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Change your PHP version and settings

Switch PHP versions and adjust values like memory_limit from cPanel, or with a .user.ini file if your site runs on Bolt-Cache.

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.

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.

Moving between major versions — 7.4 to 8.x especially — can break older themes and plugins. Take a snapshot first: see Take a snapshot backup.

Change settings such as memory_limit

  1. In cPanel, open Select PHP Version.
  2. Select Options at the top right.
  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 Extensions and tick the ones you need. 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.

Delete phpinfo.php as soon as you have checked. It exposes a great deal of detail about your server to anyone who visits 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.

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