diff --git a/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2009.xml b/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2009.xml
index 892208b01d7d..e236b230332f 100644
--- a/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2009.xml
+++ b/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2009.xml
@@ -23,6 +23,11 @@
      Support is planned until the end of April 2021, handing over to 21.03.
     </para>
    </listitem>
+   <listitem>
+    <para>
+     PHP now defaults to PHP 7.4, updated from 7.3.
+    </para>
+   </listitem>
   </itemizedlist>
  </section>
 
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index 07e5c1df68cb..144fb202596e 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -9293,8 +9293,8 @@ in
 
   pachyderm = callPackage ../applications/networking/cluster/pachyderm { };
 
-  php = php73;
-  phpPackages = php73Packages;
+  php = php74;
+  phpPackages = php74Packages;
 
   php72Packages = recurseIntoAttrs (callPackage ./php-packages.nix {
     php = php72;
@@ -9308,7 +9308,7 @@ in
     php = php74;
   });
 
-  phpPackages-unit = php72Packages-unit;
+  phpPackages-unit = php74Packages-unit;
 
   php72Packages-unit = recurseIntoAttrs (callPackage ./php-packages.nix {
     php = php72-unit;
@@ -9329,7 +9329,7 @@ in
     php73
     php72;
 
-  php-embed = php73-embed;
+  php-embed = php74-embed;
 
   php72-embed = php72.override {
     config.php.embed = true;
@@ -9346,7 +9346,7 @@ in
     config.php.apxs2 = false;
   };
 
-  php-unit = php73-unit;
+  php-unit = php74-unit;
 
   php72-unit = php72.override {
     config.php.embed = true;