Home » Minimum Requirements

Minimum Requirements

In order to run, WPML requires the following:

  • WordPress 3.0 or later
  • PHP 5.2.4 and above with memory limit of at least 64Mb (see WP memory settings).
  • MySQL 5.0.5 and above.
  • That you can create tables in your database.

Our development platform is Ubuntu 10.10. WPML runs fine on any other Linux distribution, but this is where we’re getting the minimum requirements from.

It may run on earlier versions of PHP an MySQL, but we can’t test that. If you’re using earlier versions, we strongly recommend enabling WPML’s debug mode. This will surface any PHP errors and let you know if things don’t run as they should.

Feel free to comment here about using WPML with other versions.

How to check which version of PHP you’re actually using

Some shared hosting companies have installed both PHP4 and PHP5. The best way to check which version you’re actually using is to ask the PHP processor itself (not the technician in the hosting company).

Create a file called php_info.php and put it in your WordPress directory (just next to wp-config.php). This file should contain the following:

<?php phpinfo(); ?>

Not a big deal, right? If you need to, you’re welcome to download it as a ZIP file. Grab php_info.zip (of course, you’ll need to unzip it before uploading to your server).

Once there, open a browser and go to: http://yourdomain.com/php_info.php

You should see something like this:

php-info.php showing PHP5

php-info.php showing PHP5

On top, it says which version of PHP you’re running. If it says PHP Version 4, it’s not going to fly. The best thing to do is email your hosting company and ask them how to enable PHP5.

Permalink structure

WPML adds language information to URLs. It’s been tested with the following permalink structures:

  • The default
  • /%year%/%monthnum%/%postname%/

Explanation:

Other permalink structures may work too, but can cause problems on different configurations. In all our sites, we’re using /%year%/%monthnum%/%postname%/.

For pages, you’ll get the exact same URLs as with /%postname%/. However, with this permalink structure, there’s no way WordPress will confuse between pages and posts, triggering potential problems for language resolution.

94 Responses to “Minimum Requirements”

  1. Gianni says:

    My server runs PHP version 5.2.17. Anyone had any experience with running wpml on this?

  2. Alex says:

    Does it work with WP multisite?

  3. Wessel says:

    I am trying to find out if WPML is working with the Adventure Journal theme, do you know??

    Adventure Journal info:
    http://www.contextureintl.com/wordpress/adventure-journal-wordpress-theme/

  4. David says:

    Hi! I have upgrade my wordpress to 3.3.1, Will WPML work?

  5. todd says:

    To mario ,
    Will this affect the SEO any bit?

  6. Antonio says:

    hello i just found your plugin that seems very robust and woud speed up turning wordpress in to a multilingual cms.
    I need to ask you if it is as easy with the “twentyeleven” theme (native to the WP platform) as i saw in your presentation vid.
    I ask you this because the theme developed for my CMS site started on the “twentyeleven”.
    Thankx im advance

  7. Sander says:

    Question, will wpml plugin work together with photo rate templates?

  8. Sander says:

    We use a photocrati template will this plugin work?

  9. KPOGNON says:

    Hi,

    I just buy Multilangual CMS for use on WordPress version 3.1.4 and I have a problem to make it work.

    1 – When I use the last version (Version 2.4.2) I get the following message:
    ——————————————–
    WPML notice: Upgrades to this version are only supported from versions 1.7.0 and above. To upgrade from version 1.0.4, first, download 2.0.4, do the DB upgrade and then go to this version.
    ——————————————–

    2 – When I use the last version (Version 2.0.4) I get the following message:
    ——————————————–
    L’extension n’a pu être activée, car elle a déclenché une erreur fatale.

    Il y a une nouvelle version de WPML Multilingual CMS disponible. Afficher les détails de la version 2.0.4.1 ou lancer la mise à jour automatique.
    ——————————————–

    3 – When I update with the Version 2.0.4.1 I get the following message:
    ——————————————–
    L’extension n’a pu être activée, car elle a déclenché une erreur fatale.
    ——————————————–

    Finally I do not know how to do. Is there any thing I’m doing wrong?
    Can you assist me with a solution?

    Thank you in advance.

    Paul

  10. Roy Hanney says:

    I am looking at WPML as a solution for a multi lingual website (the demo video suggests it has Chinese installed wich is a plus) however I will also be buying a template to build the site around. Are the templates or template builders you can reccomend which you know are compatible with WPML?

