If you're still using PrestaShop version 1.6, it's time to consider an upgrade. While this was very popular in the past, version 1.6 is already quite obsolete and has many security, performance, feature, compatibility, and usability issues. In this article, we will discuss the reasons why you should immediately upgrade to the latest version of PrestaShop

Security

One of the main reasons why you should update to the latest version of PrestaShop is security. PrestaShop version 1.6 has not received security updates for years, which means your online store could be vulnerable to hackers and cyber attacks. The latest version of PrestaShop, on the other hand, has up-to-date security features and is regularly updated to protect your online store against ever-evolving threats.

We have increasingly received reports of stores that use version 1.6 and have been hacked, leading to password thefts, unavailability of several days and even data loss.

Performance

Another reason to upgrade to the latest version of PrestaShop is performance. Version 1.6 of PrestaShop is known to be slow and may negatively affect the user experience. The latest version of PrestaShop, on the other hand, has significant performance improvements, which means your online store will be faster and more responsive. Especially, PrestaShop version 1.7 is compatible with newer PHP versions, which bring big gains in performance and security.

Resources

Version 1.6 of PrestaShop is getting limited in features compared to the latest version. This means you could be missing out on a lot of useful tools that can help you improve your customer experience and manage your online store more effectively. Few developers and agencies are still working with version 1.6, which makes this problem more and more serious.

Compatibility

Version 1.6 of PrestaShop may not be compatible with many of the latest plugins and extensions available for the platform. This means that you will not be able to take advantage of the many useful tools available for PrestaShop version 1.7. The latest version of PrestaShop is highly compatible with many of the most popular eCommerce tools out there, which means you can take advantage of the many useful tools available for the platform.

Usability

Version 1.6 of PrestaShop can be difficult to use compared to version 1.7. The new versions have a more intuitive and easy-to-navigate control panel, making managing the online store easier and more efficient. Furthermore, the latest version of PrestaShop has many usability improvements compared to version 1.6, including a simplified checkout process and a smoother shopping experience for the customer.

SEO

This is an extremely important topic, as it directly impacts the positioning of your store on Google and other search engines.

Version 1.6 of PrestaShop has significant limitations in terms of search engine optimization (SEO). This means that your online store may not rank as well in Google's search results as it could. Version 1.7 of PrestaShop, on the other hand, has updated SEO features and optimization improvements that can help improve your online store's performance in Google's search results.

Conclusion

If you're still using PrestaShop version 1.6, it's time to consider an immediate upgrade. The latest version of PrestaShop offers many significant improvements in terms of security, performance, features, compatibility and usability. Also, the latest version of PrestaShop receives regular security updates and active support from the company, which means you can get help whenever you need it. Finally, the latest version of PrestaShop has many SEO improvements and updated third-party features, which can help improve the performance and functionality of your online store. So, don't hesitate to update to the latest version of PrestaShop and enjoy the eCommerce platform to the fullest.s (or hundreds) of hour in this, and you will still have a shop that will need to be updated in the near future .

A lot of PrestaShop dependencies might require to be updated to be compatible with newer PHP versions as well. Also, you may have modules that also did not work with newer PHP versions, so it is a lot of work to do.