There are many PHP frameworks available, so, why should you choose Laravel for your next project? In this article, we’ll explore why Laravel is the best PHP framework, some of its key features and benefits, and the types of projects it is best suited for.
What is Laravel: PHP Framework
Laravel is a free and open-source PHP web framework created by Taylor Otwell. It follows the model-view-controller (MVC) architectural pattern and is designed to enable the rapid development of web applications. According to BuiltWith, there are a total of 721,598 websites using Laravel in 2022. With its growing popularity, many businesses are opting for Laravel development services to build their websites and web applications.
But what makes Laravel so special? Let’s take a look at some of its key features.
Why is Laravel the best PHP framework?
There are many reasons why Laravel is the best PHP framework. Here are some of its key features and benefits:
- Community
Laravel has one of the strongest PHP frameworks with its own ecosystem. The Laravel community provides support and guidance to users who need help with their web development projects. With the help of the community, you can easily find solutions to your problems.
- Simplicity
Laravel is designed to be simple and easy to use. It comes with an intuitive syntax that makes it easy to read and understand. Laravel also provides extensive documentation that makes it easy to learn and use.
- Flexibility
Laravel is highly flexible and provides a wide range of features that can be used to develop web applications. It also supports multiple databases, including MySQL, PostgreSQL, and SQLite.
- Security
Laravel is a secure framework that helps protect your web application from attacks. It comes with a built-in security feature that allows you to encrypt your data. Laravel also has a robust authentication system that helps you protect your web application from unauthorised access.
- Traffic Management
Laravel comes with a built-in traffic management system that helps you manage your web traffic. It also provides a way to monitor your web traffic and track your visitors.
- Object-Oriented Libraries
Laravel comes with a set of object-oriented libraries that can be used to develop web applications. These libraries are designed to make your web development process easier and faster.
- Command Line Interface
Laravel has a command line interface (CLI) that allows you to access its features and functions. This CLI helps you to manage your web application and perform various tasks. With this CLI, you can update, install, and remove packages. You can also generate code, run tests, and perform other tasks.
- Open Source
Laravel is an open-source framework that can be used by anyone to develop web applications. It is also available for free and can be downloaded from its official website.
- Caching
Laravel provides a built-in caching system that can be used to store data in the cache. With this, you can easily retrieve user-related data from all the view routes. This caching system also helps you to improve the performance of your web application.
- IoC Container
Laravel comes with an IoC container that helps you to manage your web application. This container helps you to resolve your dependencies and manage your web application.
Who uses Laravel?
Laravel is used by a wide range of companies and organisations. Some of its notable users include:
Laracasts
Laracasts is a popular video tutorial website that uses Laravel to power its web application. It offers a wide range of video tutorials on Laravel and other web development topics.
Barchart
Barchart is a financial data and information website that uses Laravel to power its web application. It provides real-time data and information on financial markets.
Laravel vs Other Frameworks
Laravel is often compared to other PHP frameworks, such as CodeIgniter and CakePHP. Here’s a brief comparison of Laravel with these two popular frameworks:
CodeIgniter
CodeIgniter is a popular PHP framework that is known for its simplicity and ease of use. It offers a wide range of features, but its flexibility is limited. CodeIgniter is also less secure than Laravel.
With CodeIgniter, you need to write more code to achieve the same result as Laravel. It also lacks some of the advanced features that Laravel offers, such as a authentication and object-oriented libraries.
CakePHP
CakePHP is another popular PHP framework that is known for its ease of use and flexibility. It offers a wide range of features and is very secure. However, CakePHP is not as easy to use as Laravel.
CakePHP also lacks some of the advanced features that Laravel offers, such as a command line interface and object-oriented libraries. It also doesn’t have as much documentation as Laravel.
What’s new in Laravel 9?
Laravel 9 was released on 8th February 2022 with new features like controller route group, accessor/mutator improvement, and full-text indexers.
- Controller route group
The controller route group feature in Laravel 9 helps you organise your web application’s routes. It also allows you to use common routes as controller actions route groups. This will help you keep your web application’s routes organised and easy to manage.
- Accessor/mutator improvement
The accessor/mutator improvement in Laravel 9 helps you to easily define accessors and mutators. This will help you to better manage your data and make your web development process more efficient.
- Removed server.php file
The server.php file in Laravel 9 has been removed. This will help you to reduce the number of files in your web application and make your development process more efficient.
There are also other features of Laravel 9 that are not mentioned in this article. You can learn more about them in the official Laravel 9 documentation.
Things to be aware of when building with Laravel
Although Laravel is a popular PHP Framework, it still has some drawbacks. One of its main cons is that it has frequent updates. Laravel often releases new minor and major updates every year, which can require developers to put in more effort to stay up to date. Additionally, projects built in Laravel may need to update in order to access new features and avoid deprecated code.
Another downside of Laravel is that it can be quite slow when compared to frameworks of other languages, such as JavaScript or C. By design, PHP can be slower than JavaScript or C due to its synchronous nature. This can be offset by using Serverless technologies such as AWS Lambda to ensure your Laravel projects are fast and scalable.
Other drawbacks of Laravel include its lack of certain in-built libraries and functions when compared to other frameworks, such as Django. This can be limiting for developers who want to use more advanced features. However, you can use third-party libraries to overcome this limitation.
What kind of software project is good to use Laravel?
Laravel is one of the best options for large-scale web applications because it is scalable. With its growing popularity, it’s no wonder that Laravel is being used more and more for everything from small websites to enterprise-level applications.
If you’re looking to hire Laravel developers, then look no further than Trienpont International. We have a team of experienced developers who can help you with all your needs. Contact us today to get started.
