PHP, aka Hypertext Preprocessor, is a popular open-source server-side scripting language used for web design and development.
The complexity of websites has increased massively over time; as a user, you’ll surely love it as they now deliver far more value than they used to before; if you are a developer, you might not be as much excited since now you’ll have to write hundreds and thousands of lines of code to create these websites, which is very tiring and time-consuming.
This is where PHP frameworks come in. The go-to creation tools reduce development time, secure a website, and allow multiple teams to work independently (Design and Development). There are many PHP Frameworks out there, so in this article, I have compiled for you a list of the best PHP frameworks to help you choose the best one as per your need.
Laravel
Introduced in ’11, Laravel is the most favored and widely used PHP framework, and for good reasons, as it helps developers in building the most robust web applications by reducing the complexity of commons tasks, like routing, sessions, caching, and authentication if you are planning to develop a website from scratch then you should definitely consider this platform as it saves a lot of time.
If you have previous experience with Core PHP and Advanced PHP, this open-source PHP framework will make your task easier. Moreover, Laravel allows for the development of highly secure web applications.
It also has support for MVC architecture like Symphony that ensures clarity in logic and presentation.
CakePHP
CakePHP is an open-source and rabid development framework designed to make it easy and quick to build new PHP apps. The design of this framework follows 2 principles:
- “batteries included”
- “convention over configuration”
These principles make it relatively easy to build a new app, even if you’re new PHP (obviously, the more you know about PHP, the more you will get out of this PHP framework).
CakePHP is a good choice for building commercial apps as it offers high-end security with features such as cross-site request forgery (CSRF) protection, cross-site scripting (XSS) protection, among many others. Other features include proper class inheritance, built-in validation, integrated CRUD for database interaction, and fast builds. The framework has an active developer team and community, bringing great value to the project.
Available under the MIT license, the framework is completely free to use (I forgot to mention it above), whether for personal or commercial use.
Zend Framework
Zend is a compelling and extensible PHP framework that provides rapid application development. The framework is implemented using hundred-percent object-oriented code and was built keeping speed, security, performance, and extensibility in mind.
One of the most advanced PHP frameworks in the market, it offers high customizability, making it perfect for those who want to incorporate project-specific functions. Whatever your application needs are, you’re likely to find a Zend Framework component that can be used to reduce development time with a thoroughly tested foundation dramatically.
Zend framework packs feature such as a cryptographic coding tool, an easy-to-use drag and drop editor, PHP Unit testing tools, etc.
Symfony
The first version of Symfony was released in ’05. Due to its many years of existence, Symfony has become a reliable programming framework. It is also known as an extensive PHP MVC framework and is the sole framework that follows the standards of PHP and web completely.
The developers highly recommend the framework due to the availability of reusable libraries and components that can be used to complete a ton of jobs like authentication, form creation, object configuration, and so forth.
Symfony is a good choice for those who want to develop high-quality applications at an enterprise level. Moreover, the Symfony ecosystem is massive and is supported by a highly active programming community of over 300,000 developers, and has tons of great online training courses for you to get started.
Codeigniter
Codeigniter is a simple, elegant, and powerful toolkit (about 2MB in size) known for its small footprint and easy installation. It is preferred by most developers because it comes with prebuilt modules which make coding simpler and app development faster.
When compared to others, Codeigniter is considerably faster. Its other features include built-in security tools, encryption steps, easy, hassle-free migration of server hosting from one to another, easy error handling, and negligible PHP adoption struggle. The open-source framework is very well documented, and it is ideal for beginners.
Yii 2
Yii (in Chinese, it means “simple and evolutionary,” and it can be an acronym for “Yes It Is!”) is among the earliest PHP framework, and it has been in existence since ’08. Based on the DRY concept, its successor Yii 2, is an object-oriented framework mostly selected by developers when they need fast results.
The high-performance PHP framework is just right for enterprise-scale web development (like forums, portals, content management systems (CMS), e-commerce projects, etc.). Its design makes it work well with AJAX & JQuery and has powerful caching support.
Furthermore, it comes with Gii, a potent class code generator, which grants you to build code templates for models instantly, controllers, forms, modules, and extensions. Other features include easy error handling, availability of multiple packages for security, and sets of configurations for speeding things up.
Phalcon
What makes it different from the other PHP frameworks is that its coding style is based on C and C++. Yet, the full-stack PHP framework provides advanced development features to create flawless web applications.
The most prominent feature of this framework is that it is blazing fast. Its other exceptional features include caching, asset management, universal autoloader, and so forth. Also, it’s straightforward to use and understand (you need not worry about learning C) and comes up with detailed documentation to help developers understand the platform better.