22 Open Source PHP Frameworks To Shorten Your Development Time

Jun 23rd, 09 by Dicky | View Comments |
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PHP is a widely used programming language for web development. Although there are a lot of alternative programming languages for web development such as ASP and Ruby, but PHP is still the most popular among them.

So, what makes PHP so popular? PHP is so popular because it is relatively easy to learn compare to other language. Furthermore, there are a lot of great tutorials for beginner to get started. Although there are a lot of resources for us, but coding a site from scratch is very tough. Luckily, there are a lot of reliable PHP Framework which can shorten the development time. These frameworks are supported by huge community and they are willing to help if you face any problems.

Without talking much, let’s start to look into these 22 open source PHP frameworks:

Most Promising Frameworks

1. Zend Framework

zend-framework
Zend Framework is an object oriented framework written in PHP 5. It is based on simplicity, corporate friendly license, and a rigorously tested agile codebase. The loosely coupled architecture also allow developers to use Zend components within other framework.

2. Symfony

symfony
Symfony is a PHP 5 framework which provides an architecture, components and tools for developers to build complex web applications faster. The official site provides a practical tutorial for Symfony beginner too.



3. CodeIgniter

codeigniter
CodeIgniter is another popular PHP framework. It has the advantage of having a wiki for easier navigation. New users can get started easily by referring to its documentation. It supports PHP4, which makes it can’t take full advantage of PHP5.

4. CakePHP

cakephp
Using commonly known design patterns like MVC  and ORM  within the convention over configuration paradigm, CakePHP reduces development costs and helps developers write less code.

5. Prado

prado

Prado require PHP5 and above to run, and it is a component-based and event-driven programming framework for developing Web applications. There is a quick start tutorial for beginner too.

6. Kohana

kohana
Kohana is a PHP 5 framework that uses the Model View Controller architectural pattern. It aims to be secure, lightweight, and easy to use. Kohana is originally based on CodeIgniter, but it is strict PHP5 OOP, which i think is more suitable to use in building new and large scale projects.

7. Solar Framework

solar
Solar is a PHP 5 framework for web application development. It is fully name-spaced and uses enterprise application design patterns, with built-in support for localization and configuration at all levels.

8. Fuse

fuse
FUSE is a Model View Controller framework for PHP. Taking influence from other web frameworks such as Ruby on Rails and CakePHP, then adding in custom, intuitive features of our own design, FUSE has developed into a robust, stable platform for MVC development using object oriented PHP.

9. Yii PHP Framework

yii
Yii is a high-performance component-based PHP framework best for developing large-scale Web applications. It has a full stack of features and written in strict OOP(require PHP5 and above).

10. Akelos PHP Framework

akelos
The Akelos PHP Framework is a web application development platform based on the MVC (Model View Controller) design pattern.

Other alternative PHP frameworks

11. Recess
12. Agavi
13. Qcodo
14. Zoop
15. QPHP
16. Seagull PHP
17. PHPDevShell
18. PHPOpenBiz
19. WASP
20. evoCore
21. Lion
22. Flow3

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  • Sarah

    Pretty cool post. I just came by your site and wanted to say
    that I have really enjoyed browsing your blog posts. Anyway
    I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you write again soon!

  • http://www.tutzone.org/ Bariski

    This will surely come in handy, thanks for sharing.

  • http://www.danielmiguel.com/ Daniel Miguel

    Why not show MODx CMS, is the most effective I know…

  • http://cssbrigit.com/CNews/entrada/2009062416514274 CSS Brigit | 10 Open Source PHP Frameworks To Shorten Your Development Time

    10 Open Source PHP Frameworks To Shorten Your Development Time…

    PHP is definitely one of the best web programming language. Here, we will look into 10 best open source PHP Frameworks that will shorten our development time….

  • http://designm.ag/news/10-open-source-php-frameworks-to-shorten-your-development-time/ 10 Open Source PHP Frameworks To Shorten Your Development Time

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  • http://mindtap.wordpress.com Sean

    Yii at the bottom? Is that a joke? Yii needs to be #1 or 2. I’ve dabbled with CakePHP and CodeIgniter, but Yii blows them both away with an amazing balance of speed, simplicity, and functionality. Not to mention asking questions on the forum usually means the framework creator will answer them himself :) I’m this impressed, and I’ve only been working with it for a week….

  • http://www.webdesignbooth.com dicky

    Hi Daniel,
    As i know, MODx is a content management framework, while this list is all about PHP framework.

    Anyway, thanks for your input and you had gave me an idea for my future post. :)

  • http://www.webdesignbooth.com dicky

    Hi Sean,
    Sorry but i never use Yii before. But i’ll take your comment and consider it in my future project.

    Thanks!

  • http://design-newz.com/2009/06/25/22-open-source-php-frameworks-to-shorten-your-development-time/ 22 Open Source PHP Frameworks To Shorten Your Development Time | Design Newz

    [...] 22 Open Source PHP Frameworks To Shorten Your Development Time [...]

  • http://joaopedropereira.com/ João Pedro Pereira

    First I start using Code Igniter, but now I mainly use Kohana for my projects!

