Laravel vs. Symfony: Which PHP Framework is the Best for Your Enterprise?
PHP frameworks are often preferred by most developers when it comes to web application development. Frameworks, such as Symfony, Laravel, Zend, Codeigniter, CakePHP and Yii cover more than 80% of web applications that exist on the internet today. As a part of this family, Symfony and Laravel are the two most favorite frameworks, which are used across many enterprises. Being a leading Symfony and Laravel development company, we can help you leverage the full potential of PHP frameworks to drive your business value and create a lasting impression.
You might not be a developer, but some questions may cross your mind like, which programming language is good for my website? PHP is a great choice for many reasons. PHP language supports fast page loading speeds, since it has its own memory space which allows faster code implementation. Moreover, PHP offers seamless database connectivity with a number of database services, including MySQL. The best thing about this language is it is absolutely free and it is accepted all around the world, so you can use it any web development and design project.
The Rise of PHP Frameworks
PHP stands for Hypertext Preprocessor that is a server-side scripting language used to create nearly every type of web application. PHP frameworks emerged as a means to facilitate the speedy development process. The reusable code and tons of components make it easy for developers to build web applications, saving considerable time and money. The frameworks come with pre-built modules that allow developers to focus on the core functionalities of the application rather than rebuilding the foundation in each and every project.
Furthermore, the performance and responsiveness of the website built through PHP frameworks enable businesses achieve their objectives. Another notable reason for using PHP frameworks is their huge support community of developers. So, if you are stuck in between a program, you can seek the help of expert developers who use the same framework. Thus, there is no doubt that PHP frameworks will continue to get attention in many more years to come.
Difference Between Laravel and Symfony
Laravel was first created by Tailor Otwell in response to overcome the limitations of Codeigniter, such as missing support for Continuous Integration. Although both Laravel and Symfony are referred as MVC based frameworks, Laravel is more committed to its MVC architecture than Symfony. Laravel is optimized to support rapid application development and deployment. Symfony, on the other hand, is inspired by Java’s Spring Framework that was created by SensioLabs. Symfony emerged as a highly modular framework that is frequently used for its set of reusable, cohesive and decoupled components, which solve many web development problems.
The runtime performance of both these frameworks can be easily tracked by measuring their page loading speed. It is believed that in older versions, Laravel development services outperformed Symfony, but after recent improvements in Symfony 4, Laravel deprived in performance when compared to Symfony. However, if you are working on the latest version of both the platforms, you will experience the same or slightly better page loading speed in Laravel. When measured, Laravel websites take around 60 ms to load while Symfony websites take around 250 ms. This difference is because Laravel caches only the views, while Symfony caches both the source code and view.
Object-Relational Mapping (ORM)
Both these frameworks provide ORM support for accessing a wide range of database types. ORM enables easy data manipulation. Laravel web development services use Eloquent ORM that comes with the support for four database types, which are MySQL, SQLServer, SQLite and PostgreSQL. Symfony makes use of Doctrine ORM, which is separate from Symfony’s components and can support more database types than Laravel.
Data migrations in Symfony are automatic, but requires defining the fields. On the contrary, database migrations in Laravel are manual, but they don’t need definitions of the fields. When accessing the data in Laravel, the developers require advance knowledge of SQL. The developers can work with a little knowledge of SQL in Symfony framework development, but they are required to create a repository function for every call. Taking all the data into account, Symfony offers more easiness working with database than Laravel.
While PHP in itself is a templating engine, its frameworks are provided with additional templating engines that offer advanced templating with less syntax. Both Laravel and Symfony are provided with their own templating engines, namely Blade and Twig respectively. These template engines provide blocks and model inheritance and help in keeping the business logic and presentation logic in the PHP.
In Twig, each function needs to be defined for both the controller and the template, which can lead to difficulty in reusing the code compared to Blade. Laravel’s Blade allows you to directly use PHP functions in the templating logic and the code in the controller logic. Blade pr.ovides many more advantages, such as code reusability that Twig doesn’t offer.
Both Laravel and Symfony provides support for continuous integration that facilitates automation of validation and re-testing of processes that become necessary when there are any amendments in the code. Presently, Laravel and Symfony website development offers support for 6 Continuous Integration architecture.
Travis and Drone - both are Git-based models and independent of any framework
Circle - provides specific Laravel templates
Jenkins – works via Git and offers particular templates for both Laravel and some versions of Symfony
CodeShip – works through Git and supports both frameworks along with valid parameters
Style – offers dedicated templates for both Laravel and Symfony
Laravel and Symfony differs a lot when it comes to form validation. Laravel Form Validator validates only some input against a set of rules, while Symfony Validator offers a broader range of validation services to validate objects against a set of rules. The major difference is that it doesn’t validate raw user input, that is how a form should work, and unlike the validation in Laravel, it manages translation considerably better.
Documentation and Learning Curve
When we perceive both frameworks in terms of documentation and learning curve, Laravel wins the medal. Laravel offers detailed video tutorials and support called Laracasts that enable developers to start developing apps. But, when you choose Symfony web development services, it has a steeper learning curve than Laravel since Symfony offers obvious documentation for its bundles, components, libraries and so on. Moreover, learning to program application with Laravel is pretty easier than Symfony which requires advance technical expertise and more time.
Laravel is perceived as a child framework of Symfony that has simplified advanced features of Symfony in order to compensate for the rapid application development. However, the project may fail if it needs to be scaled higher than it is created for. There is no specific technology that’s better than another. It all boils down to what problems you have, what requirements you want to fulfill and what framework can best solve your problems. It is advisable that you consult a professional Symfony and Laravel web development company – ManekTech that will suggest you a suitable framework based on your business requirements and help you accomplish your goals.
