Top 7 Php Frameworks For Web Applications

By Author: alanwatson
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It’s hard to decide which of the numerous PHP frameworks out there you should use when building your next web application. Every PHP framework has its own benefits and drawbacks, but one thing’s certain: these frameworks are making it possible to write better code, faster. In this guide, we’ll discuss some of the top PHP frameworks out there today and explain why they’re so popular. We’ll also discuss a few things to keep in mind as you decide which framework is right for you.

#1 Laravel
Laravel is a free, open-source PHP web framework. It was created by Taylor Otwell and intended to make web development more enjoyable by taking care of as much of that development work as possible. Its key features are expressive, elegant syntax with a clean structure, built-in support for many components used in web projects like templating (Blade), HTTP request routing, a modular packaging system with automatic class loading, dependency injection, and out of box support for unit testing (which comes included with every project). Laravel enables developers to write better code faster than before. Laravel provides tons ...
... of useful features to help your development workflow.

#2 Yii2
Yii2 is an MVC framework based on a model-view-controller approach that was developed by Guillermo Rauch and is backed by a strong community of developers. Yii2 also supports integration with other frameworks, including Zend Framework 2, Symfony 2, and Laravel. Some of its core features include support for RESTful web services, user authentication, and session management, model caching with PSR-6 implementation, and input filtering. In addition to all these features, Yii2 comes loaded with tools to make your development environment easier to work in: debugger, profiler, and code quality assurance tools like linter and PHPMD.

#3 Slim framework
Slim is a micro framework that helps you quickly write simple yet powerful web applications and APIs. Weighing in at less than 3KB, it's one of the smallest full-featured frameworks around. Slim is built on top of Sinatra, which does most of its work via middleware; in turn, it exposes a very simple interface for defining routes and methods. If your application needs are straightforward—you want to serve JSON over HTTP, or get input from HTML forms—Slim is an excellent choice because writing apps with it involves almost no configuration.

It can handle everything but complex tasks like sessions or cookies (though plugins are available). Not every feature required by more sophisticated apps will be available out of the box—the logging system isn't great, for example—but as an ultra-lightweight foundation layer to start from, Slim works perfectly well. Thanks to some clever design decisions from its creator Tobias Lütke and clean design by Jacques Guerdon, developers coming from other languages like Ruby find themselves up and running fairly quickly.

#4 Phalcon
Phalcon is a web framework implemented as a C extension offering high performance and lower resource consumption. Phalcon uses Zephyr, its own lightweight, high-level language based on lexical elements. By doing so, Phalcon PHP developers are not forced to use only PHP syntax and they can be more productive in creating applications in less time. This web framework has been created to help application developers focus on delivering business value instead of spending time writing basic functionality like input validation or making HTTP requests. Phalcon tries to solve problems you face every day when building PHP applications with simple and intuitive solutions that just work without all of those configuration files, code generators, and complex class hierarchies.

#5 CakePHP
Cake PHP is a custom web development framework, somewhat similar to Rails. It provides scaffolding tools, an Active Record/Data Mapper implementation, doesn't require much setup or configuration. It comes with helpers for text translations, caching, validation, authorization backends, CSRF and XSS protection, and templating. It follows the Web-MVC scheme, centralized route dispatching, less efficient class-by-class autoloading (in contrast to PSR-0), etc.

The Cake Software Foundation develops Cake PHP as free and open-source software under the MIT License. One look at our growing list of resources and you'll know why choosing Laravel is a no-brainer. Laravel attempts to take the pain out of development by easing common tasks used in the majority of web projects, such as authentication, routing, sessions, and caching.

#6 Zend framework
Zend framework is an open-source that started in 2001, which makes it one of the oldest frameworks in existence. Despite its age, Zend is a viable option thanks to its stable community and documentation. The latest version, 3.0 (released October 10th, 2014), still boasts an active and engaged community with a large number of contributors. This is important because it means there are plenty of resources available to developers who want to use it.

#7 CodeIgniter
CodeIgniter is a powerful framework that will enable you to rapidly develop web applications using object-oriented programming. The CodeIgniter library has a simple core, provides great flexibility, and enables you to use multiple database systems in your application. In addition, it integrates with other libraries through functions and classes without difficulty. CodeIgniter is perfect if you want to create powerful web applications quickly. It can be used as an API or controller layer in LAMP stacks.

Conclusion
Although there are many frameworks available, our PHP development company has selected just a few that we think are worth knowing. From free and simple to enterprise-level, each of these has something special to offer your development experience, and hopefully one of them will help you deliver better results in less time. Now it’s up to you to decide which framework is best suited for your unique situation. Good luck!