How To Protect Your PHP code against piracy Using ionCube, Zend Guard or SourceGuardian

Mark Caggiano
2 min readMay 1, 2023

As a developer, protecting your PHP code against piracy is critical. One way to achieve this is by encrypting your PHP code. Encrypting your PHP code will make it harder for others to read and modify it. In this article, we will discuss step by step how to encrypt PHP code, including code examples and more details.

Step 1: Download a PHP Encoder The first step to encrypt PHP code is to download a PHP encoder. There are several PHP encoders available in the market, such as Zend Guard, ionCube Encoder, and SourceGuardian. Choose one that suits your needs and budget.

Step 2: Install the Encoder Once you have downloaded the encoder, install it on your server. Follow the installation instructions provided with the encoder. You may need to configure the encoder with your PHP installation.

Step 3: Encode the PHP File After installing the encoder, you can use it to encode your PHP file. The process of encoding may vary depending on the encoder you are using. However, the basic steps are:

  • Open the encoder and select the PHP file you want to encode.
  • Set the encoding options, such as the encryption key and the encoding level.
  • Click the encode button to start the encoding process.

Here is an example of encoding a PHP file using the ionCube Encoder:

<?php
// Load the ionCube Encoder
require_once…

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