Skip to content

Register now for our Web Enablement Ecosystem webinar!

  • Contact us: +34 944 58 06 58
  • Plesk Partner Program
  • Plesk Lifecycle Policy
  • Blog
  • Contact us
  • Plesk 360
  • Contact us: +34 944 58 06 58
  • Plesk Partner Program
  • Plesk Lifecycle Policy
  • Blog
  • Contact us
  • Plesk 360
  • Solutions
    By Role
    • Developers
    • Content Managers
    • Digital Agencies
    • IT Admins
    • Web Hosters
    • Hyperscalers
    • Developers
    • Content Managers
    • Digital Agencies
    • IT Admins
    • Web Hosters
    • Hyperscalers
    By Edition
    • Web Admin Edition
    • Web Pro Edition
    • Web Host Edition
    • Business & Collaboration
    • Plesk WP Edition
    • Web Admin Edition
    • Web Pro Edition
    • Web Host Edition
    • Business & Collaboration
    • Plesk WP Edition
    By Cloud
    • Amazon Web Services
    • Microsoft Azure
    • Alibaba Cloud
    • GCP Marketplace
    • Vultr
    • DigitalOcean
    • Linode
    • UpCloud
    • Amazon Web Services
    • Microsoft Azure
    • Alibaba Cloud
    • GCP Marketplace
    • Vultr
    • DigitalOcean
    • Linode
    • UpCloud
    Partner Program
    Exclusive discounts, benefits and exposure to take your business to the next level
    Become a partner
    • By Role
      • Developers
      • Content Managers
      • Digital Agencies
      • IT Admins
      • Web Hosters
      • Hyperscalers
    • By Edition
      • Web Admin Edition
      • Web Pro Edition
      • Web Host Edition
      • Business & Collaboration
      • WP Edition
    • By Cloud
      • Amazon Web Services
      • Microsoft Azure
      • Alibaba Cloud
      • GCP Marketplace
      • Vultr
      • DigitalOcean
      • Linode
      • UpCloud
    • Partner Program
      • Partner Program
  • Product
    Explore Features
    • Everyone
    • Admins & Web Hosters
    • Developers
    • Designers & Agencies
    • Plesk Features
    • Everyone
    • Admins & Web Hosters
    • Developers
    • Designers & Agencies
    • Plesk Features
    Key Topics
    • SocialBee
    • WP Toolkit
    • Sitejet Builder
    • SEO Toolkit
    • Joomla! Toolkit
    • Plesk Premium Email
    • Plesk Email Security
    • SocialBee
    • WP Toolkit
    • Sitejet Builder
    • SEO Toolkit
    • Joomla! Toolkit
    • Plesk Premium Email
    • Plesk Email Security
    Feature Packs
    • Business & Collaboration
    • WP Pack
    • Hosting Pack
    • Power Pack
    • Language Pack
    • Business & Collaboration
    • WP Pack
    • Hosting Pack
    • Power Pack
    • Language Pack
    Featured Extension
    SocialBee
    • Explore Features
      • Everyone
      • Admins & Web Hosters
      • Developers
      • Designers & Agencies
      • Plesk Features
    • Key Topics
      • SocialBee
      • WP Toolkit
      • Sitejet Builder for Plesk
      • SEO Toolkit
      • Plesk Premium Email
      • Plesk Email Security
    • Feature Packs
      • Business & Collaboration
      • WP Pack
      • Hosting Pack
      • Power Pack
      • Language Pack
    • Featured Extension
      • Extension
  • Pricing
  • Extensions
  • Help Center
  • More
    • Careers
    • Events
    • Plesk University
  • FREE TRIAL
  • Solutions
    • By Role
      • Developers
      • Content Managers
      • Digital Agencies
      • IT Admins
      • Web Hosters
      • Hyperscalers
    • By Edition
      • Web Admin Edition
      • Web Pro Edition
      • Web Host Edition
      • Business & Collaboration
      • WP Edition
    • By Cloud
      • Amazon Web Services
      • Microsoft Azure
      • Alibaba Cloud
      • GCP Marketplace
      • Vultr
      • DigitalOcean
      • Linode
      • UpCloud
    • Partner Program
      • Partner Program
  • Product
    • Explore Features
      • Everyone
      • Admins & Web Hosters
      • Developers
      • Designers & Agencies
      • Plesk Features
    • Key Topics
      • SocialBee
      • WP Toolkit
      • Sitejet Builder
      • SEO Toolkit
      • Joomla! Toolkit
      • Plesk Premium Email
      • Plesk Email Security
    • Feature Packs
      • Business & Collaboration
      • WP Pack
      • Hosting Pack
      • Power Pack
      • Language Pack
    • Featured Extension
      • SocialBee
  • Pricing
  • Extensions
  • Help center
  • More
    • Careers
    • Events
    • Plesk University
    • Blog
    • Plesk Partner Program
    • Contact Us
  • FREE TRIAL
  • Solutions
    • By Role
      • Developers
      • Content Managers
      • Digital Agencies
      • IT Admins
      • Web Hosters
      • Hyperscalers
    • By Edition
      • Web Admin Edition
      • Web Pro Edition
      • Web Host Edition
      • Business & Collaboration
      • WP Edition
    • By Cloud
      • Amazon Web Services
      • Microsoft Azure
      • Alibaba Cloud
      • GCP Marketplace
      • Vultr
      • DigitalOcean
      • Linode
      • UpCloud
    • Partner Program
      • Partner Program
  • Product
    • Explore Features
      • Everyone
      • Admins & Web Hosters
      • Developers
      • Designers & Agencies
      • Plesk Features
    • Key Topics
      • SocialBee
      • WP Toolkit
      • Sitejet Builder
      • SEO Toolkit
      • Joomla! Toolkit
      • Plesk Premium Email
      • Plesk Email Security
    • Feature Packs
      • Business & Collaboration
      • WP Pack
      • Hosting Pack
      • Power Pack
      • Language Pack
    • Featured Extension
      • SocialBee
  • Pricing
  • Extensions
  • Help center
  • More
    • Careers
    • Events
    • Plesk University
    • Blog
    • Plesk Partner Program
    • Contact Us
  • FREE TRIAL

