Laravel vs Symfony vs Zend: Which PHP framework is the best?
When choosing PHP frameworks, you should thoroughly consider your project’s requirements before selecting one. The three critical aspects of the framework are its functionality, security features, and documentation.
This article will discuss the most popular PHP frameworks, such as Laravel, Symfony, and Zend, to discover the best of the three in terms of advantages and disadvantages in database support, installation, templating engine, and rapid development.
Brief Introduction: Laravel, Symfony & Zend
To begin with, here is an introduction to the three frameworks. Laravel, Symfony, and Zend.
Laravel
The most popular and extensively used PHP framework for web development is Laravel. The framework is often called “PHP for Web Artisans”. Since it is easy to learn and offers great community support, Laravel is the best framework for quickly creating highly complex back-end applications.
Symfony
By reusing PHP code, Symfony allows developers to build impressive and visually appealing applications. Developers can choose from 30 different components to make a user-friendly program. Major tech companies like Drupal and PHBB use Symfony frameworks for large-scale projects.
Zend
Zend is a sophisticated and durable framework primarily used to build large and potent web applications. It is regarded as a reliable PHP framework. Top-notch applications are made with Zend, which cannot be disregarded. Zend is a master at documentation and integrates a variety of customisable features.
Comparison: Laravel, Symfony & Zend
The frameworks serve different purposes, even though they can all be used to create powerful and robust websites. Here, we’ll look at the benefits and drawbacks of these frameworks in light of attributes like
- Database Support
- Installation
- Templating Engine
- Rapid Development
- Security
1. Database Support
Laravel
A database is used by almost every modern web application. Laravel makes interacting with databases straightforward with raw SQL, a fluent query builder, and the Eloquent ORM. MySQL, Postgres, SQLite, and SQL Server are among the databases supported by Laravel.
Pros of Laravel
- It is simple to learn Laravel because of its excellent documentation.
- The IoC container allows developers even to create their tools.
- Since Laravel comes with an MVC framework, the developer doesn’t need to write the PHP and HTML codes in the same file.
Cons of Laravel
- Since Laravel is a lightweight framework, there won’t be as much built-in support.
- Due to its slower development speed than Ruby on Rails, Laravel also takes longer to complete projects.
Symfony
Symfony has the best and most comprehensive database support compared to Zend and Laravel, including Apache Jackrabbit, Couch DB, Dynamo DB, Gemfire, Graph DB, MYSQL, NoSQL, Oracle, etc.
Pros of Symfony
- Symfony is the fastest PHP framework when appropriately used.
- They plan out every step of web development and don’t skimp on website security.
- Symfony is easy to use because it has optimised propels, cuts down on queries, and makes it scalable.
Cons of Symfony
When compared to other frameworks, Symfony is somewhat complex and requires configuration.
Zend
Zend supports databases such as IBM DB2, MSSQL, Oracle, PostgreSQL, MYSQL, and DBeaver.
Pros of Zend
- Zend is widely used, robust and well-tested.
- It is one of the oldest and most trusted frameworks.
Cons of Zend
- The configuration options are many, making them very sophisticated.
- However, the documentation process is tiresome, making them slower than Laravel.
2. Installation
Each framework (Zend, Laravel, etc.) has its own installation procedures. Still, they are all effortless to install when using a composer.
3. Templating Engine
The developer can provide cleaner code and better functionality with template engines. Additionally, it provides features like automatic HTML escaping and filtering, which fill the gap left by raw PHP.
Laravel
Only Laravel uses the Blade templating system, which enables them to produce effective, clean code in a short amount of time.
Symfony
Symfony uses Twig as a templating engine to create clean and straightforward code.
Zend
Since Smartly produces clean code, it is the only templating engine used in Zend.
4. Rapid Development
When viewed from a business and customer perspective, the most crucial factor of a website is its capability to satisfy customer demand. In rapid development, applications are developed that outperform their competitors while satisfying the needs of customers.
Laravel
- Everyone falls behind Laravel because it offers the most up-to-date methods and assistance for carrying out your plans.
- The integrated tech support makes it even better by enabling real-time output of the desired results.
Symfony
- Developers have access to software components, which makes them a dependable and quick framework.
- Symfony is robust because they have a large support base from its community.
Zend
- Without finishing the entire framework, Zend enables developers to work with independent libraries that give them access to processed components.
- As a result, Zend is more difficult for beginners to understand
5. Security
Every mobile app’s success and user retention depend heavily on security. Choose a framework with the best security features available. The PHP frameworks above support widespread malware like SQL injections, Cross-Site Scripting, and untrusted authentication.
Laravel
- Numerous features in Laravel guarantee security.
- Additionally, Laravel comes with a solid internal authentication system.
Symfony
- Symfony offers to install a security component divided into four smaller segments. You can use these sections separately.
- Some features include authentication, authorisation, and defense against attacks like Cross-Site Request Forgery.
Zend
- The BSD license that Zend possesses implies that it guards against using any third-party tools to access the website’s content.
- Additionally, it has various security features to protect the app from XSS attacks and errors.
PHP frameworks have reduced the difficulty and quantity of web development tasks. From the information presented above, it can be concluded that Laravel dominates the market. Both Symfony and Zend are excellent frameworks.
If you need a well-supported and modular network, Symfony should be your first choice. If you are looking for fast prototyping and ease of use, go with Laravel. Laravel has all of the small parts that will help you in some way while developing. After reviewing the facts, there is no doubt that Laravel is the most popular PHP framework.
