Most Popular PHP Frameworks of 2021 and their Comparison

What is the PHP Framework?

PHP is the most popular and widely practiced server-side programming language. Due to its open-source nature, platform-independent, and extensible programming language reasons millions of designers and developers from all over the globe regularly preferring this programming language to build highly effective web applications.

Reasons for selecting the PHP Framework

Speed
Cross-Platform Availability
Improved Stability
Greater database diversity

Popular frameworks of PHP

1. Laravel

Laravel is the popular PHP framework among all. It is an all-inclusive framework that speeds up the process of app development. A large community of developers is practicing this framework to build great applications, Laravel Developers will get any kind of support regarding development from the large community during app development.

Some of the most attractive features of the Laravel framework are its RESTful controllers, comprehensive packaging systems, and ORM. Another notable feature of this framework is a lightweight Blade template engine. Laravel extensive documentation allows developers to work without the fear of getting stuck.

2. Symfony

French-based SensioLabs developed this open-source framework initially and now it is under MIT license. Symfony is a great framework that supports building robust applications at an enterprise-level, and also allows full control over the configuration for Symfony developers. Symfony can be combined with more tools to ease developers’ test, debug and document projects. The extensive documentation, high-reliability, superior performance, modular project model, and stability are the great reasons to select this framework.

BBC, eZpublish, and Drupal are few popular organizations that built their applications on this framework. Great community support and excellent features will surely make this framework more popular in the coming years.

3. CodeIgniter

CodeIgniter is well known for its rapid development of apps. This framework is lightweight and pretty much straightforward to program and also arrives with a small footprint that can be simply uploaded instantly to your hosting without any concerns.

This framework doesn’t require any special commands or command-line arguments while installation. Zero configuration, Strong security, and clear documentation are strong points about this framework. In fact, you can start your project directly by uploading files.

4. Cake PHP

Cake PHP is the best framework for new developers who are confused in selecting the specific. Even new CakePHP developers can program complex commercial web applications without any hassles by practicing this PHP framework. The key point to remember is that CakePHP grants code generation and scaffolding functionalities to users, which in turn results in the creation of reliable and scalable apps.

Apart from that, the CakePHP framework also provides MVC conventions to developers, which will help you to finish your app development project without any issues. The several packages of the framework help to manage common functionalities in a simple and effective way.

5. Zend

Zend is also a popular PHP framework practiced for developing enterprise-level applications. This fascinating framework assists Zend developers in developing reliable and superior performing applications. The extensibility, security, and excellent performance are unique features of the framework.

This Framework has a huge collection of components that support authentication. In addition to components, The framework has plenty of tools for feeds, form validation services, and more. Finally, this framework is also equipped with a Zend Studio IDE, which simplifies the developer’s job.

6. Phalcon

The Phalcon PHP framework was launched in 2012 but it has gained huge popularity among developers in a couple of years. Recent studies conducted by experts in the discipline of programming and website designing have unveiled that the Phalcon was one of the most beloved choices of developers in 2018.

Phalcon framework is MVC- based and it also comprises a C-extension structure. Unlike other PHP frameworks, Phalcon is executed as a web server extension written in Zephir and C, striving to boost execution velocity, decrease resource usage, and handle manage more HTTP requests per second than other frameworks. Phalcon contains form builders, several data storage tools, and auto-loading components.

Phalcon 3.0.0 was released on 29 July 2016, this major release Term Support) release. Phalcon also chose SemVer for their next release versioning.

Conclusion

The fact is, PHP is a profound and astounding server-side scripting language that can be used for different types of app and web development projects. Selection specific framework that fulfills the requirement of the project is important. This task is quite confusing, but the developer must go through all the major frameworks once before starting the project.