Node.js vs PHP: A Head-to-Head Comparison
Tags: node, php, webdev, programming
Published: 2023-01-25 18:00:00

When it comes to web development, there’s one big question: which one should you pick for your next project — the fresh, robust, and fast Node.js, or the aging yet still dependable and efficient PHP?

These two technologies each offer hundreds of features that can make your development more effortless and more stable. But, choosing your technology depends more on your requirements and the type of development you plan to do.

So let’s dive into these two popular options to see which one is right for your next project.

## **Similarities**
The similarities between Node.js and PHP include:

- **Application types:** Node.js and PHP run on servers and handle routed requests. You can overlap them in helping static content, dynamic web pages, and data requests. Though PHP introduced web socket servers, Node.js web sockets are the most popular nowadays. Node.js uses socket.io, and PHP uses Ratchet. Additionally, both of them serve streams (Node.js does this with Stream API, and you’ll need to write some custom codes for PHP).
- **Extensibility:** You can expand both Node.js and PHP, as they’re open source, and there’s a prosperous ecosystem of add-ons for each. Likewise, you can tweak the source code and fork it the way you find the best for your project.
- **Interpreted:** Both Node.js and PHP are interpreted, and both permit you to perform developing tasks on the exact implementation page without interrupting your process. Easy debugging, minimizing program size, and dynamic typing are the benefits an interpreted language offers.
- **Cross-platform:** Both Node.js and PHP are platform-independent. They can both operate on Linux, macOS, or Windows, and Node.js on even SunOS. There are official Docker images on the Docker hub for Node.js, though you’ll need to run PHP directly from the command line. You can also compile the source code for both Node.js and PHP.
- **Service:** Both Node.js and PHP serve web requests and are pretty efficient in serving web sockets. They smoothly manage dynamic web content and deliver an interactive and user-friendly interface.

## **Target Audience**
Every technology has a precise base of users and audiences. Similarly, Node.js and PHP have their specific audience. Node.js attracts modern learners interested in full-stack development with less effort and higher [Node.js salaries](https://kinsta.com/blog/node-js-developer-salary/). At the same time, PHP targets a wide range of audiences from all over the web.

That’s because PHP alone powers 78.9% of the websites online. Well, that’s nearly the entire internet! On the other hand, Node.js is a fast-growing potential full-stack JavaScript environment becoming popular among developers and users.

However, PHP has been too vast to overcome so far. Therefore, it’s challenging to predict the eventual winner.

## **Frameworks**
The better the programming language framework, the less you need to code. The bundled codes, premade modeling APIs, and other elements make the programming process easier and shorter for you. Both PHP and Node.js offer different types of frameworks to serve different purposes.

#### **Node.js**
 
Node.js has encountered a significant increase of its libraries in a short amount of time, including Meteor, Derby, Express, Koa, [Nest](https://kinsta.com/knowledgebase/nestjs/), Sails, and so many others. These frameworks increase productivity by lowering development time and resource usage. Notably, Node.js outnumbers PHP frameworks in quantity.

#### **PHP**
Throughout the 27 years of its lifetime, PHP has gained an [extensive library of frameworks](https://kinsta.com/blog/php-frameworks/) for different niche markets. PHP frameworks like Laravel, CodeIgniter, Symfony, CakePHP, and Phalcon have served professional developers and mainstream development agencies for a long while. Also, industry giants like Facebook implemented their version of PHP frameworks like HipHop.

## **Learning Curve**
If you already know JavaScript, you’ll quickly grasp the value of Node.js. But if you’ve never touched the language, it’s wiser to [learn JavaScript](https://kinsta.com/topic/javascript-tutorials/) first and then adopt the [Node.js environment](https://kinsta.com/topic/node-js/). Knowing another language beforehand can help pick up the basics of JavaScript and build servers with Node.js parallelly.

[PHP is easy to learn](https://kinsta.com/blog/php-tutorials/), but it’s challenging to master. Also, PHP quirks, such as inconsistent functions or return values, are more comfortable to learn and master than JavaScript and Node.js peculiarities.

However, the time and effort you invest into learning Node.js will pay off in spades. Because Node.js is becoming more popular than PHP, knowing it will be valuable.

