Laravel is a web application framework written in PHP, while PHP is a general-purpose scripting language. As a framework, Laravel extends and enhances the functionalities of PHP, making it easier and more convenient for developers to build custom web applications. Hence, the main difference between Laravel and raw PHP is that Laravel provides a set of tools and resources to simplify and streamline the web development process.
It includes features such as routing, middleware, blade templating engine, eloquent ORM, and a robust set of libraries and components for common web development tasks. These features enable developers to write less code and focus more on building the features and functionality that matter most to their applications. It also provides a clean and organized structure for the code, making it easier to maintain and scale the application over time.