Laravel vs CakePHP – Which One is Best for Web App Development?

For a long time, the tug-of-war between different PHP frameworks is on. Every entrepreneur wants to build the best web app or website, so selecting the right technology is crucial. PHP is the most popular technology for developing dynamic web apps or websites today. Further, PHP frameworks are one reason behind the popularity of this technology.

Nevertheless, Laravel and CakePHP are two very prominent PHP frameworks that come with a lot of benefits. But, choosing between Laravel and CakePHP can be a challenge. Not sure whether you should choose Laravel web development or CakePHP? We will draw a comparison between Laravel vs CakePHP to find out which is best for web app development.

Let’s get started!

Evolutions in web development technologies are making a mark to build robust and efficient solutions. PHP is at the center of web development technology that has gained popularity since its inception. It helps enhance productivity, reduces labor work, and minimizes the efforts needed to perform developmental tasks. The PHP framework adds icing to the cake and brings web development to a whole new level. Let’s have a quick comparison of Laravel vs CakePHP frameworks.

Table of Contents

Laravel

Laravel has emerged as the most popular and powerful PHP framework supporting MVC (Model-View-Controller) or architectural model. It offers enhanced productivity to build efficient websites and web applications. Thanks to the architectural model or MVC with Laravel, the developers can separate a website layout from its business logic.

As an open-source and free PHP framework, Laravel is accessible easily. As a result, the cost of Laravel web development is reduced because of no license fees. Further, the framework offers lots of excellent features and benefits for developing various web solutions. Interestingly, Laravel is convenient for quick deployment, templating, ORM, database query, routing, listing, and more. All of this is possible because of its vast ecosystem.

Salient features of Laravel

Eloquent ORM

Eloquent ORM is one of the critical features of the Laravel framework that allows developers to work with different databases efficiently. The PHP active work record implementation enables PHP developers to utilize PHP syntax for writing database queries instead of using SQL syntax.

Artisan

It’s an in-built command-like tool that automates repetitive tasks and helps manage various packages.

Template engine

Laravel offers a templating engine that enables developers to create attractive and user-friendly layouts. They offer widgets easy to integrate with CSS and JS code.

MVC architecture

Laravel supports an MVC architectural pattern that helps separate the presentation layer from the business logic of a web app or website. Laravel’s MVC architecture provides in-built functions, scalability, increased security, and app performance.

Unit testing

The framework can run many unit tests to ensure that any change doesn’t break a web app.

Security

Laravel offers uber security and doesn’t save passwords as plain database text but uses salted and hashed password techniques.

CakePHP

CakePHP is a perfect choice if you are looking for an open-source, free, and rapid development PHP framework. When developing any web application, it plays a foundational structure. With other technologies, you can hire magnificent CakePHP developers for your web app to work in a structured and rapid manner without losing flexibility.

It’s also interesting to know that many Laravel developers agree that CakePHP breaks the monotony. The reason for this is that it eliminates the need for developing web apps from scratch.

Salient features of CakePHP

MVC architecture

The MVC architecture targets all modern web development requirements. Further, CakePHP helps in working on different development aspects in a very planned data processing system.

Extend with plugins

CakePHP allows developers to reuse code and build on existing functionalities by extending them Helpers, Behaviors, Components, and extensions.

ORM

ORM is helpful for connecting various types of databases to a compatible variety by creating compliant class objects. It also helps deafening relationship validation components, tables, predefined resources, and more.

CRUD Scaffolding

CRUD is Create, Read, Update, and Delete, and it allows the creation of a web app that is extremely useful to create, update, and modify content. It offers complete control over the production dynamics and outcome.

Built-in testing

Its built-in testing features make it possible to maintain and improve code.

Laravel vs CakePHP: Comparison table

Basis	Laravel	CakePHP
Performance	It offers high-end performance for bigger projects.	It offers faster performance compared to Laravel when the datasets are small.
Architecture	Laravel uses MVC architecture as well as two-way data binding.	CakePHP uses HMVC architecture. It doesn’t offer data binding.
Templating	It offers templates through dynamic HTML.	It uses Underscore templates which are not as functional as Laravel’s.
Testing	Performance testing is preferred in Laravel than CakePHP.	Testing experience for single page apps and it is less preferred for multi page testing.
Routing	It implements two-binding that makes it a bit complex. So, for routing CakePHP is more preferable than Laravel	With absence of any data binding it offers a simple approach for routing.
Back and handing	Laravel has a better approach in this perspective.	Data backup and handling is less effective than Laravel.

Final note

Picking the right technology for your web application development project is essential as it is the foundation for your web solution. Laravel and CakePHP are two prevalent and robust technologies to develop excellent web apps. Laravel is a perfect choice if you want to create a large-scale project, and CakePHP is more effective for small-scale projects. But the choice of Laravel vs CakePHP depends on your project and its complexity. You can choose a marvellous Laravel development company to develop a top-notch web app. You can go for CakePHP web development if it fits all your needs.

Author Bio

Emily White is an experienced PHP developer at CSSChopper, which is a prominent PHP development company. Emily is not only a developer but she is also a curious writer and loves to write informative blogs and articles for her audience. She enjoys writing with a mug of hot coffee.