  • http://www.tintedpixel.com tintedPixel

    Nice list,

    There are a lot of good frameworks out there. One thing that might help this article is an authors review of each framework. Not all frameworks are created equal, some are open/closed, some perform better than others and so on.

    We work regularly with Cake, CI, Kohana and Zend, my personal fav is kohana with CI running a close second.

    Does anyone else have reviews/experience with the others?

  • leandro

    i dont think php4 support is not a complete drawback.
    we still have php4 in our prod boxes and codeigniter saved us a lot of time.

    Besides its code really kicks ass

  • Ungus

    Same here. Kohana is what CI should be, start becoming.

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  • Jess

    I think most of the CI users switch to Kohana is because of PHP5, am i right?

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  • magic_code

    Two quick observations based on experience:

    1. CodeIgniter: While a good framework, lacks built-in authentication. I know there are authentication libraries coded by others but depending on their reliability and then integrating it throughout your code is a hazard for corporate development.

    2. Kohana: The decision of their developers to NOT support any previous versions again goes against a lot of corporate development practices. Furthermore, if you read a fair deal of their forum posts, you’ll notice the core members can be quite rude responding to some questions.

  • http://blocsonic.com Michael Gregoire

    I can vouch for the Yii framework. A new and already powerful framework. I’ve tried them all and Yii fits me perfectly.

    I developed the following sites with Yii:

    http://blocsonic.com
    http://nvzion.com
    http://milkware.com

  • Brian

    A coworker of mine is the author of the Madeam PHP framework (http://madeam.com/), recently featured in PHP Architect magazine. Check it out!

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  • http://linux.uz pROCKrammer

    Cool, CakePHP is the best one

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  • http://www.webdesignbooth.com dicky

    Hi Jess,
    I am not sure how true is your statement, but at least most of my friends switch to Kohana is because it supports PHP5.

  • http://www.webdesignbooth.com dicky

    Hi Brian,
    I am not aware of Madeam framework, but will definitely look into it when i am free. Thanks for your sharing!

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  • Wouter

    Never tried yii

    Looked at Cake, CI and Kohana – choose the latter, Kohana is awesome

  • http://waprave.com JaYRuleZ

    I’m impressed with Yii Framework http://yiiframework.com and I-Framework http://if.4kiki.net

  • http://www.netcodeman.com/ Custom PHP

    You say “there are a lot of reliable PHP Framework which can shorten the development time.”.

    This is probably true however there is a learning curve.

    Once one gets familiar with the framework their development time will definitely shorten.

  • http://www.jsxtech.com Jaspal Singh

    I’ll prefer small & simple CodeIgniter. Thanks for sharing.

  • http://twitter.com/taghouse/ Daniel Miguel

    @dicky MODx is an PHP Application Framework too.

    visit: http://modxcms.com

    ;)

  • dicky

    Hi Daniel,
    Yup. It is both a CMS and PHP application framework (my mistake :) ). I had another post about PHP CMS, and i included MODx into it.

    Have a look:
    http://www.webdesignbooth.com/20-promising-open-source-php-content-management-systemscms/

  • http://www.ungus.com Ungus

    Jess, thats why I switched from CI to Kohana.

    Is there any word of CI moving to PHP5.x?

    Then they could have a bug-fix only version/branch for their PHP4 users.

  • http://www.webdesignbooth.com dicky

    Hi Ungus,
    I think CI will not move to PHP 5.x. You should go for Kohana if you want PHP 5.x :)

  • http://www.dijexi.com daniel

    CodeIgniter is the most easy to implement and portable, but lacks of file naming convention. Zend and CakePHP are complicated.

    anyway, good list, thanks for sharing

    have a look at http://www.dijexi.com/category/codeigniter

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  • http://www.redbeanphp.com gabor

    Used Kohana, Code Igniter, CakePHP and Zend. I think Kohana is the most elegant framework. To me the other frameworks just introduce too much overhead. But I think this depends on your business requirements.

  • http://www.zaptechsolutions.com PHP Developers

    CakePHP and Kohna is great framework for PHP.

  • http://www.kleebised.net Kleebised

    if someone wants to learn php – should he start with learning the framework such as Kohana right away -

    or “regular” php needs to be learned first and then start looking at the frameworks

  • http://savasplace.com Sava

    I’ve been using CakePHP a lot at work and I’m really happy with it. I managed to create a full working website (dating website) in only 2 days

  • Abe@DevCom

    It seems that i am only one that talk to PRADO. i like coding and architect of PRADO.
    But after reading these comment i won’t sleep, i will try KoHaNa and CakePHP.

    Many ideas from many experiences.

  • http://none saadnib

    i m new to the web development…..i m trying PHP and i got a good knowledge abt PHP frameworks form here thanks for this posting…..keep it !

  • http://w3spice.com waqas

    and the best of that are Zend, CakePHP and CodeIgniter.

  • Dominic

    You might want to look at F3::PHP Fat-Free Framework at:

    http://fatfree.sourceforge.net

    Lightweight, minimalist syntax but very powerful. Even has a template engine, CAPTCHA, SQL and forms handlers, etc. All in a single file.

