As an experienced developer or a novice, striking the right balance when choosing a framework for a project is often a challenging task. PHP particularly holds a lot of frameworks, each with benefits and disadvantages. One of the most commonly used frameworks in PHP development is the Laravel framework. Because of the many features that it boasts, business enterprises frequently prefer to hire Laravel developers.
But are there always instances when Laravel is the ideal option to consider? This post, however, will consider the use of Laravel in relation to other management frameworks available in the market, like Symfony, CodeIgniter, and Yii, in order to assist you in making the right decision on whether or not it is worth looking forward to hiring Laravel developers.
What are PHP Frameworks?
PHP frameworks provide a web application’s basic structure, propelling the development process. They reduce the time needed to code common tasks like database abstraction, form validation, and routing, allowing developers to focus on their app’s unique features.
Laravel
2011 saw the creation of the Laravel PHP framework by Taylor Otwell. It has grown to be one of the most popular PHP frameworks over time. The simple and elegant syntax of Laravel, together with its wealth of resources and community of other Laravel users, are some of the reasons why people choose Laravel development services. It is ideal for complex applications because it also improves the performance of operations like routing, authentication, caching, and sessions. Additionally, there is the ORM (Object-Relational Mapping), commonly referred to as Eloquent, which is a simple active record-based interface that makes it elegant for users to interact with databases.
Symfony
Symfony, which debuted in 2005, can be considered a stable and well-performing framework, as its maturation is evident. Symfony provides a collection of PHP components that are useful for a number of libraries’ functionalities. Symfony’s components can be used in isolation or combination, making it very preferred for particular high-end projects. Symfony also uses Doctrine, an advanced ORM, to manage data.
CodeIgniter
CodeIgniter is a small PHP framework that operates at a faster speed than its competitors. Released in 2006, it stands out, especially for developers who need a simple and light framework for resource provision. While it does not include an ORM, the framework offers a basic query builder for database operations.
Yii
First published in 2008, the Yii framework is performance-focused and extremely adaptable. Active Record and ORM are included, and database migration is supported. Because Yii loads resources only when needed, its lazy loading technique makes it ideal for large-scale applications.
Laravel vs Other PHP Frameworks
Easy Usage
The ease of use can affect a coding expert’s productivity. Laravel web development services stand out strongly with their expressive syntax, which is easily understood. Because of its syntax’s ease of understanding, Laravel projects frequently have faster onboarding times for new developers. With its minimalist design and easy-to-use interface, CodeIgniter is also very user-friendly. Despite their strength, Symfony and Yii can have more complex learning curves because of their vast functionality and configuration choices.
Performance
When performance comes into the picture, Yii’s lazy loading strategy typically makes it the winner. Because it is lightweight, CodeIgniter performs exceptionally well. Because of their broad functionality, Laravel and Symfony can be slower than Yii and CodeIgniter despite being packed with features.
Scalability
With regard to scalability, Symfony’s modular component approach shines since you can use what you need and chuck out what you don’t. Symfony’s design allows for extreme scalability. Yii is also great for scalable applications because of its performance-oriented design. Larger projects can definitely benefit from Laravel’s optimization, even though it’s not the most scalable framework. Because CodeIgniter is a lean framework, scaling it for larger applications could need more work.
Database Support
All four frameworks support popular databases, including MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite, and others. Laravel’s Eloquent ORM is incredibly intuitive and enables easy database interactions. The robust Doctrine module from Symfony supports a large number of database systems. Yii’s Active Record also simplifies database tasks. Despite not offering an ORM, CodeIgniter features a powerful Query Builder for database-related tasks.
Community Support
Laravel development services certainly possess a powerful and robust community, which implies that a multitude of tools, guides, and packages are easily accessible. It is also easier for organizations to discover experienced professionals because of this vibrant support structure, which creates a large talent pool from which to hire Laravel developers. In addition, Symfony features robust documentation and a vibrant community. The availability and selection of developers when recruiting specialists for your project may be influenced by the smaller and less active communities of CodeIgniter and Yii compared to Laravel or Symfony.
Testing and Error Extraction
The way a framework manages testing and debugging, two essential components of software development, can greatly affect a project’s quality and schedule.
Laravel pre-configures the phpunit.xml file for your application and includes built-in support for PHPUnit testing. Convenient helper methods are also included, enabling expressive testing of the apps you create. Laravel Debugbar, its integrated debugging tool, features an easy-to-use interface and offers extensive debugging information.
In addition to using PHPUnit for testing, Symfony comes with a profiler. This built-in PHP feature lets you gather and see information about every request that comes into your application. This is quite helpful while debugging. There are no built-in testing tools in CodeIgniter, and debugging requires writing customized code, which can take extra time. It does, however, come with a basic toolbox for unit testing your app, which lets you use the CodeIgniter framework to write and execute tests.
Yii has a testing framework called Codeception that makes writing acceptance, functional, and unit tests easier. Its debug toolbar and debugger provide additional useful information for debugging.
Safety
In web development, security is essential, and a solid framework should have robust security capabilities. Because it takes security seriously, Laravel provides several security features, such as defense against cross-site scripting (XSS), SQL injection, and cross-site request forgery (CSRF). It also stores passwords using a bcrypt hash, providing strong encryption.
In addition to handling authorization and authentication, Symfony’s security component guards against SQL injection, XSS, and CSRF. Symfony is renowned for its extensive security setups that enable extremely safe applications.
CodeIgniter offers a built-in defense against CSRF and XSS threats. To further prevent SQL injection, you can also create queries using the Database Query Builder class. Yii offers strong security features, including CSRF, XSS, and SQL injection prevention. Its security package also includes password hashing, encryption, and decryption techniques.
Conclusion
The PHP framework’s choice is reliable on the particular requirements of the project. Laravel is a great option if you’re searching for a framework with complex syntax, strong features, and a vibrant community. Because of its widespread use, there are many options available to you when hiring Laravel developers. Symfony is appropriate for very specific and large-scale projects due to its flexibility and excellent scalability. CodeIgniter, with its simple and high-performance design, is a wonderful solution for projects where resources are an issue. Finally, Yii is a fantastic option for large applications due to its performance-focused design and extensibility.
As already mentioned, no one structure can be taken as the ‘best’—every structure has its own advantages and disadvantages depending on the project. Therefore, while choosing a PHP framework, consider the project scope and project domain you are working on, the experience of your team, and the help available in the community. If the platform you choose is Laravel, you’re in luck, as you can easily hire Laravel developers in the market. If you are clear about the scope of work for the project, you can opt for the one that best meets your requirements.
