🔗 What’s new in PHP 8.5? (release date + must-know features)

At the time of this recording, PHP 8.5 is scheduled to be released on November 20, 2025, after it has gone through the alpha, beta, and release candidate phases. It’s always possible the date may change, as we would rather have them release working software than something with a bug in it. This happened with the 8.2 release when a critical bug was found just before the release.

What’s included in this release will make it easier for us to develop and maintain our code. Because this is a point release, it’s not expected to be a painful upgrade, but plan accordingly, as this isn’t a given.

I have two disclaimers before we go any further. This video was made using beta release 3 on the official Docker image (php:8.5.0beta3-cli if you want to try at home), but functionality may change between now and the actual release. I also can not stress enough do not install this in production yet. Sometime after the release candidates, I’ll start including it in my automated tests so we can see if anything breaks, but I’ll wait until the first patch (which will be 8.5.1 in this case) before we start installing it in ANY production environments.

If you’re interested in trying it now, there are Docker images available and instructions for compiling it directly from the source.

Let’s talk about some of the things that have been added. I should point out that this is my personal selection of features that I personally think are going to make my life better, and others may feel differently.