Knowledge Base

PHP Handler Types

 
customer guidehosting settingsweb scripting settingswebsites and domainsapache

Plesk provides full support for the PHP scripting language, including
support for multiple PHP versions and handler types out of the box. This
topic lists the PHP handler types that can be used in Plesk.

Handler type Performance Memory usage Handler details
Apache module High Low This handler is only available in Plesk for Linux. It is the
least secure option as all PHP scripts are executed on behalf
of the apache user. This means that all files created by PHP
scripts of any plan subscriber have the same owner (apache) and
the same permission set. Thus, it is possible for a user to
affect the files of another user or some important system
files. You can avoid some security issues by turning the PHP
safe_mode option on. This disables a number of PHP functions
that have potential security risks. This may lead to
inoperability of some web apps. The safe_mode option is
considered to be obsolete and was removed in PHP 5.4.
ISAPI extension High Low This handler is only available in Plesk for Windows. The ISAPI
extension can provide site isolation if a dedicated IIS
application pool is switched on for subscriptions. Site
isolation means that the sites of different customers run their
scripts independently. Thus, an error in one PHP script does
not affect the work of other scripts. In addition, PHP scripts
run on behalf of a system user associated with a hosting
account. The ISAPI extension handler is not supported starting
from PHP 5.3
CGI application Low Low The CGI handler provides PHP script execution on behalf of a
system user associated with a hosting account. On Linux, this
behavior is possible only when the suEXEC module of the Apache
web server is on (default option). In other cases, all PHP
scripts are executed on behalf of the apache user. By default,
the CGI handler is unavailable to Plesk customers.
FastCGI application High High The FastCGI handler runs PHP scripts on behalf of a system user
associated with a hosting account.
PHP-FPM application High Low This handler is only available in Plesk for Linux. The PHP-FPM
is an advanced version of FastCGI which offers significant
benefits for highly loaded web applications.
Tweet
Share
Share
Email
0 Shares
Read the full article
Related Posts

Your Complete .htaccess Guide: Including .htaccess Basics and More

Read More »

NGINX vs Apache – Which Is the Best Web Server in 2024?

Read More »

Top Web Servers For Linux And Windows

Read More »
Knowledge Base

IIS Web Server Settings – Directory Security Settings

Read More »

IIS Web Server Settings – Common Settings

Read More »

Optimizing Apache Web Server – Setting Up the Apache Restart Interval

Read More »

Apache and Nginx Settings – Known limitations

Read More »

Hosting Wiki

  • Content Security Policy ( CSP )
  • Server Redundancy
  • Linux Containers
  • Bare Metal Server
  • PhpMyAdmin
  • phpPgAdmin
  • Oracle VM Server
  • Server Virtualization Software
  • Windows Server
  • Linux
  • PHP
  • Domain
  • Hosting Control Panel
  • Apache Tomcat
  • Apache
  • Web Server
  • DNS Server
  • Colocation Hosting
  • Reseller Hosting
  • Cloud Hosting
  • VPS Hosting
  • Dedicated Hosting
  • Shared Hosting
  • Free Hosting
  • Managed Hosting

Industry
Partners

industry-partner_ALIBABA
industry-partner_GOOGLEPARTNER
industry-partner_MICROSOFT
industry-partner_REDHAT-r2
industry-partner_ALIBABA
industry-partner_AUTOMATTIC
industry-partner_AWS
industry-partner_DIGITALOCEAN
industry-partner_SCALEWAY
Follow us:
Facebook Twitter Linkedin Youtube Github

COMPANY

About Plesk
Our Brand
Legal
Careers
Impressum

PRODUCT

Pricing 
Extensions
What’s new

KNOWLEDGE BASE

Documentation
Help Center
Migrate to Plesk
Contact Us
Hosting Wiki
Preview releases

PROGRAMS

Contributor Program NEW
Partner Program
Affiliate ProgramNEW

COMMUNITY

Blog
Forums 
Plesk University

First defaul

Company

About Plesk
Our Brand
Legal
Careers
Impressum

PRODUCT

Pricing 
Extensions
What’s new

KNOWLEDGE BASE​

Documentation
Help Center
Migrate to Plesk
Contact Us
Hosting Wiki
Preview releases

PROGRAMS​

Contributor Program NEW
Partner Program
Affiliate ProgramNEW

COMMUNITY​

Blog
Forums
Plesk University

Follow us:
Facebook Twitter Linkedin Youtube Github

© 2025 WebPros International GmbH. All rights reserved. Plesk and the Plesk logo are trademarks of WebPros International GmbH.

Managed with love with Plesk WP Toolkit