Laravel vs Yii: The Best PHP framework in 2021

PHP is one of the most demanded and popular programming languages and they also remain the trendiest in 2021 too. Laravel, Yii2 Symfony, etc. have drastically quicken and simplify the programming process for the developers while enabling them to explore the new unexplored potentials. Considering PHP, Laravel and Yii are the two most preferred frameworks and they are often get compared. Although, both the frameworks are devised to make the applications more scalable and speed up the development process speedy and secure; still there are a lot of technical features that remain a hot topic of argument between the advocates and users of each framework.

Laravel is more popular among the developer as compared to Yii. In this blog, the team decided to find out whether it is worth chasing foreign trends or not. What framework should I use to develop websites? In this article, we voice our subjective opinion based on personal experience and comparative analysis. If you disagree, experts at Code Creators will be happy to discuss:

We came across an article in 2017 about the demand for PHP programmers in the labor market. Yes, it is old, but in 2018 the picture has not changed significantly. The material shows an interesting dependence of the number of vacancies on the type of framework.

Consider both sides. If you are a programmer and want to be in demand, you need to either:

• Master popular tools;
• Look into tomorrow and choose promising directions.

If you are a customer, there are a few things you should focus on:

• Whether there will be a shortage of personnel due to the massive abandonment of outdated frameworks;
• How expensive is it to support the project;
• How often updates are released (this affects the performance of your site).

This is why it is important to compare frameworks. Look at the diagrams again. CodeIgniter can be safely excluded. It was once on the wave, but now it has been supplanted by more progressive solutions. A large number of orders is due to the presence of projects that need support. Over time, site owners will move and CodeIgniter specialists will be left without work.

The bottom line is that there are 2 leaders – Yii and Laravel. Moreover, on the territory of the CIS, the palm belongs to Yii. It is necessary to figure out whether it is worth domestic customers and developers to chase Western trends or give preference to a framework tested at home?

Laravel – Why & Why Not?

Advantages of Laravel

• Easily readable Laravel collections and helpers for working with them;
• Storage – a separate place in the structure for storage;
• Eloquent – ORM for working with the base, implementation of the active record template. In addition to standard CRUD operations, it contains: accessors and mutators, safe deletion, query scopes, relations, model observers;
• Artisan – allows you to control the command line,
• Simple routing, validation of incoming parameters;
• Integrated scss and scripts collector (elixir);
• Integrated template engine Blade;
• Task queues, task scheduler;
• Migrations and seeds;
• PHP-Unit integrated unit testing system;
• Support for WebSockets to create true interactive applications;
• ACL plugins;
• High popularity in the west;
• Frequent releases of new versions.

Disadvantages of Laravel

there are no integrated interface templates.

Our Experience

‘Love beautiful code? We do too’- the quote from the official site is true. Laravel is a treasure for lovers of beautiful solutions. The code is easy to read; the file structure will be clear even to a beginner. By the way, there are awesome video tutorials, the basics are free.

Laravel is a friendly framework. Built-in artisan commands greatly speed up the development process.

Correct database architecture is key. During development, it is advisable to cover each of the available routes with tests, fill the database with test data, adhere to the basic philosophy of Laravel – laconicism. To avoid clutter in controller methods, you need to use repository classes, mutators, and accelerators in models.

Laravel development gives the developer a lot of freedom in choosing solutions and how to implement them. This is both good and bad. On the one hand, the coding process is facilitated, on the other, it increases the labor costs for the development and negotiation of conventions.

What A Customer Needs to Know About Laravel

By choosing Laravel, you get the most promising PHP framework to date. Projects on it, with proper development, can be easily expanded.

Yii – Why or Why Not?

Advantages of Yii

• Active Form – creating forms based on model properties;
• Uses generally accepted architecture and methods;
• Integrated many standard interface solutions (Kartik).
• Built-in autotests of forms and security;
• Relatively easy to learn;
• Implemented visual generator for CRUD, controllers, models.

Disadvantages of Yii

• New versions are rarely released;
• Glued front and back libraries;
• Insufficiently flexible process of forming routes.
• Rarely new releases come out.

Our Experience

Yii2 is an excellent solution for content sites with typical admin panels and a minimum of business logic. If you need to implement simple data manipulation, then you shouldn’t bother with Laravel. In these cases, the solidity of the code will not be a problem, and development in Yii2 will take less time due to a lot of ready-made solutions.

What A Customer Needs to Know About Yii?

Development of individual projects will accelerate on average 10% faster (from personal experience).

Which Framework Is Better: Laravel or Yii

When it comes to reliability, both Yii and Laravel are on an equal footing. Frameworks provide multiple levels of security (including passwords, authentication, SQL injection, cross-site request forgery, site scripts, etc.) If you stop your choice on one thing, then we would advise Laravel. Code Creators Inc specialists had to support projects on both frameworks, but with Laravel it takes less time to implement additional functionality. Likewise, with finding bugs. In our opinion, it’s all about brevity.