PHP Community Chooses Best Libraries of 2024: Award Results

PHP Community Chooses Best Libraries of 2024

Every year, the international PHP community holds a vote to determine the most useful and innovative libraries. This year, over 3,000 developers from 50 countries participated in the survey. We have gathered the main results of the PHP Package of the Year 2024 award and are sharing which tools were recognized as the best.

Winners in Main Categories

• Best New Library — Laravel Prompts. This package from the creators of Laravel allows you to add interactive prompts to console applications: autocomplete, progress bars, selection menus. Ideal for CLI tools.
• Best Library for Working with HTTP — Saloon. A convenient HTTP client with support for OAuth, caching, and custom middleware. Allows quick integration with any REST API.
• Best Testing Package — Pest. An elegant framework for unit testing with a minimalist syntax. This year, it added support for parallel test execution and improved integration with PHPStan.
• Best Library for Working with Data — Doctrine Collections. An updated version of the popular tool for working with object collections. New methods for filtering, sorting, and lazy loading.
• Best Library for Asynchronous Work — Amp v3. A powerful tool for asynchronous programming: support for coroutines, non-blocking I/O, integration with popular frameworks.

Selection Criteria and Voting

The winners were determined based on three main criteria: popularity on Packagist (number of installations via Composer), development activity (regular updates, closing issues), and community feedback. Each participant could vote for three nominees in each category.

Why This Matters for Developers

Choosing the best libraries helps the PHP community navigate the vast ecosystem of packages. Using proven tools speeds up development, improves security, and simplifies code maintenance. Many of the winners are already actively used in commercial projects and open-source solutions.

Trends of 2024

Analysts note a growing interest in asynchronous libraries and testing tools. PHP is increasingly used for high-load systems, and the community is actively developing corresponding packages. There is also a noticeable trend towards simplifying syntax: developers are choosing libraries with a minimalist API and good documentation.

The full list of nominees and voting results are available on the official award website. If you use PHP in your projects, be sure to check out the winners — perhaps these libraries will help you solve your current tasks faster and more efficiently.