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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 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 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 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
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 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 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 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 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 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
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
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!
This will surely come in handy, thanks for sharing.
Why not show MODx CMS, is the most effective I know…
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.
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….
Hi Sean,
Sorry but i never use Yii before. But i’ll take your comment and consider it in my future project.
Thanks!
First I start using Code Igniter, but now I mainly use Kohana for my projects!
Same here. Kohana is what CI should be, start becoming.
I think most of the CI users switch to Kohana is because of PHP5, am i right?
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.
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.
Hi Ungus,
I think CI will not move to PHP 5.x. You should go for Kohana if you want PHP 5.x
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?
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
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.
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
A coworker of mine is the author of the Madeam PHP framework (http://madeam.com/), recently featured in PHP Architect magazine. Check it out!
Hi Brian,
I am not aware of Madeam framework, but will definitely look into it when i am free. Thanks for your sharing!
Cool, CakePHP is the best one
Never tried yii
Looked at Cake, CI and Kohana – choose the latter, Kohana is awesome
I’m impressed with Yii Framework http://yiiframework.com and I-Framework http://if.4kiki.net
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.
I’ll prefer small & simple CodeIgniter. Thanks for sharing.
@dicky MODx is an PHP Application Framework too.
visit: http://modxcms.com
Hi Daniel,
). I had another post about PHP CMS, and i included MODx into it.
Yup. It is both a CMS and PHP application framework (my mistake
Have a look:
http://www.webdesignbooth.com/20-promising-open-source-php-content-management-systemscms/
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
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.
CakePHP and Kohna is great framework for PHP.
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
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
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.
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 !
and the best of that are Zend, CakePHP and CodeIgniter.
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.
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.