Laravel vs Yii — Which is best for your business?
By: Optimal Virtual Employee
Tags: Laravel Development, Laravel, Yii Framework Development, Laravel Framework

PHP remains the preferred platform for creating secure and complex applications. It is an old Web programming language with several frameworks that aid modern application development. Web developers must know multiple PHP frameworks to make the right choice for their projects.

Yii vs Laravel

Yii is an open-source PHP framework that features database aspect objects, MVC, Ajax-based widgets, DB migration and several other attractive web application development tools. PHP developers easily adopt Yii with JQuery integration. Yii comes with great security, highly extensible technologies, ease of installation, extreme performance acceleration, CRUD feature and easy form validation, handling errors etc.

Laravel, on the other hand, is another sophisticated PHP framework with creative features like convenience emailing, composer support and resourceful controllers. This particular PHP framework works with simple as well as the expressive syntax for developing web applications based on meticulous and complex code bases. Laravel offers OO libraries, the technique of authorization, artisan, MVC Support, migrating database, blade templating engine and automatic discovery of packages.

Both frameworks can be easily set up with a Composer, which is a PHP package manager. Talking of project setup of Laravel vs Yii, PHP developers find both frameworks easy to install. However, overall Yii ranks above Laravel because a PHP developer can download and run the application. The installation is smooth and uncomplicated with Yii. Moreover, its isolated back-end and front-end allow flawless development of the user-facing site as well as the admin area. Comparatively, Laravel installation seems a bit more tedious and is often executed using Laravel Installer or using Composer, a PHP package manager. Laravel brings along a simple helper that streamlines its installation with a standalone command-line tool.

When it comes to forming validation, Yii is more time consuming than Laravel framework. Laravel is a PHP framework that comes with a separate validator class to allow PHP developers to perform form validation at all times. Furthermore, a PHP developer can extend the Eloquent class by using custom methods for unification and convenience. However, developers need to customize the code to define attributes with fillable property sourced from multiple scenarios. Yii offers a distinct platform of form validation that comes linked with the class of a model. Developers can themselves set the rules for the validation when the data is received directly they can verify it and fill in ActiveRecord. If a developer has another form altering the data in a model, they can develop a specific class for it or apply custom validation scripts. PHP developers may find it difficult to examine some values directly in the controller, which is something Laravel offers with its validator.

Useful extensions help both these frameworks level up their shortcomings and offer a wholesome web application development experience. Both Laravel and Yii come with a range of prolific extensions. While Laravel serves several extension points that help customize the behaviour of its core components or replace them completely, the extensions offered by the Yii community offer plenty of useful functionalities. These extensions aid the development effort for beginners as well as experienced developers.

Laravel and Yii both include adequate mechanisms for password protection, authentication, shield from cross-site scripting, SQL injections, cross-site request forgery, etc. Yii framework stands out in terms of notable security features like role-based access control, feature-rich access control filter, and authorization extensions like OAuth, OpenID, or OAuth 2, etc. On the other hand, Laravel includes security features like role-based access controls, ACL plugins, and access control filters. While Laravel lacks off-the-shelf access control tools; countless extensions help remedy the situation for developers.

Both Yii and Laravel have grown to be popular PHP development frameworks with a global following. However, the total number of Laravel users is far bigger than Yii users. Most PHP developers choose frameworks that address issues promptly and locate solutions quickly. Comparatively, Yii is easier to learn and more accessible.

Laravel allows developers to declare route to each and every action in all controllers. With Yii, simple routing is possible, without any need to mention a route to every action. Here the route of actions is picked up by default.

In the End

Yii and Laravel both have excellent features and pose a difficult choice for PHP developers looking to build web applications. Laravel is often touted as the largest used PHP framework in recent times with numerous features to choose from.

Are you a PHP developer looking for a PHP framework to create an enterprise web app? Choose Laravel. However, if you want to build a small to medium-size web app, Yii is the best choice.

Businesses must consider the toolkit of the framework, developer expertise, extensiveness of the framework, developer support available and community size before choosing between Laravel and Yii.

Are you looking to hire a PHP developer? Get in touch!