Top PHP Frameworks In 2021

17 May Top PHP Frameworks In 2021

PHP is basically an open-source server-side programming language that is most widely used for developing websites like Wikipedia, Facebook, etc. This can be embedded into HTML. It is compatible with crucial operating systems such as Windows, Unix, macOS, Linux, etc, and assisted by diversified web servers like Nginx, Lighttpd, Apache, IIS, etc. 

Moreover, PHP supports an impeccable choice of databases that optimizes the web development process. PHP is very flexible and puts a slight constraint on designers, developers, and employers by offering them significant freedom of creativity and choice.

In this piece of writing, we will discuss the top promising PHP frameworks for web development purposes in 2021. Both the pros and cons of these frameworks are stated along.

1. CODEIGNITER

This framework is supported by a Model View Controller (MVC) architecture. It enables you to create highly scalable web software with a smaller footprint. CodeIgniter provides solid performance that is apt for developing lightweight software to be run on modest servers. Further, this framework gets started quickly due to brilliant documentation and its simplicity. 

Apart from the pros, it has some cons too. To illustrate, the releases by Codelgniter are somewhat irregular, thus it may not be considered for the top-notch applications that demand high-level standards of security.

2. YII

YII is an open-source PHP framework based on MVC and OOP patterns. It adds less overhead by emphasizing more on the core functionality. Due to its speed, it is mainly recommended for creating performant web applications and everything from SaaS software, blogs to social media websites. It provides an automated CRUD generation supported by visual too Gii. Again its light-weight turns it into fast loading and great performance application.

However, the ORM is weak for handling complex queries and relationships. Also, features like broadcasting and queues are not backed by default as well as require additional installations & configurations. 

3. ZEND

Zend is totally an object-oriented framework built on an agile methodology that aspires to offer high-quality applications at an enterprise level. It comes with an abundance of components for tasks like services, authentication, forms, and much more. This framework has immense features including coding tools, a scalable interface for complicated websites, online debugging tools, and an easy-to-use drag & drop editor.

However, it is considered one of the most difficult frameworks to learn especially for beginners.

4. SYMFONY

Symfony is the most popular PHP framework. It has a component system and bundle that allows you to select the PHP functions you need. To keep a check on its functioning, it even has a built-in testing feature. The excellent documentation of Symfony can help anyone to learn it. 

On the other hand, Symfony lacks dependency injection as it is not workable in an intuitive manner. Also, it has a steeper learning curve, and excelling it requires a deep understanding of plenty of its components. In addition to this, Symfony’s ORM, Doctrine, is difficult to learn and work with other ORMs.

5. LARAVEL

Laravel is the most popular PHP framework suitable for creating software that has complex backend small or large needs. It has ample features that let you personalize complex apps. There are ample attributes supported by it such as MVC architecture support, security, authentication, seamless data migration, routing, view template design, and so on. This highly expressive framework has good security and speed, which is best for developing B2B websites.

On the flip side, Laravel is considered highly opinionated by many developers because of enforced project structure and syntax. Due to tremendous features, the framework becomes heavier as well as slower than other alternatives. 

6. CAKE PHP

CakePHP was the pioneer in the PHP MVC framework market, in the early 2000s. Newer versions of CakePHP have improved over time with built-in features including localization, authentication, validation, etc. It has an excellent set of libraries that consist of numerous helpful components. Thus, it is a wonderful option to get your hard-to-find features. CakePHP’s conventions make the coding projects speedier.

However, CakePHP can also be restrictive sometimes for its conventions. Its community is comparatively smaller than other frameworks, hence you may not get solutions to exclusive problems. Also, it does not support default paths for fancy URLs like the rest others. 

7. PHALCON

Phalcon is amusing as it is not written in PHP but delivered as a PHP extension written in C. It can manage massive requests per second than any other framework and adds very low overhead to the application. Phalcon offers many features like caching, security, ORM, and templating to give a power-pack performance. Many big companies prefer using it because it’s pre-compiled and written in C. It has PHQL, a SQL dialect, that helps you write relational database queries for multiple database systems. 

Nevertheless, the syntax of Phalcon is slighter complex than others in this collection. It must be installed as a PHP extension only, so hard to install and deploy. Only three database adapters are supported by it; PostgreSQL, MySQL, and SQLite.

8. LUMEN

Lumen is a micro PHP framework built by Laravel. It is more or less similar to Laravel only with a lightweight and performant making it apt for modern applications. It can be used for creating APIs to help microservices, single-page applications, and other back-end services where high performance with low latency are required. It can also be converted to a Laravel project in case of growing complexity.

Unfortunately, there is not enough documentation for Lumen. The key features of Laravel are missing here that makes it less supported and maintained.

CONCLUSION

On the whole, PHP frameworks make you more constructive and help you build robust software on a well-tested as well as stable foundation. Software development is becoming highly complex and demands design patterns, modules, and tools to built reliable applications. The above passage highlights the top PHP frameworks in 2021 that can cater to your specific development needs.