Overview

Laravel

Stacks28.7K

Followers23.7K

Votes3.9K

GitHub Stars82.6K

Forks24.6K

CodeIgniter

Stacks3.2K

Followers1.5K

Votes466

CodeIgniter vs Laravel: What are the differences?

Introduction

In this article, we will discuss the key differences between CodeIgniter and Laravel, two popular PHP frameworks. Both frameworks are widely used for building web applications, but they have distinct features and characteristics. Below are six key differences that set them apart from each other.

Architecture: CodeIgniter follows the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architectural pattern, which provides a clear separation of concerns. On the other hand, Laravel follows the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architectural pattern but also includes additional components like middleware and service containers, making it more flexible and extensible.
Database Support: CodeIgniter supports a wide range of databases, including MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, MS SQL, and SQLite. However, Laravel provides more database support out-of-the-box, including these databases as well as MariaDB and MongoDB. Additionally, Laravel provides a powerful database migration system, which simplifies database schema management.
Authentication and Authorization: Laravel comes with a built-in authentication and authorization system that is easy to set up and customize. It includes features like user registration, password reset, role-based permissions, and more. CodeIgniter, on the other hand, does not provide a built-in authentication and authorization system, so developers need to implement it manually or use third-party libraries.
Template Engine: Laravel uses its own template engine called Blade, which provides a clean syntax for writing views and includes features like template inheritance and control structures. On the other hand, CodeIgniter does not have a built-in template engine, so developers can choose from various third-party template engines or use PHP itself for rendering views.
Command-Line Interface (CLI): Laravel includes a powerful command-line interface called Artisan, which provides a set of commands for automating common development tasks. It allows developers to create controllers, models, migrations, and perform database operations, among other things. CodeIgniter does not have a built-in command-line interface, so developers need to rely on external tools or write scripts manually.
Community and Ecosystem: Laravel has a larger and more active community compared to CodeIgniter, which means it has a vast ecosystem of packages, extensions, and resources available. Laravel also has a dedicated package manager called Composer, which simplifies the installation and management of third-party packages. CodeIgniter also has a decent community, but it may be harder to find specific resources or packages compared to Laravel.

In summary, CodeIgniter and Laravel have different architectural approaches, database support, authentication and authorization systems, template engines, command-line interfaces, and community sizes. Choosing the right framework depends on the specific requirements and preferences of the project.

Advice on Laravel, CodeIgniter

Eva

Fullstack developer

Jul 28, 2020

Needs adviceon

Java

Spring Boot

JavaScript

Hello, I am a fullstack web developer. I have been working for a company with Java/ Spring Boot and client-side JavaScript(mainly jQuery, some AngularJS) for the past 4 years. As I wish to now work as a freelancer, I am faced with a dilemma: which stack to choose given my current knowledge and the state of the market?

I've heard PHP is very popular in the freelance world. I don't know PHP. However, I'm sure it wouldn't be difficult to learn since it has many similarities with Java (OOP). It seems to me that Laravel has similarities with Spring Boot (it's MVC and OOP). Also, people say Laravel works well with Vue.js, which is my favorite JS framework.

On the other hand, I already know the Javascript language, and I like Vue.js, so I figure I could go the fullstack Javascript route with ExpressJS. However, I am not sure if these techs are ripe for freelancing (with regards to RAD, stability, reliability, security, costs, etc.) Is it true that Express is almost always used with MongoDB? Because my experience is mostly with SQL databases.

The projects I would like to work on are custom web applications/websites for small businesses. I have developed custom ERPs before and found that Java was a good fit, except for it taking a long time to develop. I cannot make a choice, and I am constantly switching between trying PHP and Node.js/Express. Any real-world advice would be welcome! I would love to find a stack that I enjoy while doing meaningful freelance coding.

826k views826k

Comments

washie

Developer at Bytecom

Jun 14, 2020

Decided

i find python quite resourceful. given the bulk of libraries that python has and the trends of the tech i find django which runs on python to be the framework of choice to the upcoming web services and application. Laravel on the other hand which is powered by PHP is also quite resourceful and great for startups and common web applications.

758k views758k

Comments

Mohammad

Oct 28, 2019

Needs adviceon

Node.js

Laravel

PHP

I want to create a video sharing service like Youtube, which users can use to upload and watch videos. I prefer to use Vue.js for front-end. What do you suggest for the back-end? Node.js or Laravel ( PHP ) I need a good performance with high speed, and the most important thing is the ability to handle user's requests if the site's traffic increases. I want to create an algorithm that users who watch others videos earn points (randomly but in clear context) If you have anything else to improve, please let me know. For eg: If you prefer React to Vue.js. Thanks in advance

309k views309k

Comments

Detailed Comparison

Laravel	CodeIgniter
It is a web application framework with expressive, elegant syntax. It attempts to take the pain out of development by easing common tasks used in the majority of web projects, such as authentication, routing, sessions, and caching.	CodeIgniter is a proven, agile & open PHP web application framework with a small footprint. It is powering the next generation of web apps.
Template Engine; MVC Architecture Support; Eloquent ORM (Object Relational Mapping); Security; Artisan; Libraries & Modular; Database Migration System; Unit-Testing	-
Statistics
GitHub Stars 82.6K	GitHub Stars -
GitHub Forks 24.6K	GitHub Forks -
Stacks 28.7K	Stacks 3.2K
Followers 23.7K	Followers 1.5K
Votes 3.9K	Votes 466
Pros & Cons
Pros 555 Clean architecture 392 Growing community 370 Composer friendly 344 Open source 325 The only framework to consider for php Cons 54 PHP 33 Too many dependency 23 Slower than the other two 17 A lot of static method calls for convenience 15 Too many include	Pros 88 Mvc 76 Easy setup 70 Open source 62 Well documented 36 Community support Cons 6 No ORM 1 No CLI
Integrations
PHP Django CakePHP	PHP

What are some alternatives to Laravel, CodeIgniter?

Node.js

Node.js uses an event-driven, non-blocking I/O model that makes it lightweight and efficient, perfect for data-intensive real-time applications that run across distributed devices.

Rails

Rails is a web-application framework that includes everything needed to create database-backed web applications according to the Model-View-Controller (MVC) pattern.

Django

Django is a high-level Python Web framework that encourages rapid development and clean, pragmatic design.

.NET

.NET is a general purpose development platform. With .NET, you can use multiple languages, editors, and libraries to build native applications for web, mobile, desktop, gaming, and IoT for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and more.

ASP.NET Core

A free and open-source web framework, and higher performance than ASP.NET, developed by Microsoft and the community. It is a modular framework that runs on both the full .NET Framework, on Windows, and the cross-platform .NET Core.

Symfony

It is written with speed and flexibility in mind. It allows developers to build better and easy to maintain websites with PHP..

Spring

A key element of Spring is infrastructural support at the application level: Spring focuses on the "plumbing" of enterprise applications so that teams can focus on application-level business logic, without unnecessary ties to specific deployment environments.

Spring Boot

Spring Boot makes it easy to create stand-alone, production-grade Spring based Applications that you can "just run". We take an opinionated view of the Spring platform and third-party libraries so you can get started with minimum fuss. Most Spring Boot applications need very little Spring configuration.

Android SDK

Android provides a rich application framework that allows you to build innovative apps and games for mobile devices in a Java language environment.

Phoenix Framework

Phoenix is a framework for building HTML5 apps, API backends and distributed systems. Written in Elixir, you get beautiful syntax, productive tooling and a fast runtime.