What is PHP Framework?
PHP (recursive acronym for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor) is a widely-used open source general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for web development and can be embedded into HTML. It is used for building dynamic websites and applications. A PHP Framework is a basic platform that allows us to develop web applications using PHP.
The term “frameworks” means libraries of several functions. It provides a foundation to allow users to develop projects more efficiently and effectively. Instead of coding from the scratch, frameworks offer a lot of functions that may be needed. Briefly, a PHP Framework is a platform that provides code libraries for the most popular functions, so you don’t have to code them from the ground up while you are creating web applications.
What is the benefits of PHP Frameworks?
Most developers are using PHP frameworks because they make things easier, faster, and safer. So let’s take a look at the benefits of PHP Frameworks.
- Faster
With PHP frameworks’ built-in libraries and tools, developers could code less to do the same thing. Writing fewer codes means a faster development process. So built-in libraries and tools definitely shorten the time required for the development.
- Fewer codes
With PHP frameworks’ offerings, developers can complete the project with fewer codes, which not only makes things faster but also makes it easier to spot bugs and makes the codes looks simple and nice.
- Standart application architecture
Instead of writing your own functions for popular tasks, using the ones provided by the PHP frameworks allows all the developers in the project to use the same libraries for the common tasks.
- Safer
PHP frameworks lower the chance of getting hacked. Instead of coding every part of your web application, getting it from a PHP framework, which is used by thousands of web developers around the world is much safer, most of the time. Most frameworks also offer data sanitization and defense against common threats.
- Easy maintenance
PHP frameworks organize the codes, resulting in a leaner codebase, which requires less maintenance. It also promotes “Don’t Repeat Yourself” development and refactoring of code.
Top PHP Frameworks for web development
There are dozens of PHP frameworks to choose from, and each comes with excellent features to create quality PHP code. Here are the top PHP frameworks in 2021 for web development.
Laravel
Laravel Framework is an open-source PHP framework that uses its own templating language, Blade. It follows the MVC (Model-View-Controller) model allowing developers to handle coding tasks easy, simple, and well-documented. It uses the Eloquent ORM, an object-relational mapper, allowing developers to define models and relationships in PHP which is translated and executed as SQL.
With great documentation and a large community, Laravel is one of the best options for beginners. Its easy to learn syntax makes it the most popular PHP framework among developers. It also allows deploying to the most popular cloud providers. Laravel includes most of the features that can be needed for advanced applications. Additionally, users can also install a variety of packages and applications if they need more features.
Top features of Laravel:
- Simple, fast routing engine.
- Powerful dependency injection container.
- Multiple back-ends for session and cache storage.
- Expressive, intuitive database ORM.
- Database agnostic schema migrations.
- Robust background job processing.
- Real-time event broadcasting.
- Go to Laravel Documentation
CodeIgniter
CodeIgniter Framework also follows the MWC model and it is known for its speed. The framework has a very small footprint, around 2 MB including the documentation. CodeIgniter provides caching, support for multiple databases, routing, and other features that are very common in web applications.
With fast loading times and the requirement for less optimization, it has great performance. It also provides the flexibility to code non-MVC applications too. CodeIgniter also comes with a defense against CSRF and XSS attacks. The URLs generated by CodeIgniter are cleaner and more search-friendly than other frameworks’. CodeIgniter is ideal for applications that need a fast development process and security.
Symfony
Symfony Framework, launched in 2005, is one of the oldest PHP frameworks on our list and it also has an MVC architecture. It is a very reliable platform that allows developers to add additional modules. Symfony’s modular component system provides extra flexibility, allowing developers to choose the components that they need for the project. It also supports most databases, including Drizzle, MySQL, Oracle, PostgreSQL, SAP Sybase SQL Anywhere, SQLite, and SQLServer.
Unlike most other frameworks, it has commercial backing from Sensio Labs, which means it also provides professional support. Its well-designed codebase allows developers to write codes in fewer lines, which makes applications faster and work smoothly. Symfony is ideal for large-scale projects and it’s also easy to install and be configured on most platforms. Symfony is ideal for complex websites.
Popular PHP projects using Symfony:
- Drupal
- Joomla
- eZ Platform
- Grav
- Magento
- PrestaShop
- Sylius
- Shopware
- Go to Symfony Documentation
Zend Framework (Laminas Project)
Zend Framework is no longer supported but it is transitioned to the Laminas Project. The Laminas Project includes 3 parts, Laminas Components and MVC, Mezzio, and Laminas API Tools. It is also one of the oldest frameworks in the list and one of the most popular PHP framework used by enterprises.
Zend is based on Middleware or MVC and follows the PHP Framework Interop Group (PHP-FIG) standards. It allows its codes to be ported to other frameworks. It also allows adding components. It stores passwords using bcrypt, encrypted with AES-256. It features a drag-and-drop editor, codding and online debugging tools, and a scalable interface, however, it is also accepted as one of the most difficult frameworks to learn.
- Go to Zend Framework Documentation
- Go to Laminas Documentation
Yii Framework
The word “Yii” means “simple and evolutionary in Chinese and it also stands for “Yes, It is!“. Launched in 2008, Yii Framework offers a very easy installation process. Its class code generator, Gii makes it easier for developers to generate the desired code easily during the object-oriented programming process. Gii also offers automated CRUD generation.
Yii comes with various security measures, including bcrypt for passwords, encryption, authentication, and authorization. Its well-prepared documentation also provides information to prevent SQL injection, XSS, and CSRF attacks. Yii allows running third-party codes and speeds up web applications with four types of caching: data caching, fragment caching, page caching, and HTTP caching. With its small weight, Yii Framework offers great performance and better loading times.
