That old PHP system still runs the business. Let's keep it that way.
Somewhere on a server is a PHP application written years ago — by a developer long gone, on a PHP version long unsupported — and the business quietly depends on it every day. We modernise systems like that in careful stages, without the big-bang rewrite that fails more often than it succeeds.
How we modernise legacy PHP
Assessment first
A fixed-price review of the codebase, database and hosting: what's risky, what's salvageable, what the staged path looks like. Yours to act on with anyone.
PHP version upgrades
PHP 5.x or 7.x to a supported 8.x — methodically, with tests added around critical paths first, so "it still works" is verified rather than hoped.
Security triage
SQL injection, unhashed passwords, abandoned dependencies — the classics get found and fixed early, because unsupported PHP plus old code is where breaches live.
Strangler-pattern rebuilds
New features built in Laravel alongside the old system, traffic moved route by route. The legacy app shrinks gradually until switching it off is an anticlimax — which is the goal.
Framework migrations
CodeIgniter, CakePHP, Zend, or no framework at all — migrated to Laravel, where hiring is easier, packages are maintained and the next decade is plannable.
Data rescue
Years of business data untangled from creative schemas, cleaned, and migrated with reconciliation reports proving nothing went missing.
Why we don't recommend big-bang rewrites
The full rewrite is seductive: clean slate, modern stack, no old sins. In practice it means months of paying for two systems — one rotting, one not yet real — while every undocumented business rule in the old code becomes a surprise in the new one. Staged modernization ships value from month one, keeps the business running throughout, and lets you stop at "good enough" if that's what the budget decides. Boring, and it works — our favourite combination.
Common questions
There's no documentation and the developer is gone. Can you cope?
That's the standard starting point, not the exception. The code and database are the documentation — we're practised at reading both, and we write down what we learn as we go.
Can you just keep it alive without modernising?
Yes — sometimes "patched, monitored and left alone" is the rational choice for a system nearing retirement. We offer exactly that under a support retainer, and we'll say so when it's the right call.
What does modernization cost?
The assessment is fixed-price (typically £1,500–£3,000, credited if we proceed). From there, work is quoted in stages you approve individually — no open-ended rewrite budgets.
How worried should you be?
Tell us what the system does and what it runs on. A developer will give you an honest risk picture — usually the same day.
Discuss your system