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In order to build impactful business web applications, PHP frameworks are in high demand today. The two most popular frameworks for developing web applications are Laravel and Yii.
Both the framework (Laravel and Yii) offers high-quality & swift website development. Here, the question arises which one to choose for app development; from here, only the Laravel vs Yii war begins.
78.9% OF THE MAJORITY WEB SERVERS Use PHP server-side programing language.
Source: CODEIGNITER VS CAKEPHP VS YII VS LARAVEL
Let’s start the Laravel vs Yii war by analyzing the various factors of both PHP frameworks.
Laravel
Laravel indeed is a great framework and is considered to be the best nowadays. It is used when a sophisticated syntax application is to be built. In our previous blog, we have also supported this fact and still believe in it.
Key Features
- OO Libraries
- Technique of Authorization
- Artisan
- MVC Support
- Migrating Database
- Blade Templating Engine
- Automatic discovery of Package
Yii
Yii is used as a high-performance framework that provides a top-rated development process. It is an open-source, object-oriented based MVC PHP web application framework.
Key Features
- Great Security
- Highly extensible and modern technologies
- Easy installation
- Extreme acceleration for performance
- CRUD feature and easy form validation
- Handling errors
- Growth friendly
Also Read: Symfony Vs Laravel: which PHP framework to choose?
Laravel vs YII: Interest Over Time & USAGE
If we talk about Google trends search and usage factor then here Laravel wins the Larvel vs Yii war. From the below-mentioned search stats you can analyze how popular the Larvel framework is:
43.7% of users used the Laravel PHP framework to develop various enterprise projects.
Laravel Vs Yii: 8 Factors To Choose Best Among Laravel & Yii
Let us compare both Yii vs Laravel frameworks to see how they are different.
1) VALIDATION Laravel vs Yii
Laravel:: No scenario-based validation is available in the default package of Laravel. It does not provide any construct to validate a model in different scenarios. Moreover, there is no way to define fillable attributes based on the scenario. You will have to custom code everything.
Yii:: Both massive assignments of the model from the request parameters and its validation can be done based on the scenario. Here is an example of Data type validation in Yii2.
Also Read: 11 Mobile App Development Trends To Look In 2021-22
2) CLIENT SIDE VALIDATION Laravel vs Yii
Laravel:: No default support is available on Laravel.
Yii:: Provides out of box client-side (JavaScript) validation of the form. You need to define only one set of rules of the model for validation in the server-side and client-side.
3) ROUTING Yii vs Laravel
Laravel:: We are supposed to declare routes to each and every action in all controllers. We find it quite odd !! Besides why the protected function of the controller is being accessed from outside if provided in route. Somehow we believe that it should be the task of a framework to provide default routing. Even CodeIgniter provides it !! Though we thank Laravel for providing Resource Routing.
Yii:: Simple routing is possible as we don’t need to mention routes to each and every action. Route of actions is pickup by default. This same is the case with CodeIgniter as well.
Read More: Laravel Spark 6.0 is Now Available
4) CRUD GENERATION Laravel vs Yii2
Laravel:: No default support. Many projects have an admin panel for CRUD functionality from various tables.
Yii:: Yii2 includes a handy tool, named Gii, that provides rapid prototyping by generating commonly used code snippets as well as complete CRUD controllers.
Yii provides a Web-based interface for you to interactively generate the code you want. It also provides a command-line interface for people who prefer to work with their console windows most of the time.
Also Read: Laravel Vs. Symfony? Which One Do You Choose for the 2021 Web Project? [Infographic]
5) DOCUMENTATION Yii vs Laravel
Laravel:: Laravel has the best documentation for sure. However, we personally believe the documentation could have been organized better and written in a more generic way as when you create a big thing, you increase the chances of making loopholes.
Yii:: On the other hand, though Yii does not have very strong documentation like Laravel still it’s pretty organized. Moreover, it does not have a steep learning curve. If you are only following the docs you can easily start with basic coding.
6) THE PROMISE
Laravel:: “The PHP Framework For Web Artisans”, even after working for one year, we are still trying to get the feel of an “Artisian”. Frankly, we choose to work in Laravel because of such “razzmatazz”.
Yii:: Yii on the other hand has a pretty simple outlook where you can call the database from one model AND write code easily without creating many files.
Also Read: Can We Build Enterprise Apps With Laravel?
7) RESOURCES AND SUPPORT Laravel vs Yii2
Laravel:: Laravel has a large community with good support, and it’s growing every day. However, it is a new framework(Since 2012) as compared to others.
Yii: As Yii is an old framework (Since 2008) and has many developers associated with it already, it offers better support to developers with its larger community.
Read More: 11 Top Programming Trends To Look For In 2020
8) AUDIENCE
Laravel:: Laravel is a very focused framework that targets only web developers.
Yii:: Yii is for a broader set of audiences. It caters to beginners, web developers, system administrators, media and publishing and research & development.
Read More: Top 16 PHP Frameworks To Watch Out For in 2020-21
Laravel vs Yii: Comparison Table
CONCLUSION OF LARAVEL VS YII WAR
In the war of Laravel vs Yii, there is no doubt that Laravel is the largest used PHP framework in recent times and offers you numerous features to choose from. If you are trying to build a large-scale web application or an enterprise-grade app then Laravel is the best choice you can make. However, if you are looking for a framework that offers simple development opportunities and your goal is to develop small to medium grade applications then Yii2 is your cut.
At ValueCoders, we have a large PHP development team who are adept at both frameworks. If you are looking to hire Laravel developers then we can provide the same. However, if you are facing the above-discussed difficulties then you can hire Yii developers from us too.
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symfony!
“However, if you are looking for a framework that offers simple
development opportunity and your goal is to develop small to medium
grade applications then Yii2 is your cut.”
Lol, that was funny. FYI, Yii can do everything what Laravel can. Laravel is a great framework, one of the great frameworks, nothing more. Please, don’t sell utopias, there is no silver bullets.
PD: I’m an ex-CodeIgniter lover and former Laravel user
coming from symfony 2 i found yii more interesting than laravel
I use Yii 2 for projects that have big data and complex flow, I found it best. Also very useful if you are senior developer and want to develop your system in fast way it is secure and fast. Yii 2 have a strong and simple documentation with examples. Simply Yii 2 is best for large and complex systems.
From what I’ve seen on multiple forums, people, who started working with Laravel and tried to master Yii later claimed that it was uncomfortable and odd to deal with. And vice versa. At the end of the day, there’s no clear winner here. It’s up to you to decide which one suits you best according to your requirment
I think Yii2 is way better than laravel.
It has all laravel functionalities and more. All above mentioned facets are enough for me to use Yii over laravel.
Yii2 have more standards. and consistency.
I’m using Yii1 for 2 years, and Yii2 for few months.
You can’t say it is better because laravel used worldwide more than Yii.
Working with Laravel is just awesome. Although Yii2 is far better than Yii 1.1.
I do not agree with your point related to Routing, totally. Actually, I think is validating or whitelisting of each url is required in the current scenario for security purposes. sometimes a path from outside is executed in our server. If we have a list of whitelisted url, isn’t it good.
In most of the operation CRUD is required only once command can make all the routes related to crud operations.
I do not agree with your first point that is Laravel does not support scenario based validation. There is a concept of DI(dependency injection) whenever you call a method of a controller you can inject a Request class in it. This request class can be different for both of the scenarios for update and add.
Thanks Ahmed for your contribution. We will talk to our team and make the changes as per your opinion if required.