08/10/2026
Running a website on ? Mark 19 November 2026 on your calendar. 📅
That's when PHP 8.6 is released, and one small change in it can affect online payments.
PHP 8.6 changes a session cookie setting called SameSite to "Lax" by default. Browsers don't send these cookies when another site POSTs back to yours, and that's exactly how many payment gateways return customers after they pay.
What can happen: the customer pays, but your website "forgets" the order and shows it as unpaid or abandoned. 😬
Before your hosting company switches PHP versions, check these:
✅ Payment return pages (Razorpay, PhonePe, Cashfree, PayU) tested on a staging copy
✅ Orders matched by the gateway's order ID, not only the login session
✅ Old plugins and custom code checked for deprecated functions
✅ Sites still on PHP 8.2 planned for an upgrade (security support ends 31 Dec 2026)
I've written a free step-by-step guide covering the release dates, new features and how to test your PHP, Laravel or WordPress site safely using Docker:
👉 https://www.tutorialswebsite.com/php-8-6-release-date-rc3-how-to-test/
Need someone to check your website before the upgrade? Send me a message.
PHP 8.6 release date is 19 November 2026. See what's new in RC3, what can break, and how to test your PHP, Laravel or WordPress site safely today.