Installing PHP 8.0 on Debian 11/10/9

Tutorials & Guides · Christopher Sakel · August 22, 2021 · Updated on September 1, 2026 · 1 min Reading time

In this blog article, I want to show you how to install PHP 8 on Debian 9/10/11.

First, we log in to the server via SSH, e.g. with Putty.

Now we run the following command:

Update the server:
root@testserver ~ # apt update
Install the required packages:
root@testserver ~ # apt install sudo lsb-release ca-certificates apt-transport-https software-properties-common -y
Download and add the public key for the repository:
root@testserver ~ # wget -qO - https://packages.sury.org/php/apt.gpg | sudo apt-key add -
Add the repository:
root@testserver ~ # echo "deb https://packages.sury.org/php/ $(lsb_release -sc) main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/sury-php.list
Update the server:
root@testserver ~ # apt update
Install PHP 7.4:
root@testserver ~ # apt install php8.0 -y

Now we can check the PHP version with the following command:

root@testserver:~# php -v
PHP 7.8.0 (cli) (built: Jun 30 2021 20:40:09) ( NTS )
Copyright (c) The PHP Group

Frequently asked questions

How do I update the server before installing PHP?

Run apt update to refresh the package lists.

Where does the PHP 8 package come from?

From the Sury repository, added via its public key and an entry in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/sury-php.list.

How do I check which PHP version is installed?

Run php -v on the server.