Laravel Features Making it the Best PHP Framework in 2023

When building websites and apps, you need a robust backend to drive the front end successfully. Laravel tops the list of powerful backend web application frameworks with significant front-end capabilities. While other PHP frameworks are available in the market, they differ from the performance and capabilities of Laravel features.

This article lists what Laravel Features make it the best PHP framework and why you must use it for web development projects.

What is Laravel?

Laravel is a PHP framework, wholly open-source and free to use. It was designed and developed by Taylor Otwell in 2011. This web application framework has various out-of-the-box features necessary for faster code development. For example, it has an MVC architecture with several pre-written functions for rapid web development.

Laravel is often confused as a frontend framework as it has various features that prove helpful in the client-side development of projects. However, it is not a front-end framework.

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Is Laravel Frontend or Backend?

Laravel is undoubtedly a backend framework with all the critical features required in building modern web applications. For example, it provides routing, validation, caching, queues, file storage, and other vital features for backend development.

Top 5 Laravel Framework Features That Make It Popular

Several Laravel features allow you to create business-oriented solutions with fewer lines of code. The significant ones are the following:

1. Open Source & Completely Free to Use

Unlike other PHP frameworks, developers need not pay a penny to use Laravel for web or app development. The availability of detailed tutorials also helps users learn the framework’s complicated and core concepts with ease and in less time.

2. Wide Community Support 

PHP developers worldwide have adopted the Laravel framework and used it to build robust websites, APIS, websites, and more. It is also compatible with various projects under big and small budgets. For example, startups using PHP can hire Laravel developers to build robust web solutions under an affordable budget. 

3. MVC Architecture 

It follows a model-view-controller architecture, which allows the separation of the business logic and the presentation layers. The MVC architecture is easier to navigate and enables developers to add new features to the development project efficiently. 

4. Powerful Blade Template Engine

The Laravel PHP framework provides you with a robust templating engine called Blade. With Blade, developers can leverage template inheritance for data display. It adds significant flexibility to web development projects.

5. Dedicated Security Oriented Features

Laravel authentication system is widely famous for creating well-secured apps. The framework has CSRF tokens that prevent external plugins from generating fake requests. Other security-oriented features in the framework include solutions for cross-site scripting, cross-site request forgery, query spoofing, and SQL injection.

Having discussed the vital features, you must clearly understand why companies trust Laravel development services for project development. 

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Why Use Laravel Framework for Web Development?

1. Object Relational Mapping

The availability of the eloquent ORM with the PHP framework allows developers to create database queries with the PHP syntax. It removes the dependency on SQL and facilitates the creation of scalable web apps for the developer’s team.

2. Object-Oriented Libraries

Laravel provides you with tons of helpful and readily available modern modular libraries. These libraries allow you to integrate up-to-date functions into the web app quickly. Integrating popular functional features into the application, like password hashing, password resetting, and others, takes less time. 

3. Rapid Project Development

The framework has several ready-made functions in the form of libraries, plugins, third-party extensions, and more. The pre-built functions focussing on usability and easy integration allow you to create apps in less time. You hardly need to build anything from scratch, which saves significant development time.

4. Useful Tools

The developers can avoid tedious and repetitive programming tasks with the help of integrated tools. Laravel makes complex jobs simple, like handling the migration of databases and managing diverse database systems.

You can also create MVC files through the command line and deal with those assets with their configurations. Thus, the developers can generate command lines and utilize them to make their development more accessible and smoother.

5. Migration of Data

Several features in the Laravel framework provide a seamless data migration to businesses. For example, developers can use PHP code instead of SQL, availability of an in-built migration system in the framework, and Schema builders, which facilitate code transfer smoothly. 

6. Unit Testing Features

Standard testing is critical to creating and launching bug-free products. Laravel has inbuilt testing capabilities for running various unit tests to ensure the developed code is perfect. It also supports automation testing, allowing you to check if the web app is free from bugs and issues. When you hire a dedicated developer, you can expect bug-free high-quality robust code.

7. Frequent Reliable Updates

The Laravel framework comes with frequent updates focused on security and performance enhancements. Over the years, it has witnessed massive changes that keep this PHP framework up-to-date and valuable in developing the powerful backend. Deploying Laravel upgrades allows businesses to stay competitive and enhance the security aspects of their site and apps.

Laravel Advantages and Disadvantages

Pros:

• Excellent documentation helps in getting started 
• Mature community support 
• It comes with an intuitive interface
• Multiple in-built libraries
• Eloquent ORM
• In-built unit & automation testing features
• Robust Blade templating engine
• Various security features
• Highly scalable
• Command line tool interface Artisan
• MVC architecture
• Faster web application development

Cons:

• It has a steep learning curve
• Certain upgrades from the official site are troublesome for users.

Wrapping Up

What makes Laravel an ideal framework is the combination of several up-to-date features and in-built capabilities. Not only is it helpful in creating up-to-date sites or apps, but it also helps in integrating the web solution with new features. At Nethues Technologies, we are a leading Laravel development company in India.

We have helped various business industries with successful sites and applications. We believe in providing customized development services. Our Laravel developers optimize the development approach to create precisely what you want.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. How is Laravel different from other PHP frameworks?

Unlike other PHP frameworks, Laravel has various outstanding features like MVC architecture, eloquent ORM, testing support, and more. Creating well-secured apps and sites with Laravel takes less time.

Q2. Which famous brands are using Laravel?

Recognizable brands using the Laravel PHP framework are:

• 9GAG
• Pfizer
• BBC

Q3. What are some alternatives to Laravel?

Symfony, CakePHP, and Phalcon are popular alternatives to the Laravel PHP framework. However, depending upon the project requirement, the more advanced alternative to Laravel varies significantly. For example, the best PHP frameworks like CodeIgniter and Yii can also replace Laravel as per requirements.