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Ask HN: Best PHP Framework? Drupal? Laravel? Codeiginiter?

I have been assigned to build a Drupal 8 "CMS" system. After working for sometime with mild success there is a possibility to use another framework to build a more flexible and robust platform.

smt88 9y ago
Drupal is not at all similar to Laravel or Codeigniter. Drupal is a CMS, while Laravel and CI are frameworks. If you just need a CMS, there are tons of open-source CMS already built that you can use commercially for free. Why spend time/money building a new one? At this point, Laravel is so widespread in the PHP world, you might as well just use it. They have a smaller version (Lumen, I think?) that is probably faster to learn and much lighter-weight.
- chad_strategic 9y ago
  Agreed. The problem is that we have a non technical person pushing us to Drupal. That person has left, so I'm trying to make a push into a customized CMS via framework because there is no direction or mission statement, or user stories for this project. That's the real problem... lacking leadership. The good news is time and money is not an variable in the equation. (meaning I'm not working in the real world...)
  - hluska 9y ago
    Do I understand this correctly? You're pushing to go fully custom because the requirements are lacking? If I do understand that correctly, if I were you, I would spend some serious time learning about why they picked Drupal in the first place. If you run into brick walls, keep on knocking on doors until someone eventually lets you in. I have been involved in many projects, but I have never seen one with very loose requirements end well.
    - chad_strategic 9y ago
      see above, some of my questions was cut off. The answer to why they picked Drupal is because... The sysadmin that somehow became a manager did some programming in the early 2000 in Drupal. That is why they picked Drupal. That sysadmin/manager has left, so I have leverage to make some changes.
savethefuture 9y ago
Laravel was excellent to work in, much better than the other ones I had tried.
zuzuleinen 9y ago
Laravel or Symfony
guinness74 9y ago
Laravel is a terrific framework, and if you're building the project from scratch it's my suggestion purely from a maintainability standpoint. It's widely adopted and is decoupled nicely. Drupal is a fine off the shelf CMS that is very extensible. I'd argue it has framework like features, but with the goal to extend CMS capabilities. I don't know enough about your use case to suggestion one over the other.
ebcode 9y ago
It really depends on your needs. I think you would get more helpful responses if you included more information about the purpose of your project in the question.
drupallover 9y ago
Drupal 8 is based on symphony and is pretty robust. Alot of what you would build by hand is already built and easily configurable via the web interface. I believe that modules can be symphony bundles or pretty close.
iDemonix 9y ago
I learnt PHP and avoided frameworks for years, but Laravel is a dream. Watch the Laracasts and you'll be up to speed in a weekend
chad_strategic 9y ago
I made a mistake in asking this question. I guess there was a limit to the question length, which for some reason I didn't see. regardless hear is my full question with a little bit of detail. I have been assigned to build a Drupal 8 "CMS" system. After working for sometime with mild success there is a possibility to use another framework to build a more flexible and robust platform. The scope of the project is not defined which is part of the problem, but I digress. (Basically, I working with people who don't have clue as to what they want) I think it's time to move away from Drupal and build a custom CMS. As the project will have a variety of non Drupal feature in the months to come. Now what I need is some facts to back this up. Wappalyzer used to provide charts of usage of certain frameworks. I was wondering if there any site or articles out there I could use to prove to a non-technical person, why we should move away from Drupal. Website usage, security concerns, or hiring trends, etc. Although I don't mind Wordpress, it has such a bad security reputation, the sysadmin won't consider it. I would like to use Laravel or Codeigniter but need some evidence as to back it up.
- ccdev 9y ago
  CodeIgniter was great back in its time but has been supplanted by Laravel in its organization of code. However what CI did well, in my opinion, is it lets you spin up a MVP in a really quick turnaround time and effective enough for small businesses.
  - 8draco8 9y ago
    Codeigniter is still great. I was always Symfony guy but last year I've ended up in a company that had software build on CI and I really like it. Of course it's totally different than Symfony but it's simple, allows for a lot of customisation (we introduced Laravel Blade templating system). Of course you should always thing about your project requirements and future development. Think also about how easy it is to learn in case you will want to extend your team.
gregjor 9y ago
This isn't a technical problem a framework choice will solve. You need to have a better idea of what you're building first. If there's a leadership vacuum, step up. If you're in the position of choosing between Drupal, Laravel, etc. you are probably in the position to evaluate other solutions not based on PHP.
tomascot 9y ago
I would go with Symfony, has a great community, it's very robuts and lot of developers behind it. I'm probably wrong and it's just my opinion, but Laravel feels like it's a one man show.
seanwilson 9y ago
I would avoid Codeiginiter personally in terms of momentum and community. It's fallen behind the more modern frameworks and when you find plugins for it on GitHub they've regularly not been updated for at least a year. I've helped on a Codeiginiter project for a while where we have to keep reinventing the wheel because there's no decent solutions compared to e.g. Drupal or Laravel.

