PHP undoubtedly tops the chart of programming languages used in web development. Being an open-source, economic and easy development language, it is backed by a vast development community. Other than these benefits, PHP offers various frameworks that allow web developers to benefit from pre-set libraries consisting of themes, advanced securities, authorization, authentication, etc. However, many entrepreneurs and developers are often confused between Laravel vs CodeIgniter.
Over the years, it has become essential to choose PHP frameworks when it’s about developing customized business projects. It’s not an easy decision to make for selecting an accurate framework for your project development. Since the decision is so important and the options are many. We will make your life simple by comparing the two most prominent PHP frameworks and put an end to the ever-going debate of CodeIgniter vs Laravel.
Without wasting any time, let’s discuss them in detail,
A Brief About Laravel
It is a web- application framework that helps to ease the web and app development tasks. It takes care of the common tasks that come across the development, such as authentication, authorization, session, caching, routing, etc. Moreover, it offers an elegant and expressive syntax.
A Brief About CodeIgniter
It is an MVC framework based on PHP that is used to create applications quickly. It offers numerous out-of-the-box libraries to connect with the database and carry out different operations.
Laravel VS CodeIgniter: Comparison based on Different Factors:
Based on The Technical Aspect
The Modularity
Developers mainly prefer to carry web-application development by dividing the process into various modules. In the case of Laravel, it comes with an in-built modularity feature. Here, it is possible to make the best use of it and divide the project into smaller modules. The developed modules can be used across various other projects. Whereas in the case of CodeIgniter, the modularity feature is not built-in. Hence, if developers wish to divide the project into smaller modules, they need to use Modular Extension while working with CodeIgniter.
The Template Engine
Laravel comes with an in-built template engine, whereas CodeIgniter does not. In the case of Laravel, the template engine helps to optimize the performance of the project quickly. While in the case of CodeIgniter, the developer you hire needs to use the robust template engine and integrate the same with the framework to achieve the necessary tasks.
The Routing
Both frameworks provide routing options. While CodeIgniter offers both explicit and implicit routing, Laravel is said to be both flexible and efficient in sending routing requests. Moreover, when it comes to defining routes, a major share of developers working in PHP web development prefer Laravel, as a reverse routing option is also possible in it.
Based on Reliability and Stability
Laravel was released under MIT License that means Github hosts its source code. It makes it more reliable in comparison to other PHP frameworks. While in terms of web-application stability, CodeIgniter is considered to be more stable and better than Laravel.
Based on The Community Support
Both the PHP frameworks, Laravel, and CodeIgniter are open-source in nature. Both of these enjoy a massive and active community of supporters. However, it is noted that members within the community of Laravel are more supportive and dynamic as compared to the CodeIgniter community. Moreover, when it comes to finding quick solutions and help online, your developer would find it helpful to use Laravel.
Based on The Learning Curve
In comparison to CodeIgniter, Laravel is said to have more tools and features; as a reason, it becomes complicated and it becomes time-consuming to learn the concepts of Laravel. As a reason, it becomes difficult for beginners to learn the aspects of Laravel, a framework of PHP. Whereas in the case of CodeIgniter, the technology can be easily understood that too in minimal time.
Benefits of Using Laravel
Template Tool
Laravel comes with an in-built template tool. This helps in optimizing the performance of the web-application. This template tool is lightweight and powerful and also offers robust JSS and CSS coding. Moreover, all the templates here come with a simple layout, and every section is designed precisely to comfort developers to deliver a functional and straightforward layout.
Therefore, if your goal is to develop a dynamic and robust website, you can hire laravel programmers.
Built-in Libraries
Laravel offers several dynamic built-in libraries. Here, one can find object-oriented libraries that couldn’t be found in any other top PHP frameworks.This framework provides easy implementation and offers numerous features like encryption, checking dynamic clients, watchword reset, etc.
Authentication and Authorization
Best and secured authentication is something that Laravel provides its users. For any business, it is essential to ensure the authentication and authorization of its web solution. With Laravel, this problem gets easily solved. It is entirely seamless to offer a secured authentication and authorization here, as configuration takes place out-of-the-box. Laravel also provides a method that is simple, easy to manage, and well organized to control access and sort out the authorization logic.
Benefits of Using CodeIgniter
Built-in Libraries Benefits of CodeIgniter
Like laravel, CodeIgniter too offers built-in Libraries. It is counted to be the significant benefit of CodeIgniter. The MVC framework also offers multiple default helpers for managing tasks like file handling, strings, directories, arrays, forms, dictionaries, and others.
Ease of Using
You will end up wasting precious time if you use a PHP framework that is difficult to handle. In comparison to other frameworks like CakePHP and Zend, CodeIgniter is easy to use.
The Collaboration with Expression Engine
The collaboration between CodeIgniter and ExpressionEngine helps your developer to use this framework by offering Expression Engine with the frameworks’ libraries. Some of the distinctive benefits that the PHP developers get out of this collaboration are better parser class, improved built-in user authentication, and ease of getting into modular applications.
Advanced Security
Based on the client’s needs, one can manage security functions for web-applications with CodeIgniter.
The Conclusion: CodeIgniter vs Laravel
These are the two prominent PHP frameworks that you can use during the development of your web-application. Laravel, when compared to CodeIgniter, can be a little difficult for beginners to learn, as it has an exhaustive combination of tools and libraries. But simultaneously, it can be suitable and beneficial for your project development. On the other hand, CodeIgniter is a flexible and manageable framework for small projects and needs no additional features. Hence, Laravel Vs. CodeIgniter is just a choice to make. Based on the nature of your project, you can choose the best framework for your project.