It is known that PHP is the most widely used modern programming language for developing websites. About 80% of the total websites are built in PHP. This means that there would have been millions of code files and it would be unreal to code each one of them from the scratch.
Therefore, to avoid the trouble of writing code repeatedly, PHP developers use frameworks, which not only enable them to reuse the code but also help them build scalable web applications in the least possible time.
Coding environments like Yii, Codeigniter, Phalcon, Slim are some of the advanced PHP web development frameworks. Today, under our radar we have the two most prominent tools, Laravel and Symfony. We’ll bring out a comparison between them on different grounds like performance, scalability, libraries, features and listing out benefits of each so that you don’t face a dilemma while building your next website and opt for an optimal solution.
Launched in 2011, Laravel has grown to be the most popular PHP framework. With 16k+ packages, plenty of support material and a vibrant community of developers, it is a go-to web development framework for developers to create stunning websites. While Symfony, on the other hand, has over 7k packages, thousands of reusable components and libraries that make it easier for developers to build scalable yet robust websites.
Both the frameworks are multilingual, platform-independent, support multi-user functionality, external pages, user statistics, revision control, machine code generation and come with features like scaffolding and full-text search.
Performance and scalability
Laravel processes code requests faster than Symfony. Consider the following as a proof.
A sample one-page web app was built with the task to extract 1,000 items from a database with a unique title, price and stock, order all of them, update stock in the database and calculate the total order price. Here are the results for the same.
| Testing | Symfony (seconds) | Laravel (seconds) |
|---|---|---|
| Apache (10 requests, 1 user) | 15.35 | 6.50 |
| Apache (1 000 requests, 10 users) | 638.56 | 202.66 |
| NginX (10 requests, 1 user) | 7.53 | 6.44 |
| NginX (1 000 requests, 10 users) | 658.73 | 211.85 |
Courtesy– thinkmobiles.com
Both the PHP frameworks use MVC architecture to develop web applications, but Symfony steals the show with its ability to reuse development components, which not only help developers in case of complex projects but also offer better modularity and faster development.
Twig and Blade are the template engines for Symfony and Laravel development, respectively. Blade is considered superior to the former due to code reusability. Twig requires defining of functions multiple times which is not the case with the other counterpart.
Advantages of Laravel development
- It uses an advanced query builder mechanism for defining constraints in multiple database objects.
- It simplifies migration management.
- It does not require manual maintenance.
- It helps in creating new tools with an IoC container.
- Laravel Developers can declare new events in the application using “event object”. This makes the process faster, unlike the regular mechanism.
- There are ready-to-use authentication components, which you, as a web developer, need to configure.
- An extensive database of libraries and packages.
- A comprehensive documentation and ready-to-assist community of developers.
Advantages of Symfony development
- It comes with numerous scalability options like ‘propel’ and ‘join.’
- If used wisely, Symfony is faster than many other PHP frameworks.
- It is highly adaptive to developers’ needs.
- It comes with unique HTTP and HTTP cache handling that enhances the performance of the app being developed.
- There are several advanced features like ESI for separating each part of your application for better performance.
- Its ability to reuse development components reduces overhead costs.
Final words
The selection of a web development framework is one aspect of building a revolutionary web application, which isn’t possible without considering developers’ expertise, project’s needs and features to be incorporated. Consider each aspect closely before you choose a framework for website development. Hire PHP developers who are skilled, proficient and know the technicalities and criticalities of the digital landscape.
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