Which are the Best PHP Frameworks for Web Development Having Better Future

There is an increase in demand of the popular PHP frameworks due to the commonly used features provided by them which makes it easy to develop web applications in an organized way by following the well known patterns. Also, the frameworks handle the complex cases including security, routing, dependency injection, etc which otherwise takes time to develop for each and every project. Most of these frameworks are open source and provide documentation to start a project in less time. This article discusses the popular web frameworks for web development using PHP.

Businesses are always looking for new avenues to enhance their market outreach. With a change in audience behaviour, companies are focussing more on their website. It has become the primary mode of increasing their pipeline of prospects and increasing conversions. The businesses must utilise a framework for web development that is easy to customise and is powerful to run their website that can improve their online footprint.

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What are the Benefits of Using the PHP Frameworks for Web Development?

Flexible and Easy to Learn

You need not browse through massive manuals to grasp the commonly used programming concepts required for web development. The syntax is well-framed and logical. The developer can use the commands quickly based on the customisations required. The scripts are flexible, too, and the developer can make changes even after starting the work.

Integration Capabilities

The framework maintainers and the associated community provides several freely available modules and plugins which makes it easy to integrate with existing systems.

Robust Security Infrastructure

Several experts consider web development using PHP frameworks due to the in-built security mechanisms. There are built-in security features that help website developers handle the security aspect with ease. The PHP frameworks can help to easily control various ways of a data breach like cross-site scripting, SQL injections, and data tampering.

Use Optimal Resources

Developers need to consider the allocation of resources when building a website. They can choose among the several open-source PHP frameworks that will suit their needs. They can easily undertake web development projects without too many overheads.

Best PHP Frameworks for Website Development

PHP forms the framework of web development and streamlines the underlying development process. We will discuss some of the best PHP frameworks for website development based on their capabilities and popularity among developers.

Laravel

It is a popular framework and has a high rank on GitHub. It is among the top-performing frameworks that have a rich set of features and is easy to use. Laravel is open-source and has tremendous support from its community. Several releases ensure it is up to date with the latest features and provides website security. It is scalable, has overloading features with dynamic methods and strong encryption capabilities.

Reasons to use:

• It uses the blade templating engine. You can use PHP within the Blade system.
• Mac users can use Laravel valet as the development environment.
• Use Homestead – a pre-packaged Vagrant box that creates a development environment without installing PHP.
• Use Packalyst – a collection of 15,000+ packages 

Symfony

It is a popular framework for web development using PHP. It is ideal for developing large-scale projects and enables developers through reusable PHP components. It provides around 50 standalone PHP components and is also supported by a community of developers. Various CMSs, including Drupal, use the framework. It complies with the general web best practices and integrates with vendor libraries.

Reasons to use:

• It uses open-source Doctrine ORM for its database activities.
• It has a flexible templating engine, Twig.
• You can readily manage access to shared resources, create complex authentications, and create advanced email capabilities.
• You can utilise more than 4000 packages at Packagist.

CodeIgniter

It is among the oldest frameworks and is easy to use. It has a small size and provides developers with an intuitive interface and a set of libraries. There are several prebuilt modules, and it is among the best options for dynamic websites. It is faster and helps to develop lighter applications on servers quickly. Error handling is easy and has simple security and encryption features.

Reasons to use:

• The framework adheres to standard PHP recommendations for file and class naming standards. 
• Applications can also be built using the MVC architecture and adhere to object-oriented programming procedures.
• The framework can protect against XSS and CSRF attacks. 
• It can speed up your applications through multiple caching methods.

Yii 2

It is a flexible and secure PHP framework for web development. It is object-oriented and is ideal for MVC based websites. It uses the lazy loading technique that makes it faster than its peers. Developers can easily integrate the framework with JQuery and AJAX, making it ideal for larger websites. It is extensible, and developers need not write repetitive SQL statements.

Reasons to use:

• Easy to use guides help in the more straightforward implementation of different caching techniques.
• Has a robust security framework for deploying cryptographic, authentication, authorisation features.
• Has several classes and components to work with databases and handle requests.
• It has a web-based interface that helps developers interactively generate the needed code.

Zend Framework / Laminas Project

Zend is an established PHP framework that is now continuing as the Laminas Project. There are components for caching, session management, event dispatchers, dependency injection, etc. The framework is built on agile methodology and is highly customisable. It can support front-end technologies and offers several configuration options. This PHP framework for web development is ideal for complex websites.

Reasons to use:

• It supports data encryption, cloud APIs, session handling and MVC components.
• It follows the PHP-FIG standards, and you can port the code to other frameworks.
• It is an event-driven MVC framework to build scalable PHP applications.
• It has an interactive community that uses the latest communication techniques.

CakePHP

It is an elegant toolkit to allow web development using PHP. It is an open-source framework and provides APIs for faster development. Developers can easily leverage scaffolding and other code generation features for developing prototypes quickly. It has a CRUD framework that makes it among the easiest ones to learn.

Reasons to use:

• It has good security features, making it an excellent choice for commercial websites.
• There is an inbuilt ORM that is intuitive and easy to use.
• Requires minimal configuration and ensures faster builds and validation.
• Has better ability to create extra standalone libraries and improved modularity.

FuelPHP

It is a flexible framework and has a hierarchical model view controller (HMVC). Developers can quickly provide web applications of diverse capabilities and sizes. The framework can address security concerns and has a proprietary authentication framework. Few other key features include a URL routing system, a caching system etc. It is an excellent option if you need advanced security features. 

Reasons to use:

• HMVC helps in better code organisation, reuse of code, and more modularity.
• The advanced security features can help XSS filtering, output encoding, and CSRF protection.
• The framework can help to debug code and generate standard components readily.

Slim

It is a microframework and is minimalist in its design. Developers find it easy to learn and develop robust applications. It has several features, including cookie and session routing, URL routing, HTTP caching, etc. It is best for small applications where you will not need a full-stack framework. Developers can quickly develop RESTful services and applications.

Reasons to use:

• A lead codebase with no third parties makes it very fast too.
• The router supports various URL types natively. Pattern-based URLs are standard for e-commerce applications.
• It requires PSR-7 implementation in your project.
• Readily integrates with first-party and third-party PHP components.

Phalcon

It is a platform-agnostic full-stack PHP framework. The framework is lightning fast and uses a few resources. It employs an MVC architecture design, and developers can create configurable applications. The framework has efficient memory utilisation. Developers can work with the PHP namespaces and classes generated by the framework. 

Reasons to use:

• It can support MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite.
• There is a form-builder VOLT templating engine.
• Unlike several PHP frameworks, it does not use file stats and file reads.
• The security component allows CSRF protection and password hashing.

Conclusion

When you are willing to build a new website using the PHP framework, you must know about the best PHP framework for website development. It can help to optimise your resources, and they have their pros and cons. Your decision will depend on various factors, like the features offered, community support or the documentation provided.

You must choose the ideal PHP framework for your website by first assessing your requirements. We have listed some of the best options for web development using PHP. You may also have a short discussion with our experts who will be willing to help.