OpenLiteSpeed 1.8 Released — New Features for 2025

OpenLiteSpeed 1.8 is a significant release for 2025, bringing mature HTTP/3 implementation, full PHP 8.4 LSAPI support and an overhauled WebAdmin dashboard.

Key Features in OLS 1.8

• Mature HTTP/3 — QUIC implementation now production-proven
• PHP 8.4 LSAPI — full property hooks and lazy objects support
• New WebAdmin — redesigned dashboard with better metrics
• Improved ESI — Edge Side Includes for partial caching
• Better WordPress detection — automatic cache rule optimisation
• Brotli compression — better than gzip, now stable

Upgrade from OLS 1.7

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade openlitespeed -y
sudo systemctl restart lsws

# Verify version
/usr/local/lsws/bin/openlitespeed -v

New PHP 8.4 Integration

sudo apt install lsphp84 lsphp84-mysql lsphp84-curl   lsphp84-mbstring lsphp84-xml lsphp84-zip -y

# Update WebAdmin to use PHP 8.4
WebAdmin → Server Configuration → External App
→ Path: /usr/local/lsws/lsphp84/bin/lsphp

New Cache Controls

# New in 1.8 — per-URL cache TTL
WebAdmin → Virtual Hosts → Cache:
Cache Rules:
  /api/*     → No Cache
  /wp-admin/* → No Cache
  /*.js      → Cache 30 days
  /          → Cache 4 hours

Brotli Compression

WebAdmin → Server Configuration → Tuning:
✅ Enable Brotli: ON
Brotli Level: 6 (good balance of speed/compression)
# Brotli typically 15-25% better than gzip

Conclusion

OLS 1.8 cements OpenLiteSpeed as the top free web server for PHP workloads in 2025. Our team provides OpenLiteSpeed deployment and management services.