Custom PHP Development Services for new builds and old code
We build custom PHP web applications, move PHP 5 and PHP 7 code onto a supported branch, extend Laravel and Magento systems, connect PHP apps to the tools your business already runs, and keep them patched afterwards. The engineers are on our own staff in Delhi and Lucknow, and the code lives in repositories registered to your company.
On this page
Digital Heroes provides PHP development services for companies that already run PHP or have chosen it: new custom web applications, upgrades of old PHP code to PHP 8, Laravel and Magento work, integrations with payment, CRM and accounting systems, and monthly maintenance. Developers we employ do the work from Delhi and Lucknow, a two-week discovery sprint comes before any fixed price, and the code sits in repositories your company owns.
What our PHP development services cover, from first build to fifth year
PHP runs most of the websites whose server-side language can be identified: 69.3 percent of them on 22 October 2026, by the count at W3Techs. A great deal of that code is years old, written by people who have since left, and still taking orders every day.
So the list below starts with code you already run and only then moves to new builds. Some of it is PHP web development in the narrow sense, the site a customer sees; more of it is PHP software development behind that site, such as portals, order systems and the jobs that run overnight. Every line is done by developers on our payroll.
Work one PHP engagement can include
- Legacy PHP upgrades. PHP 5 and PHP 7 code moved to PHP 8.3 or newer, one branch at a time, with tests written before anything moves.
- Code audits. For an application you inherited: versions, packages with published advisories, test coverage and the slowest pages, in a written report.
- Custom PHP web applications. Customer portals, booking and order systems and internal dashboards, built on Laravel unless your team has a reason to stay framework-free.
- Laravel work. Features, version moves and performance fixes on applications that already run on it.
- Magento and Adobe Commerce. Extensions, upgrades and checkout fixes through our Magento development team.
- WordPress and WooCommerce. Themes and plugins, run as a WordPress development service of its own.
- Integrations. Payments, CRM, accounting, shipping and sign in, written so a failed call is retried rather than lost.
- Performance. Slow queries, missing indexes, OPcache and cache settings, and pages that time out under load.
- Maintenance. Security releases, dependency updates and the yearly branch change, on a monthly retainer.
Keep, upgrade, rebuild or replace: four answers for an older PHP app
The first question about an existing PHP system is not a technical one. It is whether the code is still worth the money it costs to run, and sometimes the answer is no. The table sets out the four possible answers and the evidence that points to each.
| Answer | Signs it fits | What happens first |
|---|---|---|
| Keep and maintain | PHP 8.3 or newer, few incidents, and a business process that has not changed much since launch | A maintenance plan: patch releases, dependency updates and someone reading the error log |
| Upgrade in place | The code works and earns money, runs PHP 7 or an early 8.x branch, and its packages have newer releases | A written plan, branch by branch, with tests around payments and sign in before any version moves |
| Rebuild in stages | The framework is abandoned or there never was one, every change breaks something unrelated, but the data model is still right | New code beside the old, taking over one route or module at a time while the old app serves the rest |
| Replace with a product | The app copies what an off-the-shelf product already does, and the parts unique to you are small | A product shortlist, a data export plan and a redirect for every old URL |
Online stores are the clearest case for replacing. Big Game Sports ran on Magento 2 until a 22-month rebuild with us moved it to Shopify Plus; with the speed work and the Amazon channel that followed, revenue grew 340 percent and Largest Contentful Paint fell from 4.6 to 1.9 seconds. The Big Game Sports case study has the full account.
When the commerce platform itself is the cost, our Magento to Shopify migration service is a better buy than another round of upgrades. For anything that is not a store, the free rebuild vs refactor calculator puts rough numbers on the two middle answers before anyone opens the code.
Where your PHP version stands on 22 October 2026
PHP gives every release branch four years. For the first two, bugs and security holes are both fixed; for the next two, only critical security issues are; after that, nobody patches it. Those are the terms on the php.net supported versions page, which lists four branches inside the window today.
The same W3Techs survey splits PHP websites by major version: 65.3 percent on PHP 8, 26.9 percent on PHP 7, 7.7 percent on PHP 5 and 0.1 percent on PHP 4. Every branch of 7, 5 and 4 is long past its last security fix, which puts 34.7 percent of PHP websites on code php.net no longer patches.
Multiply that by PHP's 69.3 percent share and the result is roughly 24 percent: about one website in four, among those whose server language W3Techs can name, runs a PHP version with no security support. That figure is a floor, because the survey does not split out 8.0 and 8.1, which are also unsupported.
