Top 5 PHP Frameworks

First, let’s clarify what a framework is and why it is so essential in the software development world. Frameworks represent a collection of universal, reusable code that accomplishes particular tasks to bring to life software applications. Basically, they are software that is developed and used by developers to build applications.

Software frameworks advantages

Frameworks make the job easier for developers, allowing them to control most of the software development process from a single platform. Some advantages include:

Reduced time in developing an application;
Fewer bugs;
More secure;
Functionality improvement;
Easier testing and debugging.

The superpowers of PHP frameworks:

PHP Frameworks have always been the right choice for developing complex web applications, enterprise apps, large-scale open source projects, SaaS, and CRM systems, but not only!

All the frameworks presented have in common the speed that helps programmers develop, basically, any web application. However, this is not the only attribute that brings value to any web application project you would like to implement. In other words, PHP is also known for being stable and secure, attributes that are highly important for the success of any project.

What should a PHP framework have?

A good PHP framework should have a right balance of features. Having a good amount of features can come in very handy for your projects, but sometimes you don’t need so much, and you should choose to use a more basic framework. Some nice to have features would be testing, security, cache storage, and a template engine (output PHP in HTML). Let’s not forget that your PHP framework should have good documentation and support to help you when facing difficulties.

What are the Top 5 PHP frameworks used today?

1. Laravel

It is an open-source PHP web application framework with expressive, elegant syntax with its architectural patterns that are majorly based on Symfony. It presents great advantages both for developers and for clients, as well. Laravel is made to be simple and supports fast application development. Therefore, you get the full set of features to bring any large-scale project to life within days, no matter the size of the project; the ecosystem is vast, and it comes with instant hosting and deployment platform. It is simple and easy to use, providing: built-in out-of-the-box authentication and authorization; packaging system that deals with multiple support software and libraries. A great plus is that it stops you from rewriting the code each time you build a website or web application.

2. Lumen

Lumen is a micro PHP framework released by Laravel team for web developers who like to build lightning-fast APIs as well as Laravel based services. It is mainly designed for microservices development and API development. Therefore, Lumen offers maximum speed. It’s important to note that large web apps can be developed based on the microservice architecture approach; in other words, the project doesn’t have to be small to use Lumen. It handles more number of requests per second, but it also supports integration by adding third-party packages or tools to enable new features. The microframework is the right choice if you are comfortable with making all of your own architecture decisions.

3. Symfony

Symfony is an open-source web framework with a set of reusable PHP components suitable for web projects. It is the right choice for complex, large-scale enterprise projects. It basically has unlimited flexibility: Full-stack or microframework. It consists of a large set of reusable components, and it is expandable: From the smallest brick to the complete core itself, everything is presented as a “bundle” (or plug-in) in Symfony. Each bundle is intended to add functionality to the framework and can also be reused in another project or shared with the rest of the community. Besides proven reliability, other advantages of using Symfony are Easy testing and long-term support.

4. Codeigniter

It is a PHP framework with a very small footprint. It is one of the oldest and most trusted PHP frameworks due to its detailed documentation. Codeigniter is very easy to use and expand on. It adopts the MVC (model, view, controller) architecture and has no need for installation. It also has default helpers for file handling, forms, arrays, cookies, directories, strings, and more. What’s more, there is also the option to come up with your own helpers and libraries, complete with new codes that aren’t developed yet. Also, it has a simple, user-friendly interface, a fact that has a positive impact on the work of developers. They have to write less code which saves a lot of time for your project. It also supports smooth installation with minimum configuration requirements. It can also work on shared as well as dedicated hosting platforms.

5. Magento

It is simple, fast, and versatile to use; It offers the ultimate e-commerce solutions and extensive support network. Magento integrates with many of the third-party sites which are required to run an effective E-commerce website. This means that it lists a lot of significant advantages for e-commerce websites, such as: enables searching and sorting of products provides integration with payment methods (credit cards, PayPal, cheques, money order, Google checkouts, etc.), allows shipping to multiple addresses, supports multiple languages, different currencies, and tax rates and many others!

PHP Project examples

Roweb developed from scratch a one-stop solution for the real estate industry called Rezio. The client wanted to launch a full-customized real estate portal to help real estate developers promote their residential complexes in a smart and complete manner. The core objective of the portal is to simplify the processes of market prospecting and effective trading for real estate customers.

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One of our clients, Warbble, needed a dedicated development team able to understand their needs and expectations so that we would expand and grow their social media management platform. The technologies we used were PHP, Codeigniter, Angular, Redis, Ajax, and Sockets.

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We developed a mobile and web application called Seatbelt. Our client needed an application that would facilitate communication between HQ and field consultants through a single app that allows the field consultants to make an audit, check the status of an office, signal a problem and check RSVTI equipment such as lifts, cranes, forklifts, and more.

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For a more detailed perspective on which framework fits best to your objectives, you can always get in touch with our PHP team.

You can also check out Our Portfolio with samples from our PHP projects.

We offer robust solutions for projects of all sizes, relying on the best open source technologies – over 500 successful PHP projects stand as proof of our expertise.