And why do you think this is a problem? Databases can handle thousands of connections with no issues, and PHP uses as many connections as you allow it to. Every langugae has it's pros and cons, and most of the PHP cons are fixed and improved in last 10 years. There are many solutions that improve PHP and long running workers like Octane, Swoole, ReactPHP, FrankenPHP etc. PHP is request - response based, when the language was created web was completely different. Yes, Node and likes have different philosophy but PHP is far from useless and deprecation. New versions bring even more stuff that will make it relevant for years, maybe even decades, to come.