Fresh PHP performance benchmarks compare PHP 7.4 through the current Git state of PHP 8.6, run on an Intel Xeon system with Fedora 44. PHPbench showed gradual gains across PHP 8.x releases, but PHP 8.6 Git was regressing versus PHP 8.5, expected to be resolved before the stable 8.6.0 release later in 2026. A separate self-test showed no such regression, with PHP 8.6's JIT providing a slight additional boost. Older PHP7/PHP5 releases were excluded because they segfaulted when built with GCC 16.
Questions this post answers
Is PHP 8.6 Git currently slower than PHP 8.5 in benchmarks?
Yes, in PHPbench testing the current Git state of PHP 8.6 was regressing relative to PHP 8.5, though this was measured ahead of the official PHP 8.6.0 release expected later in 2026 and may be resolved by then. A separate self-test benchmark did not show this regression, and PHP 8.6 with JIT enabled performed slightly better there. Developers timing a PHP 8.6 upgrade can track performance regression reports like this on daily.dev.
Why were PHP 7 and PHP 5 excluded from a PHP performance comparison against PHP 8.6?
Older, unsupported PHP releases were segfaulting when built with GCC 16, a modern compiler toolchain incompatibility, so PHP 7.4 was used as the oldest tested version instead of PHP 7.0-7.3 or PHP 5. All versions tested were built from the same compiler toolchain on Fedora 44 for consistency. Anyone benchmarking legacy PHP builds against modern toolchains can follow compatibility issues like this on daily.dev.