Survey: Which PHP Frameworks Are Actually Used in Production in 2024

Survey: Which PHP Frameworks Are Actually Used in Production

Despite the growing popularity of languages like Python and Go, PHP remains the main force in web development — it powers over 75% of all websites. But which stack do teams choose for production? We analyzed data from recent surveys (including JetBrains Developer Ecosystem 2024 and Stack Overflow Survey 2024) to understand the real picture.

Here is how preferences are distributed among developers using PHP in commercial projects.

1. Laravel — the undisputed leader (about 50% of the market)

Laravel holds a dominant position. According to the JetBrains survey, it is used by 48-52% of PHP developers in production. Reasons:

• Extensive ecosystem (Forge, Vapor, Horizon, Nova).
• Expressive syntax and the "magic" of Eloquent ORM.
• Large community and thousands of ready-made packages.
• Good support for REST API and queues.

Laravel is chosen for startups, SaaS platforms, and corporate portals.

2. Symfony — reliability and enterprise (about 25%)

Symfony is the second most popular framework for production. It is used for complex, scalable projects:

• High performance and configuration flexibility.
• Development standards (PSR, Symfony components are even used in Laravel).
• Excellent documentation and long-term support (LTS).
• Popular in the banking sector and government systems.

According to surveys, Symfony's share is stable — around 22-27%.

3. Yii — niche but alive (about 5-7%)

Yii (especially version 2) continues to be used in production, although its popularity is gradually declining:

• High speed — one of the fastest PHP frameworks.
• Built-in Gii generator for rapid prototyping.
• Well suited for high-load systems (analytics, CRM).
• The main downside is a steeper learning curve and fewer modern packages.

Yii is often found in older projects that have been decided not to rewrite.

4. Phalcon — rare but powerful (about 2-3%)

Phalcon is a unique C-extension framework. It is chosen for extreme performance:

• Maximum speed due to compilation in C.
• Minimal memory consumption.
• But: debugging complexity and dependency on PHP version compatibility.

Phalcon is used in projects where every millisecond counts (e.g., in financial systems).

5. Other frameworks and "bare" PHP (remaining 15-20%)

This includes:

• CakePHP — legacy systems, rarely in new projects.
• CodeIgniter — minimalistic, barely evolving.
• Zend Framework / Laminas — enterprise, aging.
• Custom micro-frameworks or working without a framework.