Top 10 PHP Frameworks in 2017

PHP Development | Web Development

PHP Ruling on the Web

After its introduction in the world of the Internet in 1995, PHP has changed the scenario of web programming. Being a dynamic and server side programming language, PHP has introduced several innovative ways to make a presentation on the web. Therefore, more than 60% websites and web application live on the web have PHP in its source code anyhow.

Why PHP Developers Need PHP Frameworks?

We know PHP is highly flexible language when code structure or architecture is in question. The same flexibility proves roadblock for the PHP developers when a PHP project is scaling up and becomes intricate. In order to remove the unorganized nature of PHP, some smart developers had invented PHP frameworks as per their common needs in their times. Therefore, PHP frameworks apart from providing organized ways of coding and architecture, serve other purposes too. For instance,

• Boost the speed of the PHP development project by providing required bells & whistles, i.e., features, functionality, and tools
• PHP frameworks enable PHP programmers to write code in highly organized ways, in a structured manner, and with reusability of code to avoid repetitions
• PHP frameworks can bring scalability in the projects with An Exclusive PHP Development Company
• Most of the PHP frameworks are following MVC paradigm for designing and programming so designers and programmers can work together simultaneously on the same project in collaborative ways to cut apparently the timeline of the project
• PHP frameworks help developers to initiate innovative modern web development practices such as OOP (Object-Oriented Programming)

Why Should a Client Take Care of PHP Framework Used in the Project?

Now, we know the benefits of using PHP frameworks in the PHP project for the developers. Now the question is that why clients should take interest to know that which PHP framework the developers are going to use in their PHP Web Development Solutions / projects. When a client is asking about the PHP framework used in the project, it ultimately reveals two things. At first point, it depicts that the client has some knowledge regarding PHP and its framework. The second point is that it compels PHP developers to select the right framework and make the project cost-effective without missing the quality of the deliverables. With such acknowledgment, let’s check top 10 PHP frameworks that are trendy in 2016.

Top 10 PHP Frameworks Used in 2017

There are more than 60 PHP frameworks used in the field by PHP developer community. Therefore, picking up only top 10 is challenging. However, we try to justify it in the present contexts and based on some recent surveys.

No.1: Laravel

It has significantly huge ecosystem to support any developer at any time for any scale of requirements. Thus, it can offer a strong support system to address a wide range of needs of the PHP developers. Moreover, it has an own lightweight templating engine which is known as Blade in the market. Besides this, Laravel offers the elegant syntax to help you in the repeated tasks such as:

• Authentication
• Sessions
• Caching
• Queuing
• RESTful routing

It supports a wide range of databases including MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite, and now NoSQL. It offers extensive documentation and screencast tutorials, as Laracast to cover missing documents and use-cases.

No.2: Yii

It is highly popular framework today for big scale web development using PHP. Other features are:

• It performs faster than other frameworks, as it uses lazy loading technique
• It supports OOP (Object Oriented Programming)
• Follows DRY coding principles so you can get clean and logical code
• Integrated with jQuery and Ajax features
• It has easy to use skinning and theming mechanism
• Giias a powerful class code generator to provide web interface to generate code interactively and give rapid prototyping facilities

No.3: Zend

Zend is a robust PHP framework with tons of configuration options. Therefore, it is the best fit for large scale web development with enough complexities. It is the reason that newbies and some intermediate PHP developers keep distance with this framework. Zend was created by keeping Agile Methodology in mind to produce high quality and big apps for corporate clients. It has many distinguish features such as:

• Cryptographic coding tools
• Easy-to-use drag and drop editor
• Support for front-end technologies likes HTML, CSS, JavaScript
• Instant online debugging
• PHP unit testing tools
• Connected database wizard

No.4: CakePHP

It is a decade old framework though it has kept its popularity intact among the PHP developers who are comfortable with strict conventions against configuration. Some noteworthy features are:

• Built-in CRUD featuresfor smooth database interactions
• Improved session management
• Modularity by decoupling several components
• Capable of creating more standalone libraries
• SQL injection prevention
• Input validation
• XSS prevention
• CSRF protection

No.5: CodeIgniter

Just like CakePHP, it is also ten years old PHP framework and has enough user base due to its some attractive features and functionality including:

• It is a lightweight PHP framework highly suitable for small to medium projects
• It is excellent choice for beginners to intermediate PHP developers
• It required minimal configuration with straightforward installation process
• It considers as the nice choice when PHP developers want to avoid PHP version conflicts
• Although it is following somewhat MVC pattern, it needs to use Controller class compulsorily whereas Models and Views are optional
• It lets you useyour (own) naming and coding conventions
• It allows third-party plugins for extended features or functionality

No.6: Symfony

Do you know that Drupal CMS, phpBB forum, and Laravel framework are using the components of Symfony framework! It is because Symfony Components are reusable PHP libraries to accomplish various tasks including:

• Form creation
• Object creation and configuration
• Authentication
• Routing
• Templating

It has Composer PHP dependency manager to install and manage components.

No.7: PHPixie

It is a high-performance PHP framework to create read-only websites. Just like FuelPHP, it is implementing HMVC (Hierarchical MVC) design pattern. It has some highlighted features such as:

• Its components are 1% unit tested and requiring minimal dependencies
• It has big community and documentation to learn framework quickly and conveniently
• It has standard (Object Relational Mapping) ORM
• Caching
• Input validation
• Authentication and authorization
• Support for HAML markup
• Enables schema migration
• Sophisticated routing system

No. 8: FuelPHP

• It is adjustable full-stack PHP framework
• It supports standard MVC designing pattern as well as HMVC on architecture level
• It has an optional class called Presenter in between the Controller and View models, which holds the logic required to generate Views
• It is modular and extendable
• It takes care of security by implementing URL filtering, input and output encoding
• It has independent authentication framework
• It has comprehensive documentation

No.9: Phalcon PHP

As its name suggests, it is fast in performance, so it has gained popularity despite being young PHP framework. It is fast because it has written in C and C++ and the highest level of performance optimization is possible with it. However, PHP developers need not pass through learning C class languages to use this framework because its functionality exposes as PHP classes and ready to use for any purposes. Phalcon diminishes the overhead considerably by being a C-extension and offering the architecture optimized at low-level. It promotes execution speed as well as cut the resources consumption. It has standard features such as:

• Universal auto-loader
• Asset management
• Security
• Translation
• Caching

No.10: Slim PHP

It is a micro-framework in a sense, so it is most suitable for small to medium PHP web development projects when developers want to avoid a full-stack framework. It is useful for the development of RESTful APIs and services. It has some good features including:

• Client-side HTTP caching
• URL routing
• Session and cookie encryption
• Supports flash messages across HTTP requests
• Nice user guide

Conclusion:

We have seen that PHP frameworks are a must for advanced and cost-effective PHP web development. However, making right choice depends on several factors including the size of the project, nature of the PHP project, expertise levels of your PHP developers, and most importantly comfort of the PHP developers using selected frameworks. Therefore, the best way for clients is to leave the selection of PHP framework for your project on your dependable PHP Custom Design & Development Company company or PHP developers you have hired in Hire a PHP Developer packages. At Addon Solutions, PHP developers willingly take interest and convince the clients before making any final decision on the PHP framework selection to make the project a success legend.