## **Speed & Performance**
While developing a basic project, processing or executing speed is mostly insignificant; most technologies are swift enough to handle the execution. However, performance becomes a concern if you run costly (processing-wise) functions that require better algorithms, compilers, or languages. And if you’re building real-time systems that run on low-powered machines, speed and performance become crucial.

Let’s look at how Node.js and PHP perform and handle the execution of programs.

#### **Node.js**
Node.js has a high-speed execution rate because of its lightweight, efficient, event-driven, and non-blocking I/O model. However, for performance, it relies on three programming “wizards”: Async, Concurrency, and Parallelism programming.

The asynchronous event-driven design style ensures performing several actions simultaneously when running an application. Node’s events system makes it more feasible and faster, allowing the server to respond to the previous API request. In a nutshell, it’s the asynchronous programming paradigm.

#### **PHP**
On the other hand, PHP uses a slower, synchronous code implementation approach that executes each module function in the order indicated within the code. If one query fails to perform, the following one will not run until the concurrent one completes.

Therefore, the language keeps the performance steady and executes programs with accuracy regardless of the speed. Pairing with HHVM Virtual Machine improves PHPs performance, but Node.js remains superior.

## **Security**
For sure, no programming language is unhackable, nor does any come without a single security vulnerability. But you can build a system that is potentially immune to the [most aggressive security attacks.](https://kinsta.com/blog/types-of-malware/)

#### **Node.js**
As a Node.js user, you may encounter vulnerabilities such as the machine-in-the-middle (MITM) attack, code injection, and advanced persistent threats. For example, Node.js faces security issues like XSS attacks, data leaks, [Cross-site Request Forgery](https://github.com/pillarjs/understanding-csrf) (CSRF), and HTTP response header issues.

However, the system also offers security practices, authentication tools (Okta, Firebase, OAuth), OWASP Dependency-Check, and [Acutinex](https://www.acunetix.com/) to handle the issues with comfort, decrease vulnerability, and create a secure system for you.

#### **PHP**
While using PHP, you may face security issues like [SQL injection attack](https://www.php.net/manual/en/security.database.sql-injection.php), XSS (cross-site scripting), session hijacking, directory traversal, and a few more.

PHP offers preventions and paths to stand against all these issues. But here, we release the truth genie from the bottle:

Your PHP code is as secure as you write it.

If you code it right, your program is as secure as it should be with several other programming languages. But if you’re an inexperienced coder, there’s a comparatively higher possibility of your website or the app having a security vulnerability.

## **When to Use Node.js**
Let’s look at the requirements that would make you choose Node.js over PHP any day:

**1. FullStack:** Pick Node.js if you want both your server-side and client-side development at once. Another solid reason for picking Node.js is to exclude the hassle of collaborating between different frontend and backend teams.
**2. Speed and Performance:** Node.js executes programs faster than most other programming languages. Also, the theNode.js applications have shown a massive performance gain and stability. Pick Node.js if you want your application to handle multiple instructions and requests simultaneously.
**3. Modern Development methodology:** Node.js is a new, modern, updated environment with several packages, excellent frameworks, and a proficient collection of a pretty modern library. As in whole, it provides you to perform innovative development.
**4. Real Time Data:** Node.js is proficient in synchronizing real-time data because of its non-blocking architecture and the special connection between the server and client sides. Hence, pick Node.js if you need real-time data synchronization on your application services.

## **When to Use PHP**
Now, let’s look at the conditions that might prompt you choose PHP over Node.js:

**1. Flexible and Dynamic:** PHP-programmed online applications and websites are highly secure because they are encrypted and quickly scaled, contributing to their dynamism and adaptability. Besides, the online apps and web pages refresh themselves automatically, with no manual interaction. Therefore, you can pick PHP if you want a dynamic language.
**2. Portability:** PHP comes with excellent portability and efficiency when connecting with the servers and databases. You can port your web app into any server that supports apache at any time rather than rebuilding it. Besides, most content management systems (CMS) like WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal use PHP, making it more accessible overall.

## **Summary**
From the analysis above, it’s challenging to choose which technology is better. We’ve attempted to give you insights into which technology will best fit your project or align appropriately with your company’s culture and processes.

Check out our full library of web development deep dives right here: https://kinsta.com/web-development