Gone are the days when websites were simple with only text and a few images. For long, PHP has been one of the most preferred languages for web development. However, this scenario gets changed with the arrival of new languages on the block and a tremendous rise in the complexity of websites. Developers felt the heat of writing thousands of lines of code for developing such complex websites. They have to start everything from scratch for every website which is quite tedious and here the PHP frameworks came to the rescue of web developers. The frameworks offer codes that are reusable and thus significantly reduce the effort and time of web developers. Consequently, there is a high demand for web developers who have experience in working with these PHP frameworks.

So, if you are dreaming about having a career in web development, here are the top PHP frameworks that you must learn in 2021.

Zend Framework – With over 150 million successful installations and a vibrant community, this PHP framework is quite popular among developers as it facilitates easy development of web applications and services. Built on agile technology, it is extendable, open-sourced, and 100 % object-oriented. Some of the reasons for which it has become a darling of the developer’s community is its support for RESTful API development and advanced MVC implementation. It is also supremely secure as it supports data encryption and password hashing techniques. Some of the popular and robust websites developed by using the Zend framework are the company websites of McAfee, IBM, and Magento.

Laravel Framework – The laravel framework has come a long way since its release in 2011. Whenever it is about creating high-quality web applications, web artisans all over the world rely on this easily accessible PHP framework. What makes it stand out from the rest is its expressive and elegant syntax. Web development becomes smooth when all the necessary legwork such as authentication, caching, routing, and sessions are done by the framework and the open-source PHP framework exactly does the same. Moreover, it has an MVC-based architectural pattern and has one of the best Object-Relational Mapping. If you are thinking about building a web application with live feeds or real-time data, Laravel proves ideal.

Yii Framework – Whether it is about developing large portals or complex content management systems (CRM), the high-performance PHP framework never disappoints. The extremely extensible framework has plenty of rich features such as query builders, RESTful API development support; cryptography, multi-tier caching support, and so on.

CakePHP Framework – You may have already heard about the new CakePHP 4.1 framework that promises faster web application development. As one of the best PHP frameworks, it does not need any configuration and has some built-in tools that developers can use for input validation, SQL injection prevention, form tampering protection, and CSRF protection.

Codeigniter Framework – With its clear documentation and nearly zero-configuration, Codeigniter has emerged as a powerful PHP framework that facilitates developers to create feature-rich web applications.

There are also some other PHP frameworks such as Phalcon and Symfony that may get a chance to feature in the coveted list after some years. However, the majority of developers currently use the topmost PHP frameworks and if you want to learn any of these, you have to join a reputed IT course training institute.