Survey: Most Popular PHP Frameworks in Production 2025

Survey: Which PHP Frameworks Are Used in Production in 2025

The PHP developer community continues to actively discuss the choice of framework for production projects. We conducted a survey among PythonLib readers who work with PHP and collected up-to-date data on which tools are actually used in production, not just in educational projects. 480 developers from Russia and CIS countries took part in the survey.

Survey Methodology

Respondents were asked to select the main framework used on their current work project in a production environment. Multiple choices were allowed if the project uses a microservice architecture with different stacks. The survey was conducted anonymously via a Telegram bot and a form on the website over two weeks.

Results: Top 5 Frameworks

• Laravel — 58% of votes. The undisputed leader: ecosystem, convenient ORM (Eloquent), built-in queues, and powerful Blade templating engine.
• Symfony — 22% of votes. The choice for enterprise projects: high modularity, component-based approach, and excellent Doctrine support.
• Yii2 — 11% of votes. Popular in the CMS and e-commerce niche: fast speed, Gii code generator.
• CodeIgniter — 4% of votes. An old but proven tool for lightweight projects without complex architecture.
• Phalcon — 3% of votes. An interesting option due to its C extension, but low popularity because of installation complexity.

The remaining 2% went to other frameworks, including Slim, FuelPHP, and CakePHP.

Trends and Observations

The main conclusion of the survey is that Laravel remains the dominant force. More than half of the respondents noted that they chose it due to development speed and a large community. However, in large corporate projects (banks, fintech), Symfony holds its ground confidently — it is preferred for its strict architecture and long-term support (LTS).

An interesting detail: Yii2, despite the decreased activity in core development, is still actively used in legacy systems and on hosting with limited resources. Developers note that rewriting old projects to Laravel is often not cost-effective.

It is also worth noting the growing interest in hybrid approaches: 12% of respondents said their stack uses Laravel in conjunction with Symfony components (e.g., Mailer or Console). This confirms the trend towards eclecticism: developers take the best from different worlds.

Practical Recommendations

If you are just starting to learn PHP or choosing a framework for a new project:

• For startups and MVPs — definitely Laravel. Quick start, a huge number of packages and ready-made solutions.
• For complex systems with long-term support — Symfony. Flexibility and coding standards pay off in the long run.
• If you are working with legacy projects on Yii2 — do not rush to migrate, but carefully monitor security (update PHP versions).

Full survey data (broken down by years of experience, project type, and region) is available in our Telegram channel PythonLib. Subscribe