Top PHP Alternatives for Web Development

PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor) came into the web development market in 1995, and since then this scripting language has had multiple upgrades. The latest version of PHP is PHP 8.1.11 which was released on 30th August 2022.This web development language can be used with various web template systems, and web frameworks. In today’s time, it is known as one of the best and most widely used web development programming languages. In Fact more than 44 Millions websites on the internet are powered by PHP As per survey from SimilarTech which is almost 79.1% of sites worldwide. But it also comes with its own challenges that every developer must consider before using the language for the project. One such challenge is that PHP is a forgiving language which means that like JavaScript, it enables the web developers not to define variable types and this leads to errors in PHP code. So, to avoid such issues, developers sometimes prefer other languages for their projects which are the best replacement or PHP alternatives.

And in this blog, with the help of our PHP web developers from India, we are going to discuss the same. There are many programming languages and powerful frameworks that one can use as an alternative to PHP, like Node.js frameworks with JavaScript, .net frameworks with C#, python frameworks, JAVA frameworks, Go frameworks, etc. We’ll go through the top four PHP alternatives and see which one can be the best fit for your next web development project.

1. Is It Time to Replace PHP?

PHP was initially created in 1995. This language has been around for nearly 25 years, yet it is still often used for server-side scripting in websites. Since it is a versatile language, PHP has further applications. In addition to being compatible with a wide range of content management systems, sophisticated frameworks, and templates, PHP code can also be integrated into HTML.

PHP is widely used by web developers as a result of its accessibility, scalability, HTML embeddability, and robust development community. PHP is often criticized for not being as secure or reliable as newer languages, not performing as well, and having poor error handling. The use of PHP as a whole has also been declining. It was the fifth most computed language in the world in 2020. Let’s look at its alternatives for a comprehensive analysis.

2. Top PHP Alternatives

2.1 JavaScript

JavaScript is one of the most popularly used dynamic computer programming languages. This lightweight language is commonly used as a part of web pages, whose exertion enables the client-side scripts to have a smooth interaction with the dynamic pages and the users. JavaScript, the interpreted programming language, is popular because of its object-oriented capabilities. Initially, it was known as LiveScript, but then Netscape changed its name to JavaScript. And this was because of the excitement that Java created in the app development market.

Basically, JavaScript is a high-level and just-in-time compiled programming language that follows the ECMAScript standards. This language comes with various functionalities like dynamic typing, and a prototype-based object-oriented approach. JavaScript is a multi-paradigm that supports functional, event-driven, and imperative programming styles. 

In addition to this, JavaScript is a language that comes with application programming interfaces (APIs) for working with regular expressions, the Document Object Model (DOM), dates, text, and standard data structures.Javascript has a large developers community, so if you are a newbie developer or if you are stuck anywhere while coding then you can ask your queries to forums such as Stackoverflow. There are more than 2.4 M questions answers are available on Stackoverflow.

Advantages of JavaScript

Some of the major advantages of JavaScript are –

Speed

Being an interpreted language, JavaScript comes with the capability to reduce the time that is required by other programming languages for compilation. Besides, it is a client-side script which means that speeding up the execution of the application is easy with this language as it saves the time that the program requires to connect to the server.

Popularity

Because of all the major web browsers support that language gets, it has been almost everywhere and this is what makes it popular in the web app development market. Giant companies like Google, PayPal, and Amazon are using JavaScript as a tool for their applications. 

Simplicity

JavaScript is a very simple scripting language. It is easy to understand and learn. The structure of this language is straightforward which means that any developer can easily work with this language. Besides this, implementing this language is also very easy and it even helps PHP developers save a lot of time while creating dynamic content for the web.

Server Load

JavaScript is a language that operates on the client side which means that data validation is possible on the browser and not on the server side programming. This means that when there is any kind of discrepancy, there is no need for the entire website to get reloaded. The browser will only update the selected part of the web page. 

Interoperability

JavaScript programming language works perfectly fine with other technologies and this is why many developers prefer it while creating robust applications. This language can be embedded into the script of any other programming language or any webpage.

2.2 Python

Python is known as one of the most popular programming languages in the IT world. It is a programming language that is a highly powerful alternative to PHP. It comes with a wide range of web projects. And this is all because of the advanced-level functionalities it has to offer for superb performance, especially for managing and processing large data sets for giant business applications. This quality of Python takes the spotlight when a project aims for numerous analytic systems and automation scripts.

Besides, Python comes with an amazing array of built-in functions that are customized to web development and enables the developers to create the project quickly by reducing the web development cost. Basically, Python is one of the programming languages that developers use to create machine learning algorithms and this makes the web project even more sophisticated.

Python is not easy to learn as compared to PHP but you can find so many platforms such as Quora, Stackoverflow and Github where you can find so many resources available to learn Python.

As you can see in the above image Python has more than 48.2k stars and 24.5k forks on GitHub which makes it one of the most popular programming languages.

