PHP Frameworks: Their Advantages and Disadvantages, Preferred Usage Areas
Among all server-side programming languages, PHP frameworks are undoubtedly the most adaptable for learning. They are almost always installed even on the cheapest web hosting. They are also easy to set up on any working machine. Beginners with some experience in developing web pages in HTML and CSS can easily grasp the basic concepts.
LARAVEL
Required PHP Version – 7
Laravel is a comprehensive framework designed for rapid application development using the MVC architecture. Today, it is the most widely used among all PHP frameworks and has a huge number of fans among developers.
Pros:
- Presence of MVC architecture (including for PHP 7)
- Modular testing (FAST for HHVM)
- High level of abstraction
- Ability to avoid overloads using dynamic methods
- Huge number of built-in functional features
- Integration capabilities with the Stripe payment system
- Reliable data encryption system
PHALCON
Required PHP Version – 5.3
Phalcon is an MVC-oriented framework for PHP. Unlike other frameworks, Phalcon requires relatively few resources, leading to very fast processing of HTTP requests. It provides developers with tools for data storage, such as its own SQL dialect (PHQL) and Object Document Mapping for MongoDB. Other features include template engines, form builders, ease of application development with international language support, and more. Phalcon is an ideal choice for creating various REST APIs and full-fledged web applications.
Pros:
- High speed and low overhead
- Automatic loading
- Uniqueness – this framework was created as an extension of the C programming language
- Excellent built-in security features
- Abundance of documentation
- Developer-oriented
Cons:
- Does not work with HHVM
SYMFONY
Required PHP Version – 5.5.9
Symfony is the most popular framework for developing websites and web applications. Symfony components are a set of loosely coupled, reusable components that have been used to create applications such as Drupal, phpBB, and eZ Publish.
Pros:
- High performance thanks to bytecode caching
- Reliability
- Good documentation and support
- Well-supported, fully formed framework
Cons:
- Despite good documentation, this framework is quite challenging to learn.
CODEIGNITER
Required PHP Version – 5.4
CodeIgniter is a powerful PHP framework that occupies very little memory. It was created for developers who need a simple and elegant toolkit to create fully functional web applications.
Pros:
- Primarily focused on developers
- Does not require any additional dependent objects or other support
- Ability to use common web hosting services, using standard databases such as MySQL
- Outperforms most other frameworks (non-MVC)
- Good documentation and Long-Term Support (LTS)
Cons:
- Lack of namespaces, on the other hand, this can increase speed
- Inconvenient for modular testing compared to other similar frameworks
- Few libraries built directly into the framework
- Considered an outdated framework that does not support modern PHP features
- Security issues that have been apparent for many years and have not been addressed by the development team.
CakePHP
Required PHP Version – 5.5.9
CakePHP is a framework that simplifies and accelerates the application development process, requiring much less code. It is a modern framework for PHP 7, providing a more flexible level of database access and a powerful code generation system. Thanks to these features, developing both small and complex systems becomes easier, faster, and, of course, more enjoyable. If you want to develop quickly, CakePHP is exactly what you’ve been looking for.
Pros:
- Modern framework supporting PHP 5.5+
- Powerful code generation system, enabling rapid development
- Well-suited for developing commercial web applications (MIT license)
- Built-in database access, caching, validation, and authentication
- Extensive storage tools, including cross-site scripting prevention
- Prevention of cross-site attacks with script injection and SQL injection
- CSRF protection and form validation
- Good documentation
- Actively developed
Cons:
- Not as well-suited for developing Restful APIs as Laravel or other frameworks mentioned above.
Zend Framework
Required PHP Version – 5.6, 7.0
Zend is a framework that consists of professional PHP extensions with over 158 million installations. This framework is used for developing web applications and services using PHP 5.6+. It guarantees 100% object-oriented code using a wide range of language features. The Zend Framework uses Composer for package dependency injection, PHPUnit for testing all packages, and Travis CI for continuous integration testing.
Pros:
- Ideal for developing commercial applications
- Object-oriented
- Many components for validation, feeds, and forms
- Contains loosely coupled components
Cons:
- Not as suitable for rapid application development as other frameworks.
Slim Framework
Required PHP Version – 5.5
Slim is a micro-framework for PHP that helps you quickly develop small but powerful web applications and APIs.
Pros:
- Fastest available RESTful framework
- Adequate documentation for a successful start with the framework
- Ideal for developing small RESTful APIs
- Actively developed
- Add-ons include HTTP caching and Flash
Cons:
- Offers a limited number of possible add-ons during installation.
Yii PHP Framework
Advantages:
- Easy installation
- Yii is a fully object-oriented framework and leverages advanced PHP features.
- Yii framework is easily configurable to meet specific needs, with almost every framework component being extendable.
- Tightly integrated with Codeception
- Comes with a Security component that provides several methods to help create a more secure application.
- Provides tools to reduce time spent on non-priority tasks and focus on the core task.
- Easy to configure for better performance.
Disadvantages:
- Strong class coupling. Everything in the system inherits from CComponent.
- Access to models through static methods, allowing their use even where not needed.
- Weak integration of templating engines (Twig, Smarty) compared to native templates, which might be less desirable to use.