Choosing the right technology for web application and website development indeed plays a key role in its success. However, being a PHP developer, sometimes, you might be in a dilemma as to which technology to choose for optimal solutions. Whether to stick to WordPress or go for Laravel?
This blog will compare the great and most popular PHP contenders- WordPress VS Laravel. Which one to choose and why?
WordPress: What is it?
WordPress is the most precise and well-liked way to start your website or blog. At present, WordPress is used by more than 43.3% of businesses on the Internet, which is more than a quarter of the websites that are visited everyday.
WordPress, an open-source content management system, has a GPLv2 license. Thus, anybody can use or modify the WordPress software without charge. Also, managing crucial elements of your website is easier with WordPress and content being a significant part of it can be managed without having any programming experience. Thanks to WordPress!
Anyone who doesn’t want to hire a WordPress development company can create a WordPress website with little or no programming knowledge.
Advantages of WordPress
There are endless benefits that you will enjoy using WordPress. Some of them are written below.
Cost-effective
The fact that WordPress is free is one of its best features. You don't need to invest hundreds or thousands of dollars in hosting your website on WordPress.
Themes
WordPress offers a variety of templates that you can use to personalize it and stop it from having websites that are exactly like others. You just need to hire a WordPress developer to do a few more alterations to the ready themes. That won’t cost you more.
In fact, many built-in features in templates make it easier to do challenging web programming jobs, such as creating responsive websites.
Functionality
WordPress plugins provide extra functionality to manage anything, such as slideshows or forms if you need the necessary skills to establish a stylish online store. A little code goes a long way because themes, plugins, and WordPress do most of the work for you. You can choose from approximately 40,000 different plugins, on average.
Laravel: What is it?
Laravel is an open-source PHP framework. It follows a reliable and user-friendly model-view-controller design pattern. As Laravel makes the best use of parts that already exist in other frameworks for building web applications, it is more organized and offers a wide range of functionalities.
If you have the knowledge of Core PHP and Advanced PHP you can use Laravel for web application development. If you intend to build a website from scratch, it saves a tonne of time and also safeguards your web app from hacking.
Advantages of Laravel
When creating a web application with Laravel, the following benefits are available to you:
Laravel helps you develop scalable web applications.
You can save a significant amount of time while developing web applications design on Laravel. It rejects foreign components from other frameworks while constructing web applications.
Its namespace and user-friendly interface helps in managing resources and other organizational tasks.
Comparison Between Laravel and WordPress
To appropriately compare WordPress and Laravel, you need to cover several aspects. Please keep reading to learn about them briefly.
Frameworks
The First Aspect that we will discuss is the framework of both applications.
Laravel is a good choice for complex web applications, whereas WordPress is more suitable for business websites.
If you have a dynamic website that integrates with a flexible backend system, Laravel is a great choice. However, if you want to create an online integrated website with social networks, WordPress is the best-suited application.
Suppose you want to make a website based on membership-based platforms that process much information; then you need to use Laravel. But for a presentational website for professional or personal use, you can use WordPress.
For creating large-scale websites with more than ten thousand products, you may use Laravel. But you can use WordPress to create a platform for a heavy load of written content, including blogs and news portals. Also, for Simple web shops or any mid-size e-commerce website, you can use WordPress.
Framework's Benefits
Now we need to compare the benefits of the framework of both applications.
Laravel has a developer-friendly structure that is powered by built-in authentication. It provides enhanced security to your websites. You can enjoy the flexibility of easily extendable Laravel. Also, you can customize the application according to your requirements. Further, the seamless database migration helps you to convert your website smoothly. The best part of Laravel is its eloquent ORM.
On the other hand, WordPress is more of a Search engine-friendly application. It offers a large supporting community worldwide to make valuable connections. The application is cost-effective, and most of its offering is free. With the benefits of an easy learning curve, anyone can easily use this app. WordPress can be an excellent tool for you if you are a new user. WordPress provides limitless plugins; you can customize the application according to your requirements. The international value of this application offers more than seventy languages for your use.
As E-commerce Tool
Now we are going to compare both applications as e-commerce tools.
WordPress for e-commerce is easy to set up, whereas Laravel has a complex setup for e-commerce use.
WordPress has limited customization for e-commerce use. However, you can hire developers to customize it as you want. On the other hand, Laravel provides more opportunities for customization.
The best use of WordPress is for small store owners. If you have a large store that features more than thousands of products, then Laravel is the perfect choice for you.
For functionalities in WordPress, you need to get plugins. With this facility, you can get enormous functionality as per your requirements. Where in Laravel, you can scale up the functionality by adding pre-provided options.
If you have a tight budget you should use WordPress. However, if you use Laravel, your cost will be more.
You can use WordPress for SEO works, and with Plugins, you can make your WordPress SEO-friendly. Laravel is also an SEO-friendly application.
You can enjoy a top-notch user experience with WordPress. However, with the manual setup, you can also get a better user experience with Laravel.
As Web App Tool
Here are some significant aspects to compare between WordPress and Laravel.
As a web application developer, Laravel has a lot of built-in features. These features include authentication, advanced routing, and error and exception handling. Additionally, the Laravel applications are easy to scale up.
WordPress can handle a few functionalities. However, you can use plugins to enhance its functionality. You can use add-ons depending on the power of your system and requirements. The window for improving the capabilities of WordPress is limitless.
General Comparison
Some of the general comparisons between WordPress and Laravel are given below.
Laravel has one of the fastest frameworks; its eloquent ORM provides this advantage. WordPress can show great potential with limited plugins. However, increasing the number of plugins can hamper its speed. So choose the required plugins and discard the rest.
Laravel is better for complex tasks because it has a robust framework. On the other hand, WordPress is more suitable for easy content management.
In the case of Laravel, it doesn't have any built-in SEO features. You need to optimize your content for SEO work manually. But WordPress provides fully automated content optimization features. You don't have to worry about your content; the entire content will be optimized with one click. The built-in SEO-friendly features of WordPress provide this advantage.
In terms of security, both Laravel and WordPress match the height. They both provide optimal security.
To fully use Laravel, you need to hire experienced developers who are excellent in programming and coding. However, using WordPress doesn't require any programming or coding skills.
Laravel consumes a lot of time to build a website due to the work process. It would help if you started from the ground up to build a website in Laravel. On the contrary, in WordPress, it's easy to build and run a new website. Here, most things are automated, so the chances of error are also less.
In terms of expense, you need to invest a lot to create a site in Laravel, whereas WordPress needs less investment.
With the blessing of good modularity, you can easily scale up Laravel. With the appropriate developers, you can get a modified architecture as needed and shape it from the start. In WordPress, you can't do that. But you can add plugins to customize and scale it up significantly.
Bottom Line
Now you have gained knowledge about both WordPress and Laravel. Both applications have their benefits and drawbacks. Depending on your requirements and budget, you can use either one of them. You can get more valuable tips from any website development company to make a well-informed decision.