Yii development
Supporting, upgrading and migrating Yii applications since 2010.
I've worked with the Yii PHP framework since 2010, through Yii 1.1 and Yii 2, and I still support and maintain Yii 2 applications running on AWS today. Many of those applications have been running for a decade or more, and in most cases they're doing an important job for the business that owns them, which is exactly why the next few years of Yii's release cycle matter.
What I do with Yii
- support and maintenance for existing Yii 1 and Yii 2 applications, including bug fixes and new features
- upgrades from Yii 1 to Yii 2, and from Yii 2 to Yii3 or another framework
- PHP version upgrades, to keep an older Yii application on a supported version of PHP
- codebase reviews and security audits
- moving Yii applications onto AWS
When does Yii reach end of life?
The Yii team publishes its support dates on its release cycle page. As of September 2026 they are:
| Version | Support | End of life |
|---|---|---|
| Yii 1.1 | Security and PHP compatibility fixes only | 31 December 2026 |
| Yii 2.0.49 and earlier | Security fixes only since October 2023 | 23 November 2026 |
| Yii 2.0.50 and later | Bug and security fixes until 23 November 2026, then security fixes only | 23 November 2027 |
| Yii3 | Released 31 December 2025 | 31 December 2035 |
An application doesn't stop working at end of life, but it stops getting security fixes, and I've found that's usually when the conversation about what comes next starts in earnest. For anything on Yii 1.1 or an older Yii 2 release, that point is only a few months away.
Writing about Yii
Common questions
When does Yii 2 reach end of life?
It depends on the release. Yii 2.0.50 and later receive bug and security fixes until 23 November 2026, then security fixes only until their end of life on 23 November 2027. Yii 2.0.49 and earlier have received security fixes only since October 2023, and reach end of life on 23 November 2026. The version your application runs is listed under yiisoft/yii2 in its composer.lock file.
Is Yii 1 still supported?
Only just. Yii 1.1 receives security and PHP compatibility fixes until its end of life on 31 December 2026, after several extensions from the original date at the end of 2020. After that there are no fixes of any kind.
Should I upgrade from Yii 2 to Yii3 or move to another framework?
It depends on the application. Yii3 is not backwards compatible with Yii 2, and the Yii team's own upgrade guide suggests treating it as building a new application informed by the old one. That puts a move to Yii3 on a similar footing to a move to another framework such as Laravel, and the deciding factors are usually how much of the codebase is worth keeping, who will maintain it and how long the business needs it to run.
Can a Yii application be moved to AWS?
Yes. I've moved a number of Yii applications from single Linux servers onto AWS, and the move is usually a good point to review how the application is deployed, backed up and monitored, whether or not the framework version changes at the same time.
Get in touch
If you have a Yii application that needs support, an upgrade or a plan for what comes next, I would be glad to talk it through.