Top PHP Frameworks Available for 2017

In 2016, many web developers switched to PHPP 7.0.0 to avail several new functions, engine exceptions and language features, along with enhanced speed and reduced resource consumptions. But the web developers still need a variety of PHP frameworks to simplify and speedup development of modern, complex, and secure web applications. Most of these PHP frameworks are open source, and can be used by programmers without increasing project overheads.

But PHP frameworks differ from each other in the category of functionality, performance and support. Hence, the smart developers always pick PHP framework according to specific needs of each project. According to the usage statistics posted on various websites, the popularity of individual PHP frameworks differs. But there are a number of PHP frameworks whose popularity will remain intact in 2017.

Overview of 10 PHP Frameworks that will Remain Popular in 2017

1) Laravel

Laravel enables developers to accomplish common tasks like authentication, session management, routing and caching by writing expressive code. It further provides a variety of tools to speed up development of large and complex web applications. Also, it makes it easier for programmers to conduct unit test to assess the impact of changes made to the code at various stages of development. Laravel also comes with a template engine called Blade that allows programmers to reduce performance overheads by writing plain PHP code in the templates.

2) Symfony

Symfony comes with features to help programmers to create and maintain PHP web applications without putting extra time and effort. It enables developers to add functionality to the website by adding a variety of prefabricated components. At the same time, it also allows them to use third-party software components. Thus, it becomes easier for programmers to enhance the website’s functionality and performance by adding a variety of software components. The users also have option to perform unit testing by using popular frameworks like PHPUnit. They also have option to speed up development of complex application by using the full-stack version of the framework.

3) CodeIgniter

CodeIgniter is one of the mature and well-maintained PHP frameworks available in the market. Despite being lightweight and easy-to-configure, it is faster than other frameworks. It further provides a variety of tools to speed up development of complex web applications. Along with providing a rich set of libraries, CodeIgniter further allows programmers to access them through a simplified interface and logical structure. The developers also have option to load additional libraries dynamically according to the requirements of the project. As CodeIgniter supports model-view-controller (MVC) design pattern, it becomes developers to reduce coding time by keeping the business logic and presentation layers of the application separate.

4) CakePHP

CakePHP comes with features to help programmers to create prototypes and build applications rapidly. The developers can avail the code generation feature of CakePHP to create prototypes of the application easily. At the same time, they can further avoid writing longer lines of code by availing built-in features for database access, authentication, validation, translation, and caching. The users can further start using CakePHP simply after setting the database up. CakePHP further guides programmers to handle all aspects of the application efficiently, while supporting MVC design pattern.

5) Zend Framework

Along with being a mature PHP framework, Zend is also being used by several large websites. The open source framework enables programmers to create websites by using object-oriented code. The modular structure of Zend further makes it easier for users to combine its building blocks with other frameworks and libraries. As Zend is designed a collection of classes, the programmers can load the required components as individual libraries. Also, they can use ZendService to access popular web services by implementing client-side libraries. However, many programmers feel that Zend has a more difficult learning curve. Also, they have to take care of a number of complicated configurations. Zend still comes with features to speed up development of large-scale web applications.

6) Yii

Yii is one of the high-performance PHP frameworks available in the market. As it supports MVC pattern, it becomes easier for programmers to reduce the development time by keeping the business logic and user interface separate. At the same time, they can easily boost the application’s performance by availing powerful caching support provided by Yii. Yii further helps developers to work with AJAX more efficiently. It further makes user input collection through forms more secure by providing validators, widgets and helper methods. Also, it comes with features to protect the application from SQL injection and cross-site scripting attacks. The developers can further use Yii to perform unit tests and functionality testing without putting any extra time and effort.

7) Phalcon

Phalcon is a modern PHP framework which is designed with focus on speed. Unlike other frameworks, Phalcon is a PHP extension written in C programming language. So it consumes lower resources while delivering optimized performance. As Phalcon is loosely coupled, the programmers have option to use the framework fully or its specific parts as glue components. They can further download and install the framework as a PHP module. Phalcon further provides features to accomplish common tasks like database access, authentication, transaction, messaging, caching, queuing, template engine, form builder, and routing.

8) Slim

As its name indicates, Slim is a micro PHP framework. But it comes with features speed up web application and API development. The developers can further use Slim easily by using Composer for dependency management. Slim further comes with a fast RESTful Framework and add-ons from HTTP caching and Flash. In addition to supporting PHP 7, Slim also provides developers with a robust HTTP router and enables them to manage external tools efficiently by supporting dependency injection. However, the users have to install a number of add-ons additionally to add functionality to the web application.

9) FuelPHP

FuelPHP is one of the widely used full-stack web frameworks for PHP. In addition to being flexible and modular, the PHP frameworks further simplifies development of complex web applications by supporting MVC development paradigm. Also, it is compatible with PHP 7, and helps programmers to build secure web applications by using a built-in authentication framework. The developers can further enhance the security of their applications through output encoding, XSS filtering, input filtering and SQL injection prevention. Also, they can simplify development of large and complex web applications by dividing the software into application modules, and including addition functionalities in packages.

10) PHPixie

Despite being younger than other PHP frameworks, PHPixie is hugely popular among PHP web developers due to its fast performance and robust components. It further allows users to use the components without using the framework. Also, the users are not required to couple the components or use static code. They can further use PHPUnit additionally to assess the quality of the application code by generating a comprehensive code coverage report. PHPixie further enables developers to add functionality to the web application without writing additional code by availing components for user authentication, database access, code debugging, image manipulation, dependency injection, form validation, template generation and ORM.

However, there are a number of factors which will affect the popularity of each PHP framework in 2017. The smart web developers will always opt for frameworks that support PHP 7 and come with features to meet the emerging enterprise trends. Hence, the popularity of individual PHP frameworks may keep fluctuating throughout the year.