10 PHP Frameworks that Developers should Look Out for in 2022

With the expansion of technology, the horizon of web development has escalated in many quarters over the past few years. Some leading web development languages have contributed to the success of websites, such as JavaScript, PHP, HTML, and more.

Out of the above mentioned top web development languages, PHP comprises 78.1% of everything related to server-side web development. In addition, PHP has the largest ecosystem that helps the developers get a consultation during difficulties during any web development project.

Compared to its peers, it is simpler for developers to code in PHP, and thus they don’t take much time to get used to the language. It is also one of the major reasons behind the stupendous relevancy of PHP in the modern-day business world.

Therefore, we will have an in-depth look at the top-rated PHP frameworks that will make it big in 2022. We have listed the strength and weaknesses of all the PHP frameworks in the list so that our readers can get a clear idea of how to choose the right framework based on their business requirements.

Table of Contents

Top 10 PHP frameworks that will rule in 2022

One of the major reasons PHP is becoming the ‘go to’ web development framework is that it renders better performance and faster development. Moreover, it has great design patterns and tools to reduce the complexity of web development.

Now let us have a look at the leading PHP development frameworks:

1. Laravel

Laravel was first launched in 2011. This PHP development framework is an open-source platform that helps developers to face complexity during website development easily. Another reason for its longevity is that Laravel is faster than its peer frameworks.

Laravel has airtight features, and it is flexible as it evolves easily with the new development trends. Let us look at some of the advantages of the Laravel PHP development framework:

Advantages of Laravel:

It is a very developer-friendly framework
Laravel supports Redis and Memcached, which are cache backends
It has proper app documentation that helps developers in future references

Disadvantages of Laravel:

A bit component in Laravel is not well-designed
Its composer is not at par as compared to other PHP frameworks
Developers face a lack of continuity between the version 4 and version 5

2. Codeigniter

Codeigniter is a powerful and effective PHP framework used to create dynamic web apps. The apps developed through Codeigniter are versatile and secure as it has MVC architecture. The framework is lightweight and has a hassle-free installation process. Therefore, hire PHP developers who have experience in Codeigniter as it will help in escalating the overall web development process.

Advantages of Codeigniter:

The framework is free to use, is easily customizable and extensible
It has built-in security features
Codeigniter generates SEO-friendly URLs

Disadvantages of Codeigniter

Codeigniter requires detailed libraries to work on
The PHP framework doesn’t support the modular separation of the code by default

3. Yii framework

This PHP framework has gained attention over the years as it has a low learning curve and thus is best for even the rookie developers. Yii stands for Yes, It Is and supports MVC architecture. The data remains safe in the Yii framework as it has built-in security tools and comes with sane defaults to ensure that nothing is compromised in code security.

There is automatic code generation available in Yii, and this is where it tips Laravel off in the Yii vs Laravel framework battle.

Advantages of Yii

The framework supports fragment caching, dynamic content and web caching
It is highly extensible and super easy to set up
Yii can also prevent multiple types of external attacks

Disadvantages of Yii

The developers need to stay very organized during the development process while using Yii.
Although it has a low learning curve, the developers must know in detail about the PHP framework.

4. Aura

This framework is a little different from the ones mentioned in the list. Aura is a collection of PHP decoupled libraries, and despite this, it gets the job done in one of the most excellent ways. Along with being an open-source framework, Aura has a list of self-contained libraries used independently and can inculcate into any project.

Advantages of Aura

The Aura libraries can be used with any codebase.
The framework has an Aura Uri package that renders tools and builds URL strings.
Aura web package has tools to build web page controllers, a context class for discovering the request environment and more.

Disadvantages of Aura

The rookie developers might find it difficult to use the PHP development framework.

5. Phalcon

To use the Phalcon PHP framework, the web developers must be familiar with the C language. It is an AC extension and is popular for its incredible performance. Understanding C language is important as all the functional elements are represented as the PHP classes.

