You may ask what framework can replace CodeIgniter? Laravel could be a perfect alternative and most developers can confirm it. So we are going to overview both and outline the main important differences between Laravel and CodeIgniter.
- Support for PHP 7. The updated version of PHP 7 comes with some new features and improvements that help to increase the performance of web applications and reduce memory consumption. Both support the new version of PHP but many developers faced with issues while developing and testing CodeIgniter apps on PHP.
- Built-in Modules Many developers divide large and complex projects into several small modules to simplify and speed up the development process. Laravel is designed with built-in modularity features. It enables developers to divide a project into small modules. They can further reuse the modules across multiple projects. But CodeIgniter is not designed with built-in modularity features.
- Database Scheme Development. CodeIgniter can support some popular databases, but it cannot provide any specific features to ease database schema migration. Unlike the former Laravel simplify for developers a modification and sharing of the database schema without writing complex code. The developer can further develop a database schema of the application easily by combining the database agnostic migration with the schema builder provided by Laravel.
- Built-in Template Engine. As we told before it is one of the greatest weaknesses of CodeIgniter. Laravel comes with a simple but robust template engine like Blade. Blade template engine enables PHP developers to optimize the performance of the web application by enhancing and manipulating views.
- Routing. The routing options provided of both PHP frameworks are the same. But the Laravel features help developers to route requests in a simple way. The developers can use the routing feature of Laravel to define most routes for a web application in a single file.
- HTTPS Support. The security of sensitive information is a matter of particular importance that why most web developers prefer to use HTTPS protocol. Laravel allows to define custom HTTPs routes. The developers also have the option to create a specific URL for each HTTPS route. Laravel further keeps the data transmission secure by adding https:// protocol before the URL automatically. But CodeIgniter does not support HTTPS fully
What PHP framework should I choose for a web application? Does CodeIgniter fit?
CodeIgniter does not compare to Laravel or Symfony. The overall design is identical to the way it was 10 years ago. It’s pretty difficult to decouple and write modular code with CodeIgniter. It’s okay if you have a very small project but I can’t see why anyone would choose it over today’s options. Laravel is more professional than Codeigniter, they use the latest functions, the newest coding styles. But CI4 is easier to learn and the development path is easier for CI rather than Laravel if you’re a beginner in PHP.