---
title: "WooCommerce 11.6 will require PHP 8.1 or newer: 2027-02 | Harbyn"
description: "WooCommerce 11.6 will require PHP 8.1 or newer, effective Feb 2027."
canonical: "https://harbyn.com/changes/woocommerce/2026-09-29-new-requirement-for-woocommerce-11-6-php-8-1"
last-updated: 2026-10-09
---

# WooCommerce 11.6 will require PHP 8.1 or newer

Markdown version of <https://harbyn.com/changes/woocommerce/2026-09-29-new-requirement-for-woocommerce-11-6-php-8-1>.

Breaking change - WooCommerce. medium severity. Announced. Upcoming.

WooCommerce 11.6 will require PHP 8.1 or newer. Stores on PHP 7.4 or PHP 8.0 can continue using WooCommerce through version 11.5, but will need to upgrade PHP to use 11.6.

About 99 days left: the deadline is Feb 2027 (the vendor named the month, not the day).

## Facts

| Fact | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Vendor | [WooCommerce](https://harbyn.com/vendors/woocommerce.md) |
| Kind | Breaking change |
| Severity | medium |
| Status | Announced |
| Announced | Sep 29, 2026 |
| Effective | Feb 2027 (month only; the vendor gave no day) |
| Added to Harbyn | Oct 9, 2026 |
| Lead time | 115 days of warning |
| Vendor page | <https://developer.woocommerce.com/2026/09/29/php-8-1-requirement/> |
| Review | Reviewed by a person, extracted by a model |

## Find it in your code

```sh
npx harbyn scan
```

This change names no identifier the scanner can match line by line, so the scan tells you whether your repository uses WooCommerce, from its packages and API hosts. Nothing leaves your machine.

## Sources

Where this event comes from: the page we read, when we read it, and the hash of that snapshot.

- <https://developer.woocommerce.com/feed/> (changelog, fetched 2026-10-09 06:16 UTC, sha256 `fb508ec53d4bf81336d7dc6c01c4348fc83d81fbced4606454ba10f6717a026d`)

## Related changes

### More from WooCommerce

- [Experimental Dual API engine removed from WooCommerce core](https://harbyn.com/changes/woocommerce/2026-09-28-the-experimental-woocommerce-dual-api-is-now-a-plugin.md) (Breaking change, effective Oct 7, 2026)
- [Proof-of-concept product and coupon API removed](https://harbyn.com/changes/woocommerce/2026-09-28-the-experimental-woocommerce-dual-api-is-now-a-plugin-2.md) (Breaking change, effective Oct 7, 2026)
- [Product CSV importer matching and cleanup changes](https://harbyn.com/changes/woocommerce/2026-09-21-woocommerce-11-2-0-pre-release-notes-4.md) (Behavior change, effective Oct 7, 2026)
- [PhotoSwipe error messages no longer substitute failed image URLs](https://harbyn.com/changes/woocommerce/2026-09-21-woocommerce-11-2-0-pre-release-notes-5.md) (Behavior change, effective Oct 7, 2026)

### Changes at other vendors

- [Amazon Selling Partner API: October listing attribute usage and enumeration value updates](https://harbyn.com/changes/amazon-sp-api/2026-10-14-sp-api-updates-new-listings-items-api-ivp-values-in-eu5-jp-and-ca-stores-oct-2.md) (effective Oct 26, 2026)
- [Supabase: four CBC-mode TLS 1.2 cipher suites will be removed from project HTTP APIs](https://harbyn.com/changes/supabase/2026-10-12-an-outdated-subset-of-tls-1-2-ciphers-will-be-disabled-on-project-http-apis.md) (effective Nov 10, 2026)
- [Google Workspace APIs: OAuth clients must be marked as agentic to call Google Workspace MCP servers](https://harbyn.com/changes/google-workspace/2026-10-12-oauth-clients-must-be-marked-as-agentic-to-call-google-workspace-mcp-servers.md) (effective Nov 11, 2026)
- [Bitbucket Cloud API: Git Credential Manager upgrade required for OAuth 2.0 Git authentication](https://harbyn.com/changes/bitbucket/2026-10-13-git-credential-manager-upgrade-required-for-oauth-2-0-git-authentication.md) (effective Nov 30, 2026)

[All upcoming deadlines](https://harbyn.com/deadlines.md)