PHP has been leading the development and scripting language. PHP powers almost 80% of the modern websites that we see today. After its launch, it was among the most loved programming language for web development and backend development.
But as the scale of web applications expanded, PHP became inefficient. Many developers who loved the language started creating new frameworks to boost PHP’s efficiency so that they don’t have to change their programming languages.
Laravel and CodeIgniter are two such inventions. Both these frameworks are based on PHP language and are built on top of the native features of PHP. Both the frameworks are trendy, and since their release, there has been a dispute about which framework is better among the two. So today, you are going to learn about both frameworks; you'll have a deep dive into the pros and cons of these frameworks and also know which framework is better.
Let’s begin with Laravel
What Is Laravel?
Laravel is a PHP-based open-source backend framework developed by Taylor Otwell. It follows the MVC architecture since it was released in 2011. Because it is a backend framework, it has endless applications. It can be used to create dashboards, full-stack applications, and even full-fledged SaaS products.
Here are some great benefits of Laravel.
CLI Tool
Laravel comes bundled with its own CLI tool named artisan. Artisan allows developers to have granular control over the application. It is easier to manage a Laravel web application using artisan CLI tools.
Moreover, users can generate source code files for many components like custom commands and database management with the CLI tool. Another benefit of this CLI tool is that debugging a Laravel application is very easy because the developer can see a live feed of everything happening under the hood. Due to this, tracing an error is really easy.
Improved Templating
Laravel has a powerful templating system named Blade. It comes with advanced routing and rendering capabilities. In most cases, it overrides the capabilities of PHP's inbuilt rendering capabilities. Rendering webpages based on backend conditions becomes easy with Blade, and due to this, Laravel is quite handy for dynamic web development.
Automated Testing
When you develop large-scale applications with Laravel, you need to test the applications before you ship them. Hence, in such scenarios, automated testing capabilities come handy. With the help of some other third-party libraries and modules, automated testing can be easily implemented in Laravel applications.
Having known about Laravel and its benefits, now you should also get a brief about CodeIgniter.
What is CodeIgniter?
If you are looking for a really small but powerful framework, then you'll love CodeIgniter. It is a framework designed for simplicity and minimalism. It does not follow the MVC architecture, and due to this, developers have full control of the web application's structure.
Since its launch in 2006, CodeIgniter has bagged 17.7k stars on its GitHub repository. Due to its simplicity and flexibility, more than 5.6 lakh websites are powered by this framework. To find out why CodeIgniter is so popular, let's have a look at its benefits.
Good Community
Since many websites and applications use it, it has one of the best PHP communities. The community maintains CodeIgniter features and creates new update features for the framework. There is an active contribution to this project's repository.
Moreover, if you get stuck anywhere, you can quickly get through with the help of this well-established community.
Better UI
When building web applications with CodeIgniter, the developer has full control over the user interface. This results in the creation of better user interfaces for the web application. Moreover, generating dynamic web pages is also easier using this framework.
Which Is The Better Framework?
Having known about both these frameworks, now it is time to compare them head to head and find out which is a better framework.
Database Support
One of the biggest things to look for in any framework is the database support it has. Both these frameworks support a wide variety of production-ready databases to run your applications seamlessly.
Laravel supports popular SQL databases like PostgreSQL, MySQL, Oracle, and many others. On the other hand, CodeIignter supports all SQL databases supported by Laravel. On top of that, CodeIgniter also supports Microsoft BI and MongoDB databases.
If you want to build a web application that works with NoSQL databases, you need to choose CodeIgniter. But if you only want SQL databases, Laravel can work too.
Modularity
Dividing code into different smaller modules is vital to keep it maintainable and readable. If a framework follows OOP concepts sincerely, it will allow code modularity.
Working with Laravel is better as it allows you to create modules for every specific code. You can change one part of the code without affecting any other. Hence code modularity is beneficial.
While CodeIgniter does not provide modularity features. This can be a drawback if you are building a large-scale application with too many lines of code. To achieve code modularity while working with CodeIgniter, you need to install the Modular extension.
Template Engine
Most frameworks today rely on their templating engine rather than on the language's engine. Having their own templating engine is suitable for frameworks as this speeds up their performance.
Among these two frameworks, only Laravel has its own templating framework. It comes with its Blade templating engine, which is superfast and unique in many ways. Moreover, the rendering of web pages is smoother with the Blade templating engine.
CodeIgniter lacks its own templating engine, and hence it relies on PHP's native engine. This makes people turn towards Laravel for applications with intensive web pages and rendering.
Security
If you are building a web application, it needs to be highly secure. User's data should be protected at all costs. Hence while choosing a framework, you should know about the security features a framework provides.
Laravel supports HTTPS websites, and it also comes with inbuilt authentication modules. These modules are really helpful in authenticating users on the app and restrict unauthorized access and activities.
On the other hand, CodeIgniter does not support HTTPS websites fully; this makes it vulnerable to over the internet attacks. Also, it does not ship with inbuilt modules for authentication and security.
If security is your concern, then Laravel is ideal for your web application.
Conclusion
If you want to start and quickly develop a product with minimal features, then CodeIgniter is ideal. But if you want to create scalable, totally secure web applications, you need to opt for Laravel. Although, It is entirely determined on the basis of your project which one you should prefer. So that purpose, we need to hire dedicated laravel developer.
Both these frameworks have their own benefits, and there are workarounds to get over each of thems drawbacks. You should choose a framework based on your needs and not its popularity.
Author Name:- Harikrishna Kundariya
Biography:- Harikrishna Kundariya, a marketer, developer, IoT, ChatBot & Blockchain savvy, designer, co-founder, Director of eSparkBiz Technologies. His 10+ experience enables him to provide digital solutions to new start-ups based on IoT and ChatBot.