PHP Frameworks Guide & Top 10 Best PHP Framework 2019

PHP is used by almost 83% of websites across the world and is thus one of the widely used languages for web design and development throughout the world. Rasmond Lerdoff did not develop it as a programming language. It originated simply to manage his personal website. But later the official version was released in 1997 after many months of beta tests and improvement work. PHP was earlier abbreviated as Personal Home Page but it is better known as Hypertext Preprocessor now.
The latest version PHP 7 was aimed to optimize PHP performance by refactoring the Zend Engine and make use of more compact data structures with improved cache locality while retaining near-complete language compatibility. A framework is used for its faster development, easier maintainability, fewer issues, and better security reasons.

Why use a top PHP Framework?

There are some pretty reasons for using PHP frameworks:

Organization of code and file is extremely easy
Numerous libraries and tools are available that can help in form validation, database abstraction, input/output filtering, session, and cookie handling, and managing email, calendar, and pagination etc.
Most of the frameworks follow MVC model architecture
Frameworks help out with less code which ultimately speeds up development
Frameworks come with various input and output filtering functions that add an additional security layer to protect the website against certain attacks.
Frameworks suit well to teamwork
With active community support, frameworks come with a solution for any query very quickly

Line Up of Best PHP Frameworks in 2019

1. Laravel

It continues to be the most favored and widely used PHP framework since 2015. Laravel simplifies the authorization logic and control access to resources. It supports object-oriented libraries that come along with many pre-installed features. Tools like Artisan are included and help perform tedious programming tasks which are otherwise manually performed by most of the programmers. It also has support for MVC architecture like Symphony that ensures clarity in logic and presentation.

2. CakePHP

The best thing about CakePHP is its 100% backward compatibility that makes it instantly upgradable. Although it does not adapt to newer PHP habits it has shown some consistency in form of stable releases. Going with Fat Models, Skinny Controller and automatic routing approach imply most of the work is automated.

3. Zend Framework

Re-usability of code is the biggest advantage of Zend framework. Imbibing all the goodness of object-oriented approach, making use of just what you need and removing other things, a package full of tools, components, and libraries, liberty to choose own model, a large community with elaborated documentation acts as an addendum to its richness and usability.

4. Symfony

Flexibility, reliability, ease of testing, long-term support, large community, elaborated documentation are some of the pluses that go in favor of Symphony as a programming framework.

5. Codeigniter

MVC Architecture, no server requirements, easily extendable and understandable, package full of libraries, components, and tools, built-in libraries, comes without installation, built-in security tools, database abstraction, active community support, and extensive documentation and above everything, the ExpressionEngine allows re-using libraries and functions.

6. Yii2

Easy to Install, Modern Technologies, Highly Extensible, Provision for Testing, Simple to implement Security, Short Development Time, Better Performance, Swift Error Handling, Logging and making use of theme

7. Phalcon

Easy to install, usage of modern technologies, highly extensible, integration of Codeception encourages testing the code for the application, simplified security, short development time, and better performance makes it a framework to create modern web applications that also perform well.

8. Aura

Aura is an open source, UI framework used to build PHP applications that are dynamic and flexible, scalable and extensible. Tag-based layout & component definition, a strongly typed event model with Encapsulated UI development, extends, implements, abstract – Object-oriented programming behavior, controllers, models, CSS, markup and static resources, comes with integrated support for functional and performance testing, and responsive (mobile ready).

9. Slim

It’s a micro framework, a core set of tools that yields quick development, is easy to learn, lightweight, secure, has HTTP methods, can be used to develop both small and large websites and an elaborated documentation

10. Fatfree

It’s a powerful PHP framework, which is known for its high speed, high modularity, clean and comprehensive documentation, comes without coding or directory structure, multiple view engines, easy to learn, implement and for creating robust web applications.

The Forthcoming Best PHP Alternatives

Off and on programmers pick new skills and languages to stay relevant with changing technologies and the way IT and related industries function. Many such high level, object oriented, server –side scripting languages, that are comparable to PHP are (in no particular order):

Javascript
Python
Java
Go
Ruby
C#
Elixir
Erlang
C++
Rust

Without skipping, Node.js for sure makes a mark in this illustrative list, as it has learnt from the mistakes of other languages that include .NET, PHP and Java, and has little legacy crud, to become one of the best alternatives to PHP programming language.

The Closing Section

It can get really difficult to select the right PHP development framework to create web applications of choice. We at Simpliv have been making use of various PHP development frameworks to build PHP applications on regular basis. We have tried and tested various PHP frameworks from time to time where Laravel development tops our list. On one hand, it propels you to create secure and testable web applications, as the features can be used in the same manner as are provided, some others can also be customized to suit to the needs of the application. We really encourage you to check out some frameworks for your next web project. Hire PHP developers from our team of experts to incite your next web project. Would you like a free instant quote? We’re here for you!