Is PHP a Good Fit for My Project?

As you venture into creating a website project, you need to consider what coding language will best fit your project’s unique needs. While most websites end up using PHP, industry experts warn against PHP for a wide variety of reasons. In this article, we’ll discuss why PHP may not be the best choice for your website project and potential alternatives.

PHP is and always has been a scripting language. It is known to be great for developer efficiency but lacks resource efficiency as the total number of requests increases. As PHP grew in popularity in the broader software world, it unavoidably garnered criticism from a rising number of skeptics.

The philosophy of the language has a lot of issues. PHP is a technically inconsistent language and its poor design does not help. It is a tool for a restricted domain that is regularly implemented in a complicated manner. Moreover, if an application is complex, the complexity should be obvious to the developer in user code rather than the language itself. It also features many particular functions and inconsistent naming practices, making it difficult for developers to produce error-free code. This also makes it difficult for developers to find those errors until runtime. In PHP, avoiding errors is nearly impossible even for the most experienced developers.

As for security, there are discussions over whether the language or the site developers are to blame for the higher-than-average amount of vulnerabilities on PHP sites. The PHP Group has attempted to address basic security vulnerabilities in a disorderly manner. And as previously stated, if one is unfamiliar with the intricacies of the language, it is easy to make errors. PHP sites will continue to be an easy target for hackers in the years to come because of the enormous number of sites running old, unsupported versions of PHP past their end of life.

PHP is utilized all over the place because most websites are simple. It provides an easy way to get a site online thanks largely to WordPress. While the wording is not exactly perfect and these sites could use a superior stack, PHP with WordPress can usually get the job done for basic websites. This is why PHP powers 80% of the internet.

However, if your project requires a website that goes beyond absolute basic functionality, you will run into bottlenecks and issues caused by PHP. These issues can be performance problems, lack of self-discipline, or security gaps in libraries you use (if you are not careful). Bright IT actively avoids PHP for this exact reason. We focus on building more complex, faster, and more dynamic websites. Although this could be achieved with PHP, other languages are more suitable as they could make the website code more readable and easier to manage. After all, to create a successful website project, you need to stand out.

While PHP can conveniently satisfy a website’s basic requirements, it also comes with a lot of issues that business owners should be aware of. Here are just a few of the key difficulties of using PHP for your business.

It Is Difficult to Find High-skilled PHP Developers

Although PHP is still one of the most popular languages (as of 2021 it ranks as the 6th most popular language with 6.3 million developers), most good candidates are hesitant to use PHP as their primary programming language for their next projects. And less skilled PHP developers will not be able to write code for a modern system. JavaScript, as the most popular language, has nearly 14 million developers. So, while you might be able to find a PHP developer, most high-skilled developers that maintain up-to-date skillsets have moved away from the language.

PHP Makes It Necessary for Businesses To Hire Additional Developers

Unless the product is entirely web-based, businesses will quickly run into the issue of needing new developers to expand their projects into mobile apps and even desktop apps. PHP primarily functions as a web development language, so any expansion into mobile apps or desktop apps will require additional developers that know other languages. On the other hand, languages like JavaScript are useful for both web and app development.

PHP Libraries and Frameworks Typically Contain Low-quality Code

PHP has fallen out of favor partially due to the low quality of most libraries and frameworks. This stems from the beginning of PHP as a scripting language with a low barrier of entry. The low barrier of entry enticed low-skilled developers to use the language and create poorly-coded libraries and frameworks. So, any PHP-coded libraries and frameworks are immediately suspected of containing low-quality code that can cause issues down the line. 

There are some great PHP libraries and frameworks such as Laravel and Symfony. And developers have a wide choice of PHP tools. But the PHP scene needed to wait more than 20 years for a modern dependency/package management system - Composer 1.0.0 was released in 2016 while PHP was created in 1994.

As many other programming languages emerge and mature, it is only fair to keep up with these changes to avoid errors and risks for the website and the totality of the business. PHP may be convenient, but it comes with many other problems that you could avoid by using a different language.

Shifting to a modern programming language helps you avoid future issues as it will be up to date, easier to grasp, and easier to utilize. By utilizing a modern programming language, you set your project up for future success.