I have been assigned to build a Drupal 8 "CMS" system. After working for sometime with mild success there is a possibility to use another framework to build a more flexible and robust platform.

smt88 9y ago

Drupal is not at all similar to Laravel or Codeigniter. Drupal is a CMS, while Laravel and CI are frameworks. If you just need a CMS, there are tons of open-source CMS already built that you can use commercially for free. Why spend time/money building a new one? At this point, Laravel is so widespread in the PHP world, you might as well just use it. They have a smaller version (Lumen, I think?) that is probably faster to learn and much lighter-weight.

chad_strategic 9y ago
Agreed. The problem is that we have a non technical person pushing us to Drupal. That person has left, so I'm trying to make a push into a customized CMS via framework because there is no direction or mission statement, or user stories for this project. That's the real problem... lacking leadership. The good news is time and money is not an variable in the equation. (meaning I'm not working in the real world...)
- hluska 9y ago
  Do I understand this correctly? You're pushing to go fully custom because the requirements are lacking? If I do understand that correctly, if I were you, I would spend some serious time learning about why they picked Drupal in the first place. If you run into brick walls, keep on knocking on doors until someone eventually lets you in. I have been involved in many projects, but I have never seen one with very loose requirements end well.
  - chad_strategic 9y ago
    see above, some of my questions was cut off. The answer to why they picked Drupal is because... The sysadmin that somehow became a manager did some programming in the early 2000 in Drupal. That is why they picked Drupal. That sysadmin/manager has left, so I have leverage to make some changes.

savethefuture 9y ago

Laravel was excellent to work in, much better than the other ones I had tried.

zuzuleinen 9y ago

Laravel or Symfony

guinness74 9y ago

Laravel is a terrific framework, and if you're building the project from scratch it's my suggestion purely from a maintainability standpoint. It's widely adopted and is decoupled nicely. Drupal is a fine off the shelf CMS that is very extensible. I'd argue it has framework like features, but with the goal to extend CMS capabilities. I don't know enough about your use case to suggestion one over the other.

ebcode 9y ago

It really depends on your needs. I think you would get more helpful responses if you included more information about the purpose of your project in the question.

drupallover 9y ago

Drupal 8 is based on symphony and is pretty robust. Alot of what you would build by hand is already built and easily configurable via the web interface. I believe that modules can be symphony bundles or pretty close.

iDemonix 9y ago

I learnt PHP and avoided frameworks for years, but Laravel is a dream. Watch the Laracasts and you'll be up to speed in a weekend

chad_strategic 9y ago

I made a mistake in asking this question. I guess there was a limit to the question length, which for some reason I didn't see. regardless hear is my full question with a little bit of detail. I have been assigned to build a Drupal 8 "CMS" system. After working for sometime with mild success there is a possibility to use another framework to build a more flexible and robust platform. The scope of the project is not defined which is part of the problem, but I digress. (Basically, I working with people who don't have clue as to what they want) I think it's time to move away from Drupal and build a custom CMS. As the project will have a variety of non Drupal feature in the months to come. Now what I need is some facts to back this up. Wappalyzer used to provide charts of usage of certain frameworks. I was wondering if there any site or articles out there I could use to prove to a non-technical person, why we should move away from Drupal. Website usage, security concerns, or hiring trends, etc. Although I don't mind Wordpress, it has such a bad security reputation, the sysadmin won't consider it. I would like to use Laravel or Codeigniter but need some evidence as to back it up.

ccdev 9y ago
CodeIgniter was great back in its time but has been supplanted by Laravel in its organization of code. However what CI did well, in my opinion, is it lets you spin up a MVP in a really quick turnaround time and effective enough for small businesses.
- 8draco8 9y ago
  Codeigniter is still great. I was always Symfony guy but last year I've ended up in a company that had software build on CI and I really like it. Of course it's totally different than Symfony but it's simple, allows for a lot of customisation (we introduced Laravel Blade templating system). Of course you should always thing about your project requirements and future development. Think also about how easy it is to learn in case you will want to extend your team.

gregjor 9y ago

This isn't a technical problem a framework choice will solve. You need to have a better idea of what you're building first. If there's a leadership vacuum, step up. If you're in the position of choosing between Drupal, Laravel, etc. you are probably in the position to evaluate other solutions not based on PHP.

tomascot 9y ago

I would go with Symfony, has a great community, it's very robuts and lot of developers behind it. I'm probably wrong and it's just my opinion, but Laravel feels like it's a one man show.

seanwilson 9y ago

I would avoid Codeiginiter personally in terms of momentum and community. It's fallen behind the more modern frameworks and when you find plugins for it on GitHub they've regularly not been updated for at least a year. I've helped on a Codeiginiter project for a while where we have to keep reinventing the wheel because there's no decent solutions compared to e.g. Drupal or Laravel.