Advantages of Python

Easy to Read, Learn and Write

Python, a powerful dynamic language that is written like a normal English syntax, makes it easier for programmers to read and understand the code. Anyone can easily learn this language and this is why it is recommended for beginners. When it comes to writing with Python, very few lines of code are required in comparison to languages like C, C++, and Java.

Interpreted Language

It is an interpreted language that clearly means the code in Python is executed line by line. And if any error is found, the execution stops, and a report is sent back. Basically, Python is a language that shows only one error even if the program has many. And this makes debugging easier.

Improved Productivity

Python is known as a very productive language and because of its simplicity, it allows the web developers to focus on problem-solving and no extra time is spent on understanding the syntax of the programming language. Python is a powerful dynamic language that makes the programmers’ work easy.

Dynamically Typed

When it comes to Python, it is a programming language that doesn’t know the type of the variable being used until the developer runs the code. This means that it automatically assigns the data type to the variable at the time of execution. The developer doesn’t have to declare the variables and their data types.

Free and Open-Source

Python has an OSI-approved open-source license which means that it is a free-to-use and distributed language. One can download Python source code, modify it and distribute it without any issues.

2.3 Java

Another popular programming language that is a perfect alternative to PHP is Java. It is a strongly typed language that comes with discipline developers that are not there with PHP. Java offers the ability to create cleaner and more structured source code. This reduces the possibility of introducing errors that are more prone in PHP. Basically, Java is a highly portable and cross-platform that comes with an impressive performance level because of its advanced support for parallel task execution and concurrency.

Java, an object-oriented programming language, is better positioned when it comes to web apps modularizing. And this impacts its level of ease. This means that Java is one of the best PHP alternatives as it comes with modern approaches and plenty of powerful web development frameworks such as Spring-boot, Hibernate and Json .

As you can see in the above image, there are more than 1.8 Millions Q/A related to JAVA on Stackoverflow.

Advantages Of Java

Simple

Java is a very simple language and it is easy to learn. The syntax in the Java programming language is based on C++ which means that it uses an automatic garbage collection feature. And because of this feature, one doesn’t need to delete the unreferenced objects from memory.

Secured

Java is one of the most secure programming languages as it doesn’t use Explicit pointers. This language enables the programs to run inside the VM sandbox.

Object-Oriented

Being an object-oriented language, Java is more practical. Everything in Java is an object. This language uses object-oriented concepts like class, object, inheritance, polymorphism, encapsulation, and abstraction.

Platform independent

The code written in Java can run on multiple platforms. This language comes with a feature known as WORA (write once, run anywhere).

Robust

It is one of the most robust programming languages in the web development market and the reason behind it is its strong memory management. The developer can handle exceptions with the help of Java code. Besides, type checking can be used to make the code more secure.

2.4 Go

Go or Golang is the newest option as an alternative to PHP in comparison to Python or Java. It is a relative newcomer in the world of web development. This software engineering language is created and supported by Google. It comes with a very simple goal of offering the developers efficient tools and features to create highly scalable apps with ease. Go boasts a streamlined syntax so that the developers can carry out multiple tasks with concurrency and parallelism. And this feature is useful in creating distributed applications.

Basically, when PHP programmers find popular alternatives to PHP, Go is one of the top listed languages. It is the best choice if the programmers want to have an app with optimal performance in corporate networks and cloud-based environments.

If you are a newbie developer and have some doubts related to the job market for GO and PHP, then the above answer from a Quora user can be helpful.

Advantages of Go

Faster execution

Go comes with the ability to compile directly to machine code. This means that it doesn’t require an interpreter. And it makes the development faster as the need for intermediary processes is eliminated. This is why Golang is a step ahead of Java in terms of execution speed.

Comprehensive tool

Generally, it happens that new programming languages lack support for software development tools but this is not the case with Golang. It comes with vast third-party tools just like Java. It also offers Node js IDEs like Visual Studio Code for programming.

Active developer community

Though it is a relatively new language, it comes with a huge active developer community. Besides, its simple yet fast nature has made over 1 million developers use it proficiently. And this number will grow with time.

Easy to learn

Go is not a language that might take months to learn. It is a very easy-to-understand language. Even beginners can easily get through the syntax of the Go language in no time. The code structure in Golang is similar to C which makes it easier for the programmers to get used to this language.

Scalable

When it comes to the development process of any project, scalability is the one thing that every developer looks for in the programming language. The reason behind it is that no one wants to get stuck in the middle of the process and bring in new features. For this, Golang is the best choice as it offers greater scope for scalability. It enables the developers to execute multiple functionalities at the same time.

2.5 Ruby

Ruby is a robust dynamic language that places a premium on ease of use and speed. The model-view-controller (MVC) web development framework Rails took Ruby to new heights. Due to its emphasis on quick prototyping, Rails has become a popular framework among developers. Even though Rails isn’t the only Ruby framework (there’s also Sinatra, Kuba, and Hana).

