Top 7 PHP Frameworks and Platforms in 2021


PHP is an open-source and object-oriented, server-side scripting language. PHP stands for Hypertext Pre-processor. PHP is generally used to develop Static or Dynamic websites and Web applications. A PHP framework is a platform that provides a basic structure for the development of web applications. The framework provides code libraries and helps to increase the speed of the development process.

The main reasons for using PHP frameworks are.

  1. Faster Development.
  2. Minimum Code to Write.
  3. Libraries for Common Tasks.
  4. Good Coding Practice.
  5. More Secure.
  6. Better Teamwork.
  7. Easier to maintain.

PHP Frameworks:

It’s really difficult to get a definitive list of PHP frameworks, and here are some most popular frameworks used currently:

1. Laravel:

Introduced in 2011, Laravel is one of the most popular free open-source PHP frameworks for web development and was developed by Taylor Otwell. Laravel can handle simple as well as complex web applications securely and simplifies the development process by sessions, routing, authentication and caching. Laravel provides a range of security features and methods such as authentication, authorization, email verification, encryption, hashing and password reset.

2. CodeIgniter

CodeIgniter is a lightweight framework and helps to build web applications easily as it has a minimum configuration. This framework is suitable for building dynamic websites. This framework provides a set of libraries and an interface to accelerate PHP web application development. CodeIgniter is generally used for building lightweight web applications and APIs. The main pros of CodeIgniter are speed, the framework’s light footprint, flexible and supports multiple methods of caching.

3. Moodle

Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment (Moodle) is a free web application framework written in PHP and distributed under the GNU General Public License. It is the world’s most popular learning management system. Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment has an owned, customized MVC based framework. Moodle is generally used to construct Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) and create online courses that focus on collaboration and interaction. Moodle also offers features such as online calendars, assignment submissions, discussion forums, file downloading, online quizzes and grading capabilities.

4. Magento

Magento is an open-source e-commerce platform written in PHP that was launched on March 31, 2008 and uses multiple other PHP frameworks such as Laminas, Zend and Symfony. Magento is a secure and fully customizable e-commerce platform with many features, which makes it one of the leading and most comprehensive development tools. It can easily integrate with many of the third-party sites to run an effective E-commerce website. Magento is written in advanced object-oriented idiom that uses the MVC pattern and XML configuration files to ensure extensibility and flexibility.

5. Symfony

Symfony framework was launched in 2005. It is not just a PHP web development framework but also a collection of PHP components for building websites. Symfony is a highly flexible, reliable and matured platform. Symfony offers a set of 50 stand-alone reusable PHP components and can develop micro services, web applications and APIs. This framework component is used by popular content management systems such as OroCRM, Drupal and PHPBB (PHP Bulletin Board). Symfony supports most databases out of other PHP frameworks and a few are Drizzle, MySQL, Oracle, PostgreSQL, SQLite, SQLServer etc.

6. CakePHP

CakePHP is an open-source PHP framework and serves up with a clean and fast development process. CakePHP enables you to build scalable and secure web applications, including e-commerce and social network applications. This framework is good for commercial application projects since it offers high-end security features like cross-site request forgery protection, SQL injection prevention and cross-site scripting protection among many others. CakePHP has its own inbuilt ORM, which is easy, simple and quick.

7. Phalcon

Phalcon is a full-stack PHP framework built for speed. Phalcon was released in 2012 and has been updated continuously. This framework was originally written in C and PHP programming languages. Phalcon offers many features such as blazing-fast performance, caching, ORM, templating, and security. The main advantages of using Phalcon are:

  1. Low-level architecture.
  2. Phalcon optimizes performance due to its efficient memory utilization.
  3. It is faster because code is compiled rather than interpreted.
  4. It natively supports MySQL, SQLite and PostgreSQL.
  5. Phalcon enables us to build both single and multi-module MVC applications.
  6. Easy to install and suitable for creating highly configurable web applications.

Choose Techversant Infotech as your preferred PHP web development company for scalable, secure and advanced web applications. With our 13+ years of hands-on PHP experience, we have built 1500+ successful projects in various domains like Healthcare, E-commerce, Entertainment, E-learning, Travel and Tourism, Advertisements, News, Automotive, Banking and Finance, Logistic & Transportation, etc. Do you have any projects to implement? Contact us now: services@techversantinfotech.com