YII vs Laravel: What is the Best Option for Your Project?

When there is a need to develop a product on the network, be it a mobile application, an online store, or a website, the first thing you will have to decide on is the choice of programming language. Popular ones include Java, Python, JavaScript, Ruby, and PHP. It is the last one, PHP, that is in particular demand in the development of web applications: for example, this language is used by such giants as Facebook, Wikipedia, BlaBlaCar, Nvidia, Tumblr, BBC, DTEK, and others.

Thanks to technological advancements, writing PHP code from scratch is no longer necessary. There are many frameworks — ready-made models or templates for software platforms, among which Yii2 and Laravel have become the most popular. What are their differences, and which framework should you choose for product development? Let's explore and compare the structures in this article.

Comparing Yii2 and Laravel frameworks: an overview

To objectively evaluate the Laravel and Yii frameworks, you should first familiarize yourself with their characteristics and functionality.

Laravel

A PHP framework based on the MVC pattern. It has open-source code and is built on the Symfony structure and syntax, making it suitable for creating high-load products. It is a free, accessible, and powerful framework, also the most popular globally, with an extensive English-speaking community.

Yii

Yii2 is a completely free PHP framework with open-source code. It has an object-oriented structure based on MVC and is often used for creating products of moderate complexity. Despite being overshadowed by Laravel over time, Yii remains in demand due to its features and characteristics.

So why did Laravel become more popular than Yii? What should you choose — Yii or Laravel? To answer these questions, let's start by comparing the structures.

Pros and cons of using frameworks

Like any other product, both Laravel and Yii have their strengths and weaknesses. Let's examine each framework in turn:

Laravel

Advantages:

• Open-source code
• Free and 100% accessible to developers
• Built-in utilities for repetitive tasks (caching, sessions, authentication, etc.)
• Built-in script compiler, Sass, and Blade for templates
• ActiveRecord, which accelerates development
• Class autoloading
• Flexible route definition
• Continuous updates and development, a powerful ecosystem, extensive documentation

Disadvantages:

• Original documentation in English
• Steeper learning curve due to more features
• Lack of built-in interface generators (third-party tools can be used)
• Facade usage (IDE may not recognize methods of some classes and issue warnings, which can be resolved with plugins)

And now in more detail: Laravel is recognized as the most popular framework, and therefore, it has a huge English-speaking community, where it is easy to find the answer to the question you need. There is quite a lot of already translated information on the Internet, and answers on forums can be translated with the help of online translators. This structure is developing rapidly, and new versions of it have been released already with corrections of previous errors and shortcomings.

Vite's built-in build tool greatly improves the front-end development experience, allowing you to build development environments for frameworks like Vue and React, and even vanilla JavaScript, TypeScript, and Sass.

Also available here are artisan for command line management, integrated unit testing system phpunit, and ACL plugins. What is the value of a flexible route generation mechanism that is similar to the Symfony mechanism, but with a separate file and a Route class with a set of static methods.

Conclusion: The strengths of this framework far outweigh the weaknesses. Laravel is ideal for those who have high requirements for their future product, but have enough time to develop it. Products on Laravel are quick and easy to extend.

Yii

Advantages:

• Open-source code
• Easy installation through package manager
• Ease of learning (due to the framework's lower complexity)
• ActiveRecord, which accelerates development
• Object-oriented and MVC framework
• Convenient navigation
• CRUD generation using the Gii tool
• Ajax widgets for data validation
• Option for automatic code generation
• Improved page loading speed

Disadvantages:

• Infrequent updates
• Integrated libraries for frontend and backend
• Limitations in creating high-performance applications (time-consuming and complex)
• Monolithic code (a drawback for complex tasks)

Learning Yii is quite easy, even with basic knowledge, and the large community comes in handy. Guides in various languages are also available, making the task easier. Built-in solutions for interfaces are undoubtedly a strong point of Yii, allowing users to create pop-ups, spoilers, and other elements without special skills.

