1.7. Server Requirements

Zend Framework 3 requires that your server have PHP version 5.6 (or later) installed. Note that this is a rather strict requirement. Not all cheap shared hostings and not all private servers have such a modern PHP version.

Moreover, the recommended way of installing ZF3 (and other components your app depends on) is using Composer. This forces the need of shell access (SSH) to be able to execute Composer command-line tool. Some web hostings provide FTP access only, so you won't be able to install a ZF3-based web app on such servers the usual way.

ZF3 utilizes URL rewriting extension for redirecting web-users to entry script of your site (you have to enable Apache's mod_rewrite module.) You may also need to install some PHP extensions, like memcached. This can be a difficulty when using a shared web hosting and requires that you have admin rights on your server.

So, if you are planning to use ZF3 on a shared web hosting, think twice. The best server to install ZF3 on is a server with the latest version of PHP and with shell access to be able to execute Composer and install PHP extensions.

If your company manages its own server infrastructure and can afford upgrading PHP version to the latest one, you can install ZF3 on your private server.

An acceptable alternative is installing a ZF3-based web application to a cloud-based hosting service, like Amazon Web Services. Amazon provides Linux server instances as a part of EC2 service. EC2 is rather cheap, and it provides a free usage tier letting you try it for free for one year. We provide instructions for beginners on how to install a ZF3 website to Amazon EC2 cloud in Appendix E. Installing a ZF3 Web Application to Amazon EC2.