PHP Development | Tutorial 6 | Why Choose Laravel Over Other PHP Frameworks?

by christopher | Sep 28, 2025 | PHP Development, Web App Development | 0 comments

When you decide to build a modern web application with PHP, one big question arises: Which framework should I use? There are several options – CodeIgniter, Symfony, CakePHP, Yii — but over the last decade, Laravel has emerged as the most popular PHP framework.

Laravel is elegant, developer-friendly, and designed to make web development faster and more enjoyable. In this article, we’ll explore why Laravel stands out, compare it with other frameworks, and prepare you with common interview questions on the topic.

What is Laravel?

laravel logo

Laravel is a free, open-source PHP framework created by Taylor Otwell in 2011. It follows the MVC (Model-View-Controller) pattern and is built for developers who want clean, structured, and scalable applications.

👉 Laravel is not just a framework—it’s an ecosystem that includes:

Artisan CLI (developer productivity tools)
Eloquent ORM (database abstraction layer)
Blade Templating Engine (view rendering)
Queue, Events, Middleware (app orchestration)
First-party packages like Laravel Breeze, Sanctum, Horizon, and Nova

Advantages of Laravel

1. Developer Productivity

Laravel comes with built-in tools that make repetitive tasks simple.

Authentication (php artisan make:auth in older versions, now Breeze/Jetstream).
Database migrations & seeding.
API scaffolding with resources.

2. Elegant Syntax

Code in Laravel is readable and expressive, reducing boilerplate.

$users = User::where('active', 1)
             ->orderBy('created_at', 'desc')
             ->get();

Compare this with raw SQL or even PDO—it’s shorter and more intuitive.

3. Rich Ecosystem

Laravel’s ecosystem makes it more than just a framework:

Horizon – Queue monitoring.
Sanctum & Passport – API authentication.
Scout – Full-text search.
Echo – Real-time events via WebSockets.

4. Community & Support

Laravel has one of the largest PHP communities, extensive documentation, and learning platforms like Laracasts.

5. Security Built-In

CSRF protection, XSS protection, hashed passwords, and SQL injection prevention come by default.

Laravel vs Other PHP Frameworks

Feature	Laravel	CodeIgniter	Symfony
Ease of Use	Beginner-friendly, modern	Simple, lightweight	Advanced, enterprise
Ecosystem	Large, includes packages	Limited	Strong, but more complex
ORM	Eloquent ORM	Query Builder only	Doctrine ORM
Templating	Blade	Plain PHP	Twig
Community	Very active, Laracasts	Smaller	Enterprise-heavy

👉 Laravel balances ease of use + power, making it ideal for both beginners and large-scale applications.

Laravel in Web Application Building

Laravel helps with common web app tasks right out of the box:

User Management: Auth scaffolding with roles and permissions.
Database: Migrations, seeders, factories.
API Development: JSON responses, resource transformers.
Job Queues: Sending emails, notifications in the background.
Scalability: Works well with Redis, AWS, and microservices.

Example: Building a basic API endpoint in Laravel

// routes/api.php
Route::get('/users', [UserController::class, 'index']);

// app/Http/Controllers/UserController.php
class UserController extends Controller {
    public function index() {
        return User::all();
    }
}

👉 In just a few lines, you’ve created a REST endpoint returning all users.

Common Mistakes Beginners Make in Laravel

Overusing controllers instead of separating logic into services.
Ignoring caching (leads to performance bottlenecks).
Not using migrations properly → DB schema mismatch.
Mixing raw SQL when Eloquent ORM is available.

Sample Interview Questions & Answers

Q: Why should I use Laravel instead of CodeIgniter or Symfony?

A: Laravel provides a modern ecosystem, elegant syntax, strong community, and built-in features like ORM, templating, and authentication—making development faster and cleaner.

Q: What are some real-world applications of Laravel?

A: SaaS products, e-commerce platforms, CRM tools, healthcare apps, REST APIs, and enterprise dashboards.

Q: How does Laravel improve developer productivity?

A: Tools like Artisan CLI, Eloquent ORM, and built-in scaffolding reduce repetitive work and speed up development.

Q: What is the role of the Blade template engine?

A: Blade provides a clean way to render views with template inheritance and directives like @if and @foreach.

Q: Can Laravel handle large-scale applications?

A: Yes, Laravel supports caching, job queues, horizontal scaling, and integration with microservices—making it suitable for enterprise apps.

Q: What’s unique about Laravel’s ecosystem?

A: Laravel comes with first-party tools (Sanctum, Horizon, Scout, Nova) that integrate seamlessly, reducing reliance on third-party packages.

Closing Note

Laravel has rightfully earned its place as the go-to PHP framework for modern web applications. With its rich ecosystem, elegant syntax, and scalability, it allows developers to build everything from small projects to enterprise-level platforms.