Common uses for Ruby include standard web apps, e-commerce, bespoke database systems, and rapid prototyping. Apart from this, RoR also has more than 337k Question Answers on StackOverflow.

Advantages of Ruby

• Rapid development process
• Highly used for backing for debugging
• You can create safe code, and it works great with Ruby on Rails
• Very easy to maintain
• Versatile and dynamic nature
• Easy learning curve
• Solid frameworks

2.6 Elixir

Another fantastic choice for rock-solid dependability, scalability, and stress-free expansion. While the size of the communities may be less than in other possibilities, you may still discover that it serves your development goals well.

At the moment, millions of fresh developers are adopting Elixir, which bodes well for the language’s future.

Advantages of Elixir

• Adaptable
• High function and efficiency
• Better error handling
• Offers extensive documentation
• Dynamic language

2.7 C#

C# is a well-designed, logical programming language. Because of its strong relationship with the Microsoft.NET Framework, which has several helpful libraries, C# is the greatest option for developing software for Microsoft Windows. It’s up to par with professional norms, therefore it has all necessary linguistic flourishes. The core Win app and embedded code make it simple to set up, program, and construct a wide range of web apps without the need for any additional third-party libraries. C# may be used for programming on systems other than Windows, including Linux and OS X.

C# is popular on GitHub with 10.2k stars and 1k forks.

Advantages of C#

• Prolific free development tools
• Up-to-date
• Creative
• User-friendly
• Broadly useful
• Robust
• Well-designed

3. PHP Alternatives: Comparison Chart

Let’s go through the comparison chart of JavaScript vs Python Vs Java Vs Go and see which is the best PHP alternative –

We can see that Python has gained more popularity in recent times because of the evolutions of AI and ML compared to all other PHP alternatives.

3.1 Architecture

JavaScript: It is a language that uses a bottom-up approach and it always places UI at the center of the project.

Python: It is an object-oriented language that uses interchangeable code modules instead of one long list of instructions.

Java: It comes with both compilation & interpretation approaches and here the bytecode is interpreted by JVM.

Go: It doesn’t come with any virtual machine, it only compiles to languages like C & C++.

Ruby: The system operates under the framework of the model-view-controller (MVC) architecture, which serves as the default structure for online services, web pages, and databases.

Elixir: Elixir comes with an event-driven architecture which is used to control the flow and the behavior of web applications.
C#: It uses Microsoft .NET architecture for building and running web apps on Windows OS.

3.2 Language

JavaScript: It is a multi-paradigm, functional, and event-driven language. 

Python: It is a multi-paradigm language based on object-oriented programming.

Java: It is a multi-paradigm, independent language based on object-oriented programming.

Go: It is a procedural language based on concurrent programming.

Ruby: The Ruby programming language is a comprehended, high-level, and versatile language that provides support for different programming methodologies.

Elixir: Elixir is a programming language characterized by its useful, concurrent, and high-level nature. It operates on the BEAM virtual machine, which is also utilized for the implementation of the Erlang programming language.

C#: It is a general-purpose high-level programming language supporting multiple paradigms.

3.3 Mobile Support

JavaScript: It supports modern mobile browsers.

Python: It cannot be used in mobile apps as iOS and Android don’t support languages that are interpreter-type.

Java: It completely depends upon device manufacturers.

Go: Go mobile sub repository offers mobile support.

Ruby: Ruby can be used for mobile development, but it is not as commonly used as other languages such as Java or Swift. 

Elixir: It supports mobile app development but the coding has to be done in the Flutter.

C#: It supports development of mobile applications because it is a cross platform programming language.

3.4 Speed

JavaScript: It is faster than any other language.

Python: Comparatively slower than Java and Go.

Java: It is slower than Go.

Go: Relatively faster than Java.

Ruby: Ruby is faster than PHP

Elixir: Elixir is much faster than Ruby but slower than JS.

C#: Well, when it comes to speed PHP is almost five times faster than C#.

3.5 Structure

JavaScript: Offers easy-to-learn structure. 

Python: Has the easiest programming structure.

Java: Offers a user-friendly and easy-to-use structure.

Go: Easily manageable structure.

Ruby: Its coding structure contains classes, modules and methods.

Elixir: It has a bit more complex structure than its counterparts.

C#: C# programs are a couple of files. Every file may include one or more namespaces. A namespace encompasses several kinds, including classes, structs, interfaces, enumerations, and delegates, as well as other namespaces.

4. Conclusion

As seen in this blog, there are the top four alternatives to PHP. But before switching from PHP and choosing its alternative, every developer must have a clear understanding of which issues are driving them to this choice. The reason behind it is that the issues a developer has with PHP might be easily solved. But still, if you want to choose another programming language, learning about the top PHP alternatives like JavaScript, Python, Go, and Java is very important. After having a proper understanding of these languages and their benefits, the choice can be easy.