CAKEPHP, CODEIGNITER OR LARAVEL – WHAT TO CHOOSE?

Questions such as which among the frameworks are best when it comes to development have become quite natural nowadays. The reason is the huge number of PHP frameworks that are available for enterprises to choose from. However the most popular among them are CakePHP, CodeIgniter and Laravel. Both the three frameworks are considered to have the ability to accelerate application development process to the next level.

Let us have a comparison between the above mentioned three frameworks. This would help you determine which of the following to be the best for your development process.

CakePHP

CakePHP is among the oldest of three frameworks. Moreover the huge participation of active community of developers makes it stand apart from the rest of its competitors. CakePHP developers are responsible for including new and advanced features on a regular basis so as to make the web application more powerful. The development, deployment and maintenance of web applications can be done in an enhanced way using CakePHP. Numerous other benefits are evident in CakePHP. Folders can be used for organizing codes which helps developers to save considerable time.
Benefits

• Easily understandable
• Built-in Object Relation Mapping
• Instant answers for any queries by the developer community for CakePHP
• Testing process can be done easily

Drawbacks

• Less Speed
• Default routes has to be updated for generating fancy URLs

CodeIgniter

CodeIgniter is the ideal choice when it comes to creating dynamic websites using PHP. A web application can be created within a very less time using this framework. Developers can give more focus on their creativity levels while doing project using this high-performance framework, since only reduced amount of code for the given task is required compared to other frameworks.

Advantages

• It is the most preferred choice for beginners in PHP web application development
• Exceptional support and immediate answers available for any doubts related to application development using CodeIgniter with the help of an active community
support

• Clear and structured documentation
• Enhanced stability
• Web pages can be cached for improved performance and reduced loading times

Disadvantages

• Class auto loading and ORM are not supported
• Older platform

Laravel

Laravel is the most advanced PHP framework that is comprised of unit testing support and built-in authentication. Stable and rapid development approach makes it one of the most preferred choices for PHP developers. Common tasks such as authentication, routing and sessions are simplified using this framework.

Benefits

• Good and comprehensive documentation designed to help both new users and experienced users alike
• Presence of built-i
ORM that is configurable and extendable
• Enhanced authentication capabilities
• Quick and effective template engine
• Developers can perform tasks such as database migration and cache clearing with the help of its own CLI

Drawbacks

• Slower bootstrapping
• Community support less compared to CakePHP and CodeIgniter

Conclusion

Each PHP framework has its own relevance and benefits. It can differ depending on your project requirements. However Laravel has an edge compared to its competitors especially owing to its elegant and advanced features.