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    [...] we had looked into 22 open source PHP frameworks, i decided to do a roundup of 20 Open Source PHP Content Management Systems so that readers who [...]

  • Dominic Xavio

    You might want to check PHP Fat-Free Framework at http://fatfree.sourceforge.net

    Minimalist yet captures the essence of MVC architecture. Got its own template engine and SQL handler. Very promising.

  • nothanks

    @dominic

    GPL3? So, I create a site for a client and charge them, then tell them the source is not theirs? Viral source not open source.

  • John

    You may consider qphp.net too. Looks like quite simple to me, although the advanced widgets are not anymore free. I don’t know in details most of the frameworks, but I always had a feeling that the choice of the web controls is not great. When it comes to ASP.NET there are so many widget vendors, which provide much better looking stuff.

  • Dominic Xavio

    Like most other GPL apps out there, Fat-Free does dual-licensing for commercial use.

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    [...] we had looked into 22 open source PHP frameworks, i decided to do a roundup of 20 Open Source PHP Content Management Systems so that readers who [...]

  • http://nephtaliproject.com Adam Richardson

    Nephtali is an interesting framework that leverages the new functional capabilities of PHP 5.3. It takes a rather novel approach (not a typical MVC framework.)

  • Nilesh Manohar

    I think doo phpframework is a good one as well.
    http://doophp.com/

  • http://www.vainfotech.com Nirmik

    It is very use full and nice.

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  • http://www.etatvasoft.com/ PHP Development

    I have used only Zend Framework, Symfony, CodeIgniter and CakePHP. other PHP frameworks that you have provided are new for me. I will try other framework that you have shared. Thanks for the post.

  • http://www.hiexgreatbarrington.com/ hotels in great barrington

    good information about php open source and i appreciate your post. thanks for sharing that.

  • http://www.attuneinfocom.com/ web development

    I am looking for such type of informative news and i get through this blog so i am very much thankful to you for sharing such a great information.

  • http://www.dckap.com PHP Programmer

    I like to thank you for providing PHP Zend sources at one place. It is useful resource for me. I have tried using some of this frameworks its more easy to work. Thank you very much for sharing with us.

  • http://www.dckap.com Flex Developer

    I like to thank for providing this information at one place. It is very useful resource for me. Thank you for sharing with us.

  • http://hirephpwebdeveloper.com Web Development

    The best framework i have ever used is Zend Framework..

    The best example of it is Magento

  • Siv

    Thanks for the info !!!! REally cool listing ;)

  • http://www.weeklysmashing.com weeklysmashing

    Very nice effort, and nice article. But I personally think some sort of rework is needed with rearranging of rankings. I think Yii should come top of all, with its versatility, clear PHP 5 support and its fast as well. Building takes less time n less effort.

    Good documentation and community support increasing exponentially, good plugins are being developed widely and within no time.

  • http://www.codelobster.com Stas

    For all frameworks i recommend to use free PHP IDE Codelobster PHP Edition (http://www.codelobster.com) with special plug-ins for installation, autocomplete, context help and etc.

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  • http://www.evilcodes.net tommy

    thank you for this very useful blog hope to see it grow bigger soon

  • http://agiletoolkit.org/ Romans

    Lovely. What I think is important is a support for User Interface in a framework. Web 2 is about usability and user interaction.

    Agile Toolkit is a good candidate when it comes to the combination of User Interface, MVC and Development Simplicity.

    Check out interactive intro at http://agiletoolkit.org/intro

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  • http://codeigniter.com/news/codeigniter_2.0.0_released/ CodeIgniter 2.0 is PHP 5 Only

    Correction to your article:

    CodeIgniter 2.0 is now PHP 5 only.

    The “Reactor” branch of CodeIgniter is community driven, so it is evolving much faster than the “Core” branch developed by EllisLabs.

    CodeIgniter Rules:

    - Fully PHP5
    - Driven by the best community of any framework
    - Recommended by PHP creator Rasmus Lerdorf

  • http://profiles.google.com/pr.biztech pr biztech

    I like to acknowledge for accoutrement this advice at one place. It is
    actual advantageous ability for me. Thanks for share it here.

    Php Development India

  • http://www.anylinuxwork.com php web development from india

    Hey nice post. After a long time I got such an interesting post. So thanks for sharing it with us. It was truly very interesting reading.

  • IcemanX

    Try crVCL http://en.cr-solutions.net/p/projects

    and you get Rapid Application Development for PHP with full MVC support!

    This is the best alternative to Zend Framework for Enterprise Web-Application, because one of the core characteristics is performance and stability.

  • Anonymous
  • http://www.thaimnv.net โมนาวี

    I have an experience on CakePHP.. that is the easy for MVC ..

    I very like your blog..

  • http://www.thaimlm.net MonaVie

    I have been use CodeIgnite framework also..

    Thanks for your shar

  • tetsuia

    I found http://www.rainframework.com/ extremely fast and nice for small project

  • Anonymous
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