0.05 History of PHP

From it’s beginnings in 1993 to the current version.

History of PHP

PHP is a unique language. It was created to give a web-server the ability to have a simple language. It has grown into the de facto standard for web servers and it is available on almost every web server in the world. It was started by one person in Canada (Rasmus Lerdorf in 1993). PHP originally stood for Personal Home Page. As of 2024 PHP is used by over 75% of all web sites in the world. (see the update at the end of this article)

1994 Rasmus Lerdorf created a set of scripts (C CGI binaries) for his personal website, managing visitor counters and online resumes. This marked the birth of PHP’s predecessor, Personal Home Page Tools (PHP Tools).

1995 PHP Tools evolved into PHP/FI (Forms Interpreter), supporting web forms and database interaction.

1996 Zeev Suraski and Andi Gutmans joined the project, leading to major rewrites and significant enhancements.

1997 PHP 3 introduced object-oriented programming and database support, resembling modern PHP.

2000 PHP 4 brought performance improvements, better web development tools, and wider adoption.

2004 PHP 5 was a massive step forward, incorporating advancements like namespaces, improved performance, and wider library support.

2015 PHP 7 focused on performance optimization, resulting in significant speed increases.

2021 PHP 8 introduced features like JIT compilation, union types, and improved error handling.

The name “PHP” originally stood for “Personal Home Page”, but later became a recursive acronym: “PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor”.

Despite criticisms in the past, PHP continues to evolve and remain a popular choice for web development due to its ease of use, large community, and extensive ecosystem.

Update

As of 9/6/2026: PHP remains the dominant server-side programming language on the internet, powering approximately 70.2% to 79.2% of all websites with a known server-side language as of 2026. This widespread adoption is primarily driven by its integration with major content management systems like WordPress, which alone accounts for over 40% of all websites globally.

While its relative share has seen a slight decline from previous years, PHP continues to hold a commanding lead over other backend technologies. In specific market segments, it powers over 90% of CMS-based websites and 60%+ of eCommerce platforms. Modern versions, particularly PHP 8, are now used by the majority of active PHP sites, with PHP 7 still present on roughly 28-33% of them.

History of MySQL