Requirements

GiveWP is built to work in as many possible environments as possible. Nevertheless, in order to have the best experience and the best Support from us, there are some minimum requirements.

While it’s possible you could run GiveWP with versions older than the minimums listed below, please understand that you will have the most reliable experience with GiveWP if you at least meet or exceed these requirements. Further, priority support is limited to environments that meet these minimums.

WordPress Version

Minimum WordPress Version: The most recent 2 major versions.

GiveWP is built to be as backward compatible as possible. Just like WordPress itself, GiveWP is coded with a relentless commitment to backward compatibility. With the advent of the block editor and other changes in WordPress Core, as well as the Visual Form Builder in GiveWP 3.0 which builds on the core block editor, you’ll want to be on the most recent two major versions of WordPress core.

A “major version” is denoted by the second decimal place. As an example, the change from 6.0.1 to 6.0.2 is NOT a major version change, where the change from 6.0.2 to 6.1.0 IS a major version change.

No matter which major version you are on, note that the last number is considered a “security release” so you always want to be on the largest number available.

jQuery Version

Minimum jQuery Version: the version that comes with WordPress

Some themes and plugins remove the WordPress default version of jQuery and load up (aka “enqueue”) their own version of jQuery. This is a very bad practice which can lead to security vulnerabilities or general dysfunction on your WordPress website. GiveWP requires that you are using only the version of jQuery that is loaded by WordPress and no other.

You may not know whether your site is enqueueing a custom version of jQuery or not. Just be aware that if you request Support for GiveWP, the first advice to you may be how to remove that custom version.

Server Environment

Recommended Minimum PHP Version: The version still receiving security patches.

PHP is the backbone of WordPress. WordPress itself has a recommendations page and it’s usually a safe bet to remain on a version recommended there. The GiveWP team keeps this article up to date as well.

If you find that your host does not support the recommended version of PHP, seriously consider moving to another host. To underscore this point, see the “Supported Versions” chart on the PHP website.

That means that all older versions of PHP no longer even get security updates. Running older versions of PHP is a security risk, and especially in the context of donors giving to your organization and having their giving history saved there, you are obligated to protect that data from being exposed to breaches.

Minimum MySQL version: 5.5
MySQL is a popular relational database management system that allows WordPress to connect to the database on your site. GiveWP requires version 5.5 of MySQL in order to function correctly.

Minimum cURL version: 7.40

In order to transmit sensitive donor information from your site to your payment gateway, your server must support TLS, “Transport Layer Security”. That technology is a combination of cURL, HTTPS, and other technologies. TLS is effectively a modern replacement for SSL.

This article describes the difference between SSL and TLS very well. To quote:

For that reason, GiveWP requires a minimum cURL version of 7.40. This is often an overlooked technology with older web hosts. You might find that it is severely outdated on your server. We’ve seen versions of cURL with some customers that are more than 7 years old. Again, if your host is unable or unwilling to update your environment to cURL 7.40 or higher, consider finding a new host.

Review the cURL Version History to see how old your version is.

Minimum TLS version: 1.2

Because SSL certificates are required for all online transactions, and because GiveWP is dependent on this technology, all GiveWP users are required to have a valid SSL certificate that passes TLS 1.2 tests. Without this, there is no guarantee that your donations will be safe or successful.

Minimum GiveWP Versions

Occasionally we’ll release a new Add-on version that requires a minimum GiveWP Core version. This is often because the Add-on depends on new code built into that new Core version. Generally speaking, if you update an Add-on without updating GiveWP Core, what will happen is that you’ll see an admin notification telling you that the updated Add-on couldn’t be activated because GiveWP Core is outdated. In cases like that, all you need to do is update GiveWP to the latest version and you’re all set.