Well a framework has done all the heavy listing, you add in your stuff and can be good to go in an extremely short time. Drawbacks are you are married to the f

Well a framework has done all the heavy listing, you add in your stuff and can be good to go in an extremely short time. Drawbacks are you are married to the framework, have to keep it updated as well as live with its idiosyncrasies and quirks (sometimes you just cant easily do something in a framework and have to kludge it in..., and it will probably get worse as time goes on). Another fear is that the framework may end-of-life or go through some massive refactor at sometime and you would have to re-configure to project to keep going. Pure PHP is good but takes time to develop code to something mature, you will get maximum flexibility (you will eventually get what you want), but you are dependent on your skills and research. Pure PHP can be safe, just you have to research and implement whatever safe code/practices you need. Kind of depends on what you are going for. If you want to fiddle, try both. If you want something that would be complex quick, probably a framework. If you want something that you can't see done with a framework and are willing to put in the time and effort, pure PHP would be a good route. I read if it is short term good to go with a framework, long term, you should expect to end-up with something more robust (start with framework, build into a more stable long term pure PHP for the long haul).