Some of the key features of Phalcon are top-notch security, caching, asset management, execution speed and more. Let us have a look at its advantages:

Advantages of Phalcon

It is one of the fastest PHP frameworks used for web development
Phalcon is suitable for projects irrespective of their sizes

Disadvantages of Phalcon

The process of debugging is not easy
Installing Phalcon is pretty difficult

6. Symfony

THE Symfony PHP framework is greatly used in businesses that want to scale their website for better reach. The framework is based on the MVC pattern and is a very modular component and flexible system. Moreover, Symfony has reusable components, and it would be safe enough to say that it has revolutionized the PHP framework in web development.

Advantages of Symfony

In the symphony, advanced functionalities and unit testing are possible.
It has 50 standalone and customizable components used in web development.
If a business enterprise is looking for a PHP framework for a longer time, they must opt for Symfony.

Disadvantages of Symfony

It doesn’t work intuitively.
The doctrine and ORM of Symfony are difficult to learn, and it also has a steeper learning curve.

7. CakePHP

For bootstrapped startups or budding startup enterprises looking to develop applications with fewer configurations, opting for CakePHP is the way to go. It is a simple PHP framework that builds feature-rich website applications.

The framework has a flexible database access layer and was one of the first MVC frameworks launched in the early 2000s.

Advantages of CakePHP

CakePHP has many built-in features such as authentication, validation, localization, etc.
It has modern security and comprehensive features.
Due to the convention methods, it becomes easier for the developers to build new apps.

Disadvantages of CakePHP

It doesn’t have an extensive developers’ community; thus, it might be difficult for the app developers to get assistance in their time of need.
There are consistency issues when CakePHP is upgraded from an older to a newer version.

8. Slim framework

Slim helps quickly develop powerful web applications that can do wonders on the business front. Whether your business requirement is to build scalable systems or use RESTful APIs for single page web apps, the Slim PHP framework can do everything. Thus, it will be safe to say that any business enterprise can use the PHP framework irrespective of its size.

Advantages of Slim framework

The developers can work with a lot of freedom with the Slim PHP framework
It follows the most updated software development practices, and it is a lightweight framework as well
The slim framework is famous for functionalities such as dependency injection, middleware and more

Disadvantages of Slim framework

It cannot handle more requests per second simultaneously despite being fast.
The developers have to install the ORM manually.

9. FuelPHP

FuelPHP is a full-stack framework that is highly stable, and it supports the MVC pattern. This framework has great security features such as output encoding, XSS, CSRF protection, URI filtering, etc. FuelPHP also has excellent extensibility and modularity as compared to the other frameworks.

Advantages of FuelPHP

It is used to debug the code, run tasks and generate components.
FuelPHP allows the developers to build end-to-end web
It has the best data security policies among all the PHP frameworks

Disadvantages of FuelPHP

The developers would take time to get used to the framework as it has a steeper learning curve.

10. Zend framework

This open-source PHP web app framework was first launched in 2006, and since then, it has been extensively used because of its high-end security features. It supports different relational database systems such as SQLite, Oracle, IBM, MySQL, etc. Moreover, the developers can write bug-free and crash-proof codes in the Zend framework as it has an object-oriented PHP 5 feature.

Advantages of the Zend framework

It has a simple cloud API and a loosely coupled framework
It renders high performance and renders integration with PHPUnit for better testing
Zend framework supports developing RESTful APIs and is highly customizable

Disadvantages of Zend Framework

The open-source framework has expensive plugins.
The developers need to spend more time understanding that the framework has a steep learning curve.

Concluding thoughts

The horizon of web development is bound to increase by leaps and bounds in 2022, and these top 10 PHP frameworks will help businesses keep up with the pace. The list of frameworks will help the organizations to make more informed decisions according to their business requirements as all the frameworks mentioned above have different work utilization.

Therefore, it is up to the enterprises to select the right PHP framework and make their website big in 2022 and in times to come.