To place your own application on the chart, run php -v on the server or read the php line in the require block of composer.json. An answer of 8.2 means the upgrade has a deadline about ten weeks away.
What breaks on the way to PHP 8, and the tools that find it first
Old PHP seldom fails in one dramatic way. It fails in dozens of small places that each changed meaning between versions, which is why an upgrade begins with tools that list those places before anyone edits a file. The rows below are changes that commonly stop older applications, each taken from the migration notes on php.net.
| Moving to | What changed | What it breaks |
|---|---|---|
| PHP 7.0 | The original mysql extension was removed, along with ereg and mssql | Every mysql_query() call. The replacement is PDO or mysqli, with prepared statements |
| PHP 8.0 | each() and create_function() were removed, as were curly brace string offsets and static calls to non-static methods | Old loops, old callbacks and helper classes written for PHP 5, which stop with fatal errors |
| PHP 8.0 | Many warnings became Error exceptions, such as writing to a property of a non-object | Code that seemed to work while quietly logging warnings now ends the request |
| PHP 8.1 | Passing null to a built-in function's non-nullable parameter is deprecated | Logs fill with notices from string functions handed an empty form field |
| PHP 8.2 | Creating a dynamic property is deprecated unless the class carries #[\AllowDynamicProperties] | Older models and libraries that attach properties to objects on the fly |
| PHP 8.4 | A parameter typed T $a = null is no longer silently nullable; that form is deprecated | Function signatures across older libraries; each needs ?T or T|null |
An upgrade plan, in the order it should run
- Take an inventory. Record the PHP version on every server, the framework and its version, and for each Composer package, the newest release that supports the target branch.
- Scan at the target version. PHPCompatibility, a set of PHP_CodeSniffer rules, checks the code against a testVersion you set. PHPStan finds broken calls and types, and its baseline file records today's errors so new ones stand out.
- Cover the money paths. Add tests for sign in, checkout or billing, and the reports staff open every morning, so a regression fails the build instead of reaching a customer.
- Let Rector make the routine edits. Rector applies rule sets for each version step, and its site lists upgrades from PHP 5.3 to 8.5. Each change it proposes is reviewed like any colleague's pull request.
- Run two versions side by side. The test suite runs on both the current and the target branch until both pass, then a staging server runs the target branch on a masked copy of production data.
- Switch, keeping the old runtime installed. Production moves to the new PHP-FPM version with the previous one still on the server, so going back is a configuration change rather than a rebuild.
The same plan applies to code built on any other framework, including one written in house, with one extra question at step one: does the framework still ship releases for the target branch? If it does not, the upgrade turns into the staged rebuild in section 02.
Laravel, Symfony or no framework: choosing for a new build
For a brand new web product our default is Next.js and React, and we say so on the first call. PHP is the better pick when your own developers write it, or when the new system has to live beside PHP you already run. Once PHP is settled, the framework question has three realistic answers.
| Question | Laravel | Symfony | No framework |
|---|---|---|---|
| Release rhythm | One major release a year, around the first quarter | A minor release every six months, in May and November, and a major every two years | Whatever your team decides |
| Support window | Bug fixes for 18 months and security fixes for two years per major | About eight months for a standard release; the 7.4 long-term release has bug fixes to November 2028 and security fixes to November 2029 | Only PHP's own four years |
| Suits | Products that want one settled way to do sign in, queues, billing and tests, with a first-party package for each | Large systems that pick components one by one and value long release windows | A small, stable tool, or code that must sit inside a platform with rules of its own |
| Watch for | A major upgrade to budget for every year | More decisions to make before the first feature | You write and keep what a framework would give you: routing, validation, CSRF protection |
| From us | Builds, upgrades and upkeep by our own developers | Not a stack we claim to staff | Yes, by developers on our staff |
Sources: Laravel release notes and Symfony releases, both read 22 October 2026.
Laravel is the framework we build new PHP products on, and the decisions inside it, from front end to hosting to tenancy, are set out on our page about Laravel development services. Whatever you choose, code that follows the PHP-FIG standards, PSR-4 autoloading and PSR-12 style among them, reads the same to whoever maintains it next.
Still weighing PHP against other languages? The free tech stack selector asks four questions about your app type, scale, real-time needs and team, and suggests a stack from the answers.