It is also worth mentioning the generator of models, controllers, and representations, which is recognized as one of the top PHP frameworks. Yii, by the way, is not console-only like Laravel.

Conclusion: Yii is worth using for those who develop simple products with standard admin panels and simple mechanics. In this case, the Yii framework will allow you to implement the plan with a small expenditure of money and time for learning the technology.

So what should you choose — Yii or Laravel? To determine the strongest one, we suggest comparing frameworks in different categories.

Yii2 vs Laravel: a comparative analysis

Estimating development costs

According to statistics, development on Yii is 20% cheaper than on Laravel. This is because the demand for the Yii framework is lower, resulting in lower developer salaries. Additionally, for simple projects, Yii may be both cheaper and faster to develop. However, for creating a functional product, both frameworks are roughly equal in budget considerations.

Project development speed

Development time on Yii and Laravel is approximately the same. The speed of project development depends on various factors, such as the developer's existing knowledge and solutions, the developer's experience, the organization of the development process, the complexity of the task, and more. Simpler projects will be developed faster on both frameworks.

Performance

The performance of both frameworks is nearly identical, but differences may be noticeable in smaller projects, where Yii has a slight advantage. However, when scaling and adding extensive functionality, the performance of both frameworks becomes comparable.

Scalability

Laravel is unequivocally considered better in terms of scalability, with over 40.237 packages and extensions available on the Packagist website. In contrast, Yii has only 12.240 results. While some of these extensions may be ineffective, Laravel has a larger quantity of high-quality products.

Applications developed with Laravel can scale efficiently using caching, queue organization, and other services, making effective use of cloud services, unlike Yii.

Resources

Laravel leads in the quantity of available documentation, guides, and instructions due to its larger community. There are significantly fewer Yii users, and the available materials are noticeably insufficient. Yii might be a better choice only for those who don't know English and don't use translation tools.

Security

Despite expectations, Yii doesn't necessarily lead in security. Laravel has built-in roles and permissions, and similar capabilities can be added to Yii using packages from the framework's developers.

Databases

Both Yii and Laravel support the same databases: Microsoft BI, MongoDB, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Redis, and SQLite.

Debugging

Once again, Laravel wins in debugging, providing a wide range of built-in tools, while Yii mostly relies on third-party debugging console applications.

Testing

Laravel has more testing tools and utilities, allowing developers to promptly check development and fix errors. While Yii also has internal tools, they are generally more suitable for lightweight QA.

Routing

Routing processes are almost identical in Yii and Laravel. Both frameworks have automatic routing, making them equally strong in this regard.

Migration

Both Yii and Laravel have a comprehensive set of features and utilities for quality migration and database structure extension. Both frameworks have smooth module testing, practically eliminating errors.

Capabilities

In terms of capabilities, Laravel is the clear winner. This framework provides complete freedom to developers, offering countless solutions and implementation methods. Yii is more limited in this aspect, but it's not a problem if the goal is to create simple business products.

Summary:

Yii excels in 2 criteria, while Laravel outperforms in 5 aspects in comparison. Regarding development speed, security, routing, migration, and database support, the frameworks are evenly matched.

Result

Yii is described as ‘fast’ and ‘simple’, whereas Laravel is associated with performance, complex logic, and specific product requirements, making it the winning framework in this comparison. It has no limitations: Laravel allows you to create anything from a simple website to a CRM system or a large-scale marketplace.

Applications of Yii and Laravel in different industries

To make an informed decision when choosing between Yii and Laravel, let's explore the industries where these frameworks are actively used, based on SimilarTech research:

• Laravel — computer technology and electronics, business, сonsumer services, travel and tourism, news and media, food and beverages, e-commerce and shopping.
• Yii — science and education, arts and entertainment, law and jurisprudence, health.

What does this mean? Yii is particularly effective for simpler products, such as online school websites, photographer portfolios, company websites, and the like. On the other hand, Laravel, thanks to its scalability and performance, is actively applied in industries where scale and efficