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

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

In the world of PHP development, choosing a framework is not just a matter of personal preference, but a strategic decision that affects development speed, performance, and project maintenance. We conducted a survey among professional developers and companies to find out which PHP frameworks dominate in real production projects today. The results were predictable, but with a few unexpected nuances.

Race Leaders: Who's on the Podium?

The absolute champion in production usage is Laravel. According to our survey, over 62% of respondents noted that they use this particular framework in their commercial projects. The reasons are obvious: a rich ecosystem, a convenient ORM (Eloquent), a powerful Blade templating engine, and a huge community. Laravel is chosen by both startups and large companies for building complex web applications, APIs, and corporate portals.

In second place, with a noticeable gap, is Symfony — chosen by 18% of participants. This framework is traditionally strong in the enterprise segment, where modularity, strict architecture, and long-term support (LTS versions) are important. Many respondents noted that they use Symfony in conjunction with API Platform to build high-load REST and GraphQL services.

Third place went to Yii2 (about 9%). Despite a decline in popularity in recent years, Yii2 still has a loyal audience, especially in the development of CRM systems, online stores, and admin panels. Developers appreciate its out-of-the-box speed and the powerful Gii code generator.

Unexpected Results and Niche Solutions

Among the less popular but important frameworks are CodeIgniter (4%) and Phalcon (3%). CodeIgniter is still used in legacy projects that require minimal dependency on external libraries and maximum simplicity. Phalcon, in turn, attracts developers with its performance due to its C extension, but its complexity in deployment and debugging puts many off.

Interestingly, about 4% of respondents stated that they do not use any framework, preferring to write in pure PHP or use micro-libraries. This is typical for small projects, microservices, or situations where architectural requirements are minimal.

Trends and Conclusions

The survey also showed that the choice of framework strongly depends on the type of project:

• For startups and MVPs — almost always Laravel (fast, many ready-made solutions).
• For enterprise and microservices — Symfony or a combination with Slim/Swoole.
• For high-load systems — Phalcon or custom solutions on ReactPHP.
• For maintaining legacy code — Yii2 or CodeIgniter.

Another important trend: more and more developers are switching to Laravel + Livewire or Laravel + Inertia.js, abandoning classic SPA solutions in favor of server-side rendering. This reduces development complexity and speeds up time to market.

The conclusion is clear: Laravel remains the king of PHP frameworks in production, but Symfony confidently holds its position