⚡ PHP Backend Frameworks

PHP backend frameworks are built with the PHP language and are commonly designed around a synchronous request-response model optimized for traditional web servers.

They typically emphasize rapid development, tight integration with relational databases, broad compatibility with shared and managed hosting environments, and convention-based tooling for routing, templating, and form handling.

⭐ Most Popular in 2026

The following chart shows the leading PHP-based backend frameworks in 2026, based on market share.

The most popular is Laravel with a share of 11.2%, followed by CodeIgniter with 2.6% and Yii Framework with 2.5%.

Laravel 11.2%
CodeIgniter 2.6%
Yii Framework 2.5%
Symfony 2.3%
Livewire 0.7%
Nette 0.6%
CakePHP 0.4%
ThinkPHP 0.2%
Flow 0.2%
Fat-Free Framework 0.05%
Slim 0.04%
FuelPHP 0.04%
Kohana 0.02%

🚀 Country Highlights

Here is a list of frameworks that are especially popular in certain countries.
Differences between global and country rankings are shown in parentheses.

Laravel is #1 in Indonesia ^(-2)
Symfony is #1 in Germany ^(-9)
Nette is #1 in the Czech Republic ^(-16)
Yii Framework is #2 in Ukraine ^(-7)
ThinkPHP is #3 in China ^(-22)
CakePHP is #6 in Japan ^(-14)

✨ Best PHP Backend Frameworks

Below is a more detailed list of 13 PHP-based backend frameworks we track, ranked by their market share.

Available filters: PHP Python Java .NET Node.js Ruby Go

Rank	Name	Market share
1	Laravel New York, United States An open-source PHP backend framework that provides all features needed to build modern web applications such as routing, input validation, caching, queues, and file storage. FreeOpen source	11.2%
2	CodeIgniter Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada An open-source PHP full-stack web framework with small footprint, high performance, and minimal configuration setup. FreeOpen source	2.6%
3	Yii Framework Chicago, Illinois, United States An open-source, object-oriented, component-based MVC PHP web application framework. FreeOpen source	2.5%
4	Symfony Clichy, Île-de-France, France An open-source PHP web application framework and a set of reusable components designed to speed up the development and maintenance of web applications using best practices and high modularity. FreeOpen source	2.3%
5	Livewire Buffalo, New York, United States A full-stack framework for Laravel that allows developers to build dynamic user interface components using PHP and Blade templates without writing front-end JavaScript. FreeOpen source	0.7%
6	Nette An open-source, component-based, MVC web framework for PHP 8. FreeOpen source	0.6%
7	CakePHP Las Vegas, Nevada, United States A rapid development framework for PHP that uses MVC, front controller, associative data mapping and active record patterns to help developers build web applications faster. FreeOpen source	0.4%
8	ThinkPHP A Chinese open-source, object-oriented web application framework based on PHP. FreeOpen source	0.2%
9	Flow A PHP web application framework focused on Domain-Driven Design and clean code principles. FreeOpen source	0.2%
10	Fat-Free Framework A lightweight PHP micro-framework designed for rapid development of web applications and APIs. FreeOpen source	0.05%
11	Slim An open-source, object-oriented PHP micro framework designed for rapid development of web applications and APIs. FreeOpen source	0.04%
12	FuelPHP An open-source, object-oriented, component-based MVC PHP web application framework. FreeOpen source	0.04%
13	Kohana A deprecated open-source PHP framework that was last updated in 2016. FreeOpen sourceLegacy	0.02%

👉 See Also

✨ Related Technologies
- PHP

Data is based on the analysis of 3,320,618 websites.
Statistics were last calculated on March 21, 2026.
For details, see our methodology and disclaimer.