface and select the version you want there.

Change settings such as memory_limit

Create a file named .user.ini in your document root:

/home/yourusername/public_html/.user.ini

The leading dot is part of the filename and is required. Add one setting per line, in the same format as php.ini:

memory_limit = 512M
upload_max_filesize = 64M
post_max_size = 64M

Save the file. The change applies immediately.

Check it worked

Create a file called phpinfo.php in your document root:

<?php phpinfo();

Visit https://example.com/phpinfo.php and check the version at the top and your changed value in the table below it.

If your setting is ignored

• On Bolt-Cache, changes made in the PHP Selector do nothing. Use .user.ini instead.
• On shared hosting, a .user.ini file does nothing. Use the PHP Selector.
• The value is above the plan's ceiling. Some settings are capped; see Understanding PHP memory limits.

Related

• MultiPHP vs Select PHP Version
• Set the date.timezone value
• Why PHP-FPM is not enabled on WebGee accounts