    I was looking at http://www.templatemonster.com/wordpress-themes.php but maybe there is a better place where I can purchase a template I know will work with WPML.

    Meanwhile I will check with Hostgator that they can run WPML as a plugin:0)

    Roy

    • Amir says:

      WPML will work fine with Chinese and is even fully translated to Chinese itself (both simplified and traditional). I would recommend looking at themes from WooThemes. They have very solid code and are also happy to cooperate with us when clients require support.

  11. Julie says:

    As paying customer are we going to be provided with updates if wordpress update for exemple ?

    • Amir says:

      Yes. When you purchase WPML, you get upgrades and support for a year. You can later renew these for 50% of the original purchase price.

  12. Miguel says:

    It says is working with this theme:

    http://themeforest.net/item/halfscreen-premium-corporate-portfolio-wp-theme/1628459

    but it´s not working for me. Gives me this error:

    Fatal error: Out of memory (allocated 29884416) (tried to allocate 19456 bytes) in /homepages/42/d317613681/htdocs/mysite/wp-content/plugins/sitepress-multilingual-cms/inc/translation-management/translation-management.class.php on line 84

    What I´m doing wrong?

  13. Hi, I am working on http://javanskincare.com and it is a WordPress site with the Phomedia theme from Theme Forest and the WP eCommerce plugin. Would this work with all that? Does this have a widget to choose a language?

    • Amir says:

      WPML has a few known compatibility problems with WP E-Commerce. We’re working on it with the WPEC team, but it’s not all smooth yet. WPML is working great with WooCommerce. Have you tried that?

  14. Irisha says:

    Hi,

    I would really like to purchase this plugin, however I am having some hesitations regarding the permalink structure. On the website I am using Themeforest theme with /%category%/%postname% (needed for ecommerce functionality).

    Would this permalink structure still allow WPML to function properly? I assume there should not be much problems if I would use different domain linked to each language version, but are there any underwater stones I should be concerned about?

    Would highly appreciate some feedback before purchasing the plugin. Thanks!

  15. B says:

    Hi,

    I was wondering if this plug in works with wordpress.com blog?
    Thanks

    • Amir says:

      No, sorry. You cannot install your own plugins in wordpress.com, so you can’t use WPML. To run a multilingual site/blog, you’ll need to use the self-hosted version of WordPress.

  16. Ken says:

    I use a photocrati theme and would like to know whether WPML will work with this.

    • Amir says:

      I’m sorry, but we haven’t tested WPML with that theme. We’re happy to work with any theme developer who wants to test the theme with WPML. If you like, you can refer the Photocrati theme author here:
      http://wpml.org/documentation/theme-compatibility/go-global-program/

      If you buy WPML and have any sort of issues, our support staff will do their best to help you. Anyway, if you have any issues or are just not happy with WPML, you can always get your money back.

  17. SIDIBE says:

    Hi,
    I bought a complete version and try to install it and when I want to activate. I get this message: the-plugin-does-not-have-a-valid-header.
    I use a thematic theme and wordpress 3.1

    • Amir says:

      WPML doesn’t have any compatibility issues with Thematic – at least not on such basic level. Make sure that you’re uploading complete files. If you’re still getting this problem, please use our support forum for help.

    • SIDIBE says:

      Thank you Amir.
      You are right. I didn’t upload complete files. It’s ok now.

  18. Mattia says:

    HI, i’d like to use WPML this SOLID theme (http://themeforest.net/item/solid-wp-corporate-business-wordpress-theme/308585), is it possible? Any compatibility issue?

  19. Hans says:

    Hello!

    I would like to know if the WPML is compatible with the following theme: http://www.templatemonster.com/wordpress-themes/38178.html

    In general: How can i figure out if a theme is compatible with WPML or NOT ?

    Thank you!

  20. Mike says:

    Thanks for your info, was looking WPML requirements and finally i got it

  21. To Dr. John Pollard,

    It means that when using either the default permalink structure OR this one:

    /%year%/%monthnum%/%postname%/

    The pages will have the same URL as if you had set the permalink to just:

    /%postname%/

    But the posts will use the permalink suggested here i.e.:

    /%year%/%monthnum%/%postname%/

    So that WP don’t confuse posts and pages and thus, you don’t have any bugs in your WP site with WPML.

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