Integrations that tie a PHP app to the rest of the business
Few PHP applications stand alone. Most talk to a payment provider, a CRM, an accounting package or a warehouse, and the connection is where failures hide: a card charged twice, an order that never reached fulfilment, a customer record overwritten by a stale copy.
- Payments: card and subscription providers such as Stripe and PayPal.
- CRM: HubSpot, Salesforce or a CRM built for you, kept in step with the app's own customer records.
- Accounting and ERP: invoices and orders pushed to QuickBooks, Xero or NetSuite.
- Shipping and fulfilment: rates, labels and tracking from carriers and third-party warehouses.
- Email and SMS: transactional messages sent from a queue, with bounces fed back.
- Sign in: Google or Microsoft accounts, and SSO for business customers.
Four rules every connection should follow
- Writes that can be repeated safely. A retried payment or order request carries an idempotency key, the mechanism Stripe's API documents, so a timeout never turns into a second charge.
- Webhooks checked before they count. Incoming events are verified against the sender's signature before anything is saved.
- Slow calls off the visitor's request. Calls to outside services run as background jobs with retries and backoff, so a slow supplier never holds a checkout page open.
- A standard HTTP client. Code talks through a PSR-18 client, so swapping the library, or faking the service in tests, does not mean rewriting the integration.
Bigger interface work, including APIs that other companies call, belongs to our custom API development team, whose architecture and code review our CTO leads. To size a project's connections before discovery, the integration cost calculator estimates the hours each one adds.
PHP maintenance after launch: the monthly and yearly checklist
A PHP application left alone does not stay as it was. The language, the framework and every Composer package keep shipping fixes, and each one skipped makes the next upgrade larger. Small, regular upkeep costs less than a rescue every four years.
| How often | Task | What it prevents |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly | Apply PHP point releases and package updates inside the current major versions, then run composer audit | Known holes left open after a fix was published |
| Monthly | Read the error log and the slowest requests, and restore last night's backup to a test server | Faults nobody reports, and a backup that turns out not to restore |
| Quarterly | List packages with no release for a year and plan replacements; check certificates and TLS settings | An abandoned package that blocks the next upgrade, or an expired certificate |
| Yearly | Move to the next PHP branch, and the next framework major where there is one | The four-year cliff: one step a year keeps every jump small |
Ongoing work runs on a monthly retainer with a named team, and the smallest one we staff is one senior engineer and one designer. If you run a website rather than an application, our website maintenance services cover updates, security and support. The software maintenance cost calculator estimates a yearly budget as a share of the build, and the HTTPS and SSL checker covers the quarterly certificate check.
What a PHP project costs, and how long it takes
We publish no PHP rate card. A fixed price follows the two-week discovery sprint, once the scope is in writing. As an outside benchmark, our custom software cost guide sets the usual range for a focused first release at $40,000 to $150,000, while complex enterprise platforms run from $250,000 to $500,000 and beyond.
On time, an MVP usually takes 8 to 12 weeks after discovery and a production platform 16 to 28. Upgrades are priced the same way as builds: discovery reads the code, then the steps are bid at a fixed price.
What moves a PHP quote up or down
- The starting version. PHP 5 code crosses every row of the table in section 04; code on 8.1 heading for 8.4 crosses only the last two.
- Tests, or their absence. With no tests, the first weeks go on writing them, because nothing else can be changed safely.
- The number of integrations. Each outside system adds its own error handling, sandbox account and test cases.
- Data migration. Moving years of records into a new schema, with checks that every row arrived, is often the longest single task.
- The framework underneath. An abandoned framework turns an upgrade into a staged rebuild.
- The hosting. A shared host that pins an old PHP branch adds a server move to the plan.
For a first figure on your own scope, the software development cost calculator multiplies estimated hours by a blended rate you choose.
From first call to handover: how a PHP project runs
The steps are the same for a new build and an upgrade. What changes is how much of discovery goes on reading code that already exists.
- A free 30-minute call. Bring the PHP version, where the app is hosted and the one change that matters most. If we are the wrong team for it, you hear that on the call.
- A one-page mutual NDA. Signed before you share any code or data.
- Discovery, two weeks, priced separately. Requirements, a map of every system the app touches, a risk register and, for a live app, a read of the code. It ends in a fixed bid, or in advice to buy a product instead.
- Build sprints you can watch. Every week brings a recorded demo of working code and a note on what shipped and what slipped. You are not invoiced for a week without a demo.
- A pipeline before production. Automated tests and a rollback route are in place before the first release reaches real users.
