System Requirements
Recommended Requirements
For the best experience, ExpressionEngine requires:
Server Compatibility Wizard
If you’re not sure whether your server meets the minimum requirements, the server wizard will run some tests and give you an answer.
- Download and unzip the archive.
- Upload the folder to your server.
- Point your web browser to the folder. For example:
https://example.com/ee_wizard
The Bare Minimums
If you are stuck in an older environment, ExpressionEngine can run on PHP 5.6.0+ with 32M of memory, and MySQL 5.5.3+. PHP-FPM is also optional, but tends to handily outperform mod_php. That said,running older versions not only hurts performance—increasing the cost of your website—but also puts your site at risk of security vulnerabilities. The PHP Group stopped providing support for PHP 5.6 on December 31, 2018. Oracle also ceased providing support for MySQL 5.5 at the same time.
Why not save yourself the worry and hassle, enjoy a faster and more secure site that costs less to maintain, and upgrade now? Here’s an email you can send to your host if they need a little nudge:
Hey there!
I'm running the PHP/MySQL based content management system ExpressionEngine, and would like to make sure it's speedy, secure, and making the most efficient use of the resources available on my server.
Could I speak with someone about moving to an environment that has PHP 7+ and MySQL 5.6+? If they are available, I'd love to use PHP-FPM to implement PHP, and Percona as a drop-in replacement for MySQL, too.
Thanks!Control Panel Browser Requirements
ExpressionEngine’s Control Panel targets compatibility with the final-release versions of the web browsers listed here, so it’s important to keep your browser up to date. These requirements do not apply to your website, which you are 100% in control of, just ExpressionEngine’s control panel.
- Chrome
- Safari
- Firefox
- Opera
- Microsoft Edge
Note: In all cases, JavaScript must be enabled to use the Control Panel.
Details and Notes
You can safely ignore the rest of this page unless you are experiencing problems, or are a sysadmin setting up a custom environment. All of the following are readily available in most managed environments.
PHP Extensions Required
Though the following are available in PHP by default, some hosts may have them disabled until you ask for them.
Note: If you’re on MediaTemple you will need to create a phprc file that contains the following: extension = fileinfo.so
PHP Extensions Recommended
These are recommended, but not required.
- The Internationalization extension, for full functionality of variable modifiers
- Multibyte String handling
MySQL Privileges
The MySQL user connecting to the database must have the following privileges:
SELECTINSERTUPDATEDELETECREATEINDEXALTERDROP
Apache Server
If you are hosted on an Apache server, the AcceptPathInfo option needs to be enabled for URLs to work properly. Most servers are configured this way by default, but if yours is not, you have a few options:
- Include
AcceptPathInfo Onin your.htaccessfile to enable it - Ask your web host or server admin to enable the option
- Set your site’s URLs to use query strings
URL Segment Support
If the Server Compatibility Wizard lists URL Segment Support as Unsupported, you will need to set your site’s URLs to use query strings.
Local Development
ExpressionEngine can be ran locally on a number of local development environments. Below are just a few to help you get started.
Note: When setting up your local environment, you must make sure it still meets the requirements listed above.
Valet - (macOS only) Valet is the ExpressionEngine’s team recommended local development environment. Super fast and easy to use.
DDEV Local - (macOS, Windows, Linux) DDEV Local makes working with Docker containers a breeze. Quickly setup and share environments that mirror your production.
Devilbox - (macOS, Windows, Linux) Devilbox is another great stack which allows user to quickly get up and running with Docker environments. To install ExpressionEngine on Devilbox simply follow the Setup ExpressionEngine Docs.
MAMP - (macOS, Windows) MAMP can be very convenient for local development, but it has some quirks. If you are using MAMP, you will need to use PHP 7+ due to outdated cURL and OpenSSL libraries that MAMP ships with its older versions of PHP.