Top PHP Frameworks for effective Web Development

Laravel is the regarded as the best of PHP Web Application Frameworks available to programmers. It was launched in 2011, keeping in mind the best features offered by other web application frameworks preceding it such as ASP.NET, Ruby on Rails and Sinatra to name a few. Laravel is accessible, easy to understand and implement, lightweight, secure and robust and has a simple, readable and elegant syntax, making it the first choice for web developers everywhere.

CodeIgniter is arguably the second most popular PHP framework used across the globe for Web Application Development. It was launched in 2006 and is very simple, easy to configure and most lightweight. CodeIgniter provides inherent protection against Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) and Cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks making websites developed using it more secure.

Symfony is the third most popular PHP framework in existence today. It was launched in 2005 by the web agency SensioLabs. Symfony framework is flexible and allows the web developers to keep the naming conventions used for classes built with PHP and therefore can be used across other platforms as well. Biggest advantage of using Symfony is that it is distributed under Open Source MIT license, which means that less coding limitations are imposed upon web applications developed.

YII Framework is an object-oriented PHP framework initially released in 2008. It utilizes the Model View Controller (MVC) principles and allows a greater degree of compatibility with other platforms. YII (pronounced ji) has a simple, hassle-free syntax that allows coders to easily manipulate its built-in functions to create websites. It allows for an extremely fast code generation backed by a stalwart code generator for PHP classes called “Gii” and offers a multi-level support system for caching and query building. YII framework has quickly taken over the web development industry by storm, due to its high-performance and fast loading.

CakePHP is a rapid application development framework that was launched in 2005. It is an open-source framework that is distributed under the MIT License allowing its users to forego commercial use restrictions. It follows the Model View Controller (MVC) conventions and is portable across many platforms. CakePHP offers features such as authentication, database access, caching to make web development easier for its users. It comes with built-in security features such as Cross-Site Request Forgery protection, SQL Injection Protection, Cross-site scripting protection and Form Tampering Protection.

Zend Framework is an open source web application framework for PHP. It was written in PHP 7 and was launched in 2006. This object oriented web framework is collection of professional PHP based packages. Zend Framework (ZF) supports Model View Controller (MVC) and Front Controller solution. Best features of Zend Framework are Use-at-will (loosely coupled) architecture, flexible caching, support for many database systems, RESTful API development and extensive developer support.

Phalcon is an open source web application framework of PHP. It was developed in 2012 and is licensed under New BSD license. It was designed as a web server extension in Zephir and C language. Benefits of Phalcon are high execution speed, reduction in resource usage and serving more HTTP requests per second. It was originally named "Spark" in draft phase in 2011. It was renamed to "Phalcon" to represent "PHP" and "falcon".

Slim is an open source web application framework for PHP. This micro framework allows to write simple and powerful web apps and APIs. Slim Framework is a relative new web framework of PHP. But it is gaining popularity due to its simple and robust design.

Fat-Free Framework is an open source web application framework of PHP. It was released in 2009 and is licensed under GNU General Public License. Also known as F3 among developers, it was built in PHP. Fat-Free Framework is a powerful and simple PHP micro-framework intended for making dynamic and robust web applications. It has full featured toolkit, super lightweight code base and comes with URL router, cache engine, and multilingual applications support. A number of optional plug-ins increase its core functionality.

FuelPHP is an open source web framework of PHP. Released in 2010, it is built in PHP and is licensed under MIT License. It implements the Hierarchical model–view–controller (HMVC) pattern, which is similar to presentation–abstraction–control (PAC) pattern. Fuel PHP Framework is flexible and offers modular and extensible support. It has URL routing system, RESTful implementation, Template parsing and a caching system.