- Handover. Architecture documents, runbooks for the jobs that keep the app alive, and a session that passes the knowledge to whoever runs it next.
To turn your own estimate of the work into a calendar, the software project timeline calculator lays the phases out week by week.
Inside the PHP development company that writes your code
Anyone comparing PHP development firms or agencies wants three answers: who writes the code, where they sit and who checks it. Ours follow.
The developers work from Delhi, our engineering headquarters, and from Lucknow, home to full-stack and web developers, QA and design. Our New York office holds leadership and account directors and answers US clients on weekdays, 9 AM to 6 PM Eastern.
Our CTO, Divyansh Singh, who signs this page, owns the architecture and the engineering standard every build is held to. A separate QA team tests each build before you see it. After the NDA, we arrange reference calls with past clients, and every enquiry form gets an email reply within 24 hours.
Want a developer inside your own team rather than a delivered project? You can hire a PHP developer in India by the month, and our page on PHP developers for hire sets that route beside the talent marketplaces.
The PHP tech stack on our staff
Three PHP stacks are on our in-house team today: Laravel, Magento and PHP written without a framework. The table adds the platforms and languages that sit around them on a typical project.
| Layer | What we staff |
|---|---|
| PHP applications | Laravel, and PHP written without a framework |
| Commerce on PHP | Magento and Adobe Commerce, plus WooCommerce as its own service |
| Content on PHP | WordPress, as its own service |
| Front ends beside PHP | Angular and React, and Next.js for new web builds |
| Services beside PHP | Node.js for APIs and jobs, Python for data work |
Who we build for
- Companies whose orders, bookings or billing pass through a PHP application that must keep running while it changes.
- Founders with a Laravel product that needs features, an upgrade or an outside read of the code.
- Retailers on Magento or WooCommerce choosing between one more upgrade and a platform move.
- IT and product leads who inherited undocumented PHP and need to know what they own before they spend on it.
Security basics a PHP build should ship with
- Database access through bound parameters, never SQL assembled from what a visitor typed.
- Errors written to a log the team reads, with display_errors off in production, as the OWASP PHP configuration cheat sheet advises.
- Passwords and API keys held in environment settings on the server, outside the repository.
- Package versions checked against published security advisories whenever dependencies change.
Two further terms are ours to give. Repositories, hosting accounts and domains are registered to your company, with our engineers on access you can revoke, and we sign a Business Associate Agreement whenever our team handles protected health information.
When PHP, or Digital Heroes, is the wrong call
- A new product, and nobody on your side writes PHP. Next.js and React would serve you better, and our web development company page covers that route.
- The core of the product is forecasting or heavy data work. Those libraries are written for Python, and our Python developers are on staff; a PHP app can still display the results.
- Every engineer must be based in the United States. Our engineers work in India, so a contract or security policy that requires US staff rules us out.
- The lowest hourly rate is the only test. Firms that compete on rate alone will undercut a team that writes tests, holds a weekly demo and hands over runbooks.
Questions buyers ask before a PHP project
What does a PHP development service include?
That depends on where you start. A new system gets discovery, design, the build, tests and a deploy pipeline. An existing one gets a read of the code, an upgrade plan, fixes and features, integrations and monthly upkeep. Ours adds a recorded demo every week while we build, a handover pack at the end, and repositories held in your name throughout.
How much does custom PHP development cost?
Our custom software cost guide gives $40,000 to $150,000 as the usual range for a focused first release, and $250,000 to $500,000 or more for complex enterprise platforms. Where a PHP project falls in that range depends on its scope, its integrations, its security needs and how much data has to move. We fix our own price after a two-week discovery sprint, and we publish no hourly rate.
How long does a PHP project take?
An MVP usually needs 8 to 12 weeks after discovery, and a production platform 16 to 28. An upgrade depends on the distance between versions, the number of packages that block the target branch and how much of the code has tests. Discovery takes two weeks in every case and ends with a dated plan.
Can you upgrade a PHP 5 or PHP 7 application to PHP 8?
Yes. The work goes one branch at a time: scans with PHPCompatibility and PHPStan at the target version, tests around payments and sign in, routine edits by Rector, then both versions running in CI until they agree. PHP 5 code also loses the old mysql functions, removed in PHP 7.0. Aim for 8.3 or newer, since 8.2 stops receiving security fixes on 31 December 2026.
Should we rewrite our PHP application in another language?
