5 ways to check which Laravel version you are running
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Did you ever asked yourself “What laravel version do I have?”
Well, to check which Laravel version you are running, the quickest way is to use the php artisan --version
command.
One important aspect of using Laravel is knowing how to check which version you are working with, as different versions can have different features and requirements.
Let’s review the multiple other ways to find out which version of Laravel you are using.
Table of contents

The about command shows you the version of Laravel
The about command not only displays the Laravel version but also other helpful information about your project, such as the PHP version, Composer version, and cache drivers.
However, it is important to note that the about command is only available in Laravel 8 or later.
php artisan about Environment ................................................................Application Name ........................................... Benjamin CrozatLaravel Version ..................................................... 9.43.0PHP Version ......................................................... 8.1.10Composer Version ..................................................... 2.4.1Environment .......................................................... localDebug Mode ......................................................... ENABLEDURL .................................................... benjamincrozat.testMaintenance Mode ....................................................... OFF Cache ......................................................................Config .......................................................... NOT CACHEDEvents .......................................................... NOT CACHEDRoutes .......................................................... NOT CACHEDViews ............................................................... CACHED Drivers ....................................................................Broadcasting ........................................................... logCache ................................................................ redisDatabase ............................................................. mysqlLogs ........................................................ stack / singleMail .................................................................. smtpQueue ................................................................. syncSession .............................................................. redis
The –version flag is the original way
If you are using an older version of Laravel, you can still use the --version
flag to display the Laravel version.
This is the original method of checking it before the about command was introduced. The –version flag can be used with any php artisan command to display the Laravel version.
php artisan --version Laravel Framework 9.43.0
The app() helper has a version() method
The app()
helper will give you access to many information, such as the Laravel version you are running. Try this simple code below:
// 9.43.0app()->version();
Check inside the composer.json and composer.lock files for laravel/framework version
In your composer.json, you will be able to get the minimum version of Laravel your project is locked on:
"require": { "php": "^8.0.2", "guzzlehttp/guzzle": "^7.2", "laravel/framework": "^9.19", "laravel/sanctum": "^3.0", "laravel/tinker": "^2.7"},
As you can see, this project is locked on Laravel 9.19.0 or earlier.
But this might not be enough. Search for “laravel/framework” inside your composer.lock file to get the exact Laravel version that’s installed on your project :
{ "name": "laravel/framework", "version": "v9.43.0", "source": { "type": "git", "url": "https://github.com/laravel/framework.git", "reference": "2ca2b168a3e995a8ec6ea2805906379095d20080" }}
The version is also burried inside Laravel’s source code
Open your favorite code editor and search for vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Foundation/Application.php. The exact version of Laravel you are using is written in the VERSION
constant.
… class Application extends Container implements ApplicationContract, CachesConfiguration, CachesRoutes, HttpKernelInterface{ … const VERSION = '9.43.0'; …}