CakePHP
CakePHP Framework, launched in 2005, offers a simple and easy installation. With its SQL injection prevention, input validation, cross-site request forgery (CSRF) protection, and cross-site scripting (XSS) protection, it is ideal for commercial applications. CakePHP’s other key features include a modern PHP framework, fast builds, proper class inheritance, validation, and security.
CakePHP provides a simple and elegant toolkit, thus, it is one of the best frameworks for new beginners. It also uses pre-written codes to save a lot of time. It also follows the MVC model and its codebase is audited by the Mozilla Secure Open Source program. It also comes with its own inbuilt ORM.
Top features of CakePHP:
- Use code generation and scaffolding features to build prototypes rapidly.
- No complicated XML or YAML files. Just setup your database, and you’re ready to bake.
- CakePHP is licensed under the MIT license, which makes it perfect for use in commercial applications.
- The things you need are built-in. Translations, database access, caching, validation, authentication, and much more are all built into one of the original PHP MVC frameworks.
- Instead of having to plan where things go, CakePHP comes with a set of conventions to guide you in developing your application.
- CakePHP comes with built-in tools for input validation, CSRF protection, Form tampering protection, SQL injection prevention, and XSS prevention. CakePHP codebase itself has been audited through the Mozilla Secure Open Source program.
- Go to CakePHP Documentation
FuelPHP
FuelPHP Framework, launched in 2014, also follows MVC but unlike other PHP frameworks, it also supports HMVC (Hierarchical Model View Controller). This approach adds an extra layer between the Controller and the View, which provides, better code organization, greater modularity, increased extensibility, and promotes code reuse. HMVCalso consumes less time and memory and allows developers to build with diverse features, complexities, and sizes.
FuelPHP mainly focuses on security. It uses URI, Input, and XSS filtering, CSRF protection, and output encoding making it a perfect fit for web-based solutions of various sizes and complexities. It also allows developers to choose which file and folder structure for the project that they are working on. FuelPHP also comes with FuelPHP ORM.
- Go to FuelPHP Documentation
PHP Frameworks Comparison
| Laravel | CodeIgniter | Symfony | Laminas / Zend Framework | Yii | CakePHP | FuelPHP | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Website | laravel.com | codeigniter.com | symfony.com | laminas.dev | yiiframework.com | cakephp.org | fuelphp.com | |
| Latest version | 8-Nov | 4.0.4 | 1/5/2007 | 2.0.38 | 1/4/2005 | 8/1/2002 | ||
| Release date | 2020 Oct 21 | 2020 Jul 15 | 2020 Oct 4 | 20 Jun 2020 | 2020 Sep 14 | 2020 Oct 5 | 2019 Jun 27 | |
| License | MIT | BSD-style | MIT | BSD | BSD | MIT | MIT | |
| Requirements | PHP >= 7.0.0, OpenSSL PHP Extension, PDO PHP Extension, Mbstring PHP Extension, Tokenizer PHP Extension, XML PHP Extension, | >= PHP 5.1.6 | >= PHP 5.5.9 | >= PHP 5.6 | >= PHP 5.4 | >= PHP 7.2.8 | >= PHP 5.3 | |
| Internationalization I18N / L10n | PHP array, gettext via extension | language class | XML (XLIFF) CSV PHP |
gettext, phparray, ini | gettext database PHP array |
gettext, PHP array | PHP array | |
| Code generation | CLI | CLI | Yii CLI, Gii (Web based) | CLI | CLI | |||
| ORM | ELOQUENT ORM (active record) | ActiveRecord | Doctrine 2, Propel (active record) | Database Access Objects (DAO), Active Record (AR) | Custom | Custom | ||
| Cache storage | File System, Database, Memcached, APC, Redis, Xcache, WinCache, Memory (Arrays) | File, apc, memcached, xcache | HTTP, APC, eAccelerator, XCache |
APC, Database, eAccelerator, File, Memcache, WinCache, XCache, ZendPlatform |
Memcache, APC File, APC, Memcache, Redis | File, Redis, Memcache, APC | ||
| Dependency injection container | Yes With autowiring | Yes | ||||||
| Services | XML-RPC | SOAP / WebServices | Third party | |||||
| Template System | Blade, PHP, Custom | PHP, Simple template parser “{var_name}” | PHP, Twig | PhpRenderer | PHP and Prado’s – Several others using Extensions (Razor, Smarty, Twig, etc) | Custom but Smarty/Twig can be used | PHP, Dwoo, HAML, JADE, Markdown, Mustache, Smarty, Twig | |
| Web2.0 | jQuery HTML5boilerplate | built-in jQuery, extendable to any javascript framework | Full jQuery, jQuery UI, Grid System, Native AJAX,RestFul | JS-library agnostic | ||||
| Testing library | PHPUnit | PHPUnit (In development) | PHPUnit | PHPUnit | PHPUnit, Selenium | PHPUnit | PHPUnit | |
| Edge Side Includes | Yes include tag only | |||||||
| Code generation | CLI | CLI | Yii CLI, Gii (Web based) | CLI | CLI | |||
| Layer generator | Yes DoctrineBundle, PropelBundle | |||||||
| CRUD generation | Yes SensioGeneratorBundle | Yes Gii | ||||||
| Logging management | Yes | Yes PSR-3 compliant | ||||||
| Multiple databases | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||
| Xss Security | Yes | Yes Built-in | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||
| Xsrf Security | Yes | Yes Built-in | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||
| Sql injection Security | Yes | Yes Built-in | Yes | Yes | ||||
| Auth module | Yes | Yes | Yes |
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