Usually not. A rewrite pays when the people who will maintain the code do not write PHP, or when the data model itself is wrong. If the code works and earns money, upgrading it or rebuilding it in stages beside the old app costs less and carries less launch risk. Our rebuild vs refactor calculator puts rough numbers on both.
Is PHP a good choice for a new web application?
It can be, especially when your developers already write it. PHP 8.5 shipped on 20 November 2025 and php.net supports it until the end of 2029, and Laravel gives a new PHP product sign in, queues, billing and tests from first-party packages. For teams with no PHP background, our default for a new web build is Next.js with React.
Laravel or Symfony: which framework should we pick?
Laravel suits products that want one settled way of doing sign in, queues and billing, and it ships a major release every year. Symfony suits large systems assembled component by component, and its long-term releases are supported for longer. Laravel is the framework our own developers build on; Symfony is not a stack we claim to staff.
How do you keep a PHP application secure?
By staying on a supported PHP branch, binding every database parameter, keeping display_errors off in production, holding secrets outside the repository and checking packages against published advisories on each change. Upkeep matters as much as code: the monthly patch run and the yearly branch move close holes that were fixed upstream after launch.
What do you need from us to start a PHP project?
For the first call, only the PHP version, where the app is hosted and the change that matters most. Once the NDA is signed, discovery needs read access to the repository, a staging server or a way to run the app locally, a copy of the database with personal data masked, and a list of the outside systems it connects to.
Do you also work on WordPress, WooCommerce and Magento?
Yes. All three run on PHP, and each has a service page of its own on this site, because a store or a content site needs platform knowledge as well as PHP. Magento developers are on our in-house team. If a store's platform has become the cost, a move to Shopify may beat another upgrade.
Last reviewed .
Send the PHP version and the change that matters most
Tell us what the application does, which PHP version and framework it runs on, and what has to change first. The first call is 30 minutes, free, and commits you to nothing; discovery follows only if both sides want it. Book a call with a PHP developer.
What clients say after launch.
Published reviews from our Fiverr profile, reproduced word for word. 397 public reviews across 4 gigs, from clients in 36 countries. Read them all on Fiverr.
What impressed us most was how quickly the seller understood the real problem behind our project rather than just building what was requested. The reservation platform feels like it was designed specifically around our restaurant operations and customer experience. Clean execution professional communication and a result that genuinely adds value to our business. Highly recommended.
What impressed me most was how quickly the idea turned into something that actually felt usable and complete. Communication was always clear, and every small detail was handled thoughtfully. Very satisfied with the final result.
I’ve worked with several developers over the years, but this project stood out because of the level of investigation and problem solving involved. What impressed me most was the willingness to understand the platform's logic before making changes. I would absolutely recommend working with them.
I think I gave the team a pretty big challenge, and I’m really happy with how everything’s turning out. They’ve been easy to work with, communication has been great, and they’ve been willing to make changes whenever I’ve asked. Looking forward to continuing the project.
Working with this team was a fantastic experience. The website turned out exactly how I envisioned, and every feature was implemented with great attention to detail. The final result looks clean, modern, and performs really well. I truly appreciate the professionalism and would definitely work together again on future updates. Highly recommended!
very very best team in the world, they are very confidence person they told and know everything about the project they understand me fast and know exactly what they want to make
Reviews are reproduced as published on Fiverr, captured 2026-08-03. Fiverr shows the buyer's username and country publicly; no other client detail is used here.
Why work with Digital Heroes
115 people in New York, Delhi, Lucknow, London and Sydney, shipping ecommerce, web, software and mobile work for founder-led brands. Senior engineers only, no account-manager relay, and the same team from kickoff to launch.
- Shopify Select Partner, as listed in the Shopify Partner Directory
- Tier 1 registered supplier on the United Nations Global Marketplace, which requires audited company documentation
- Top Rated Plus on Upwork, the bracket for the top 3% of talent by client outcomes
- 397 public five-star-weighted reviews across four Fiverr gigs, from clients in 36 countries
- DUNS verified business, No. 650878346, so procurement can check us before signing
- Listed by Clutch in Top 1000 Global B2B Companies and Top Web Designers 2024
- Verified profiles on GoodFirms, DesignRush, Digital.com, AppFutura and TopDevelopers
- 2,000+ brands built across 40+ countries, with $50M+ in client revenue scaled
More from Divyansh.
Chief Technology Officer · Lucknow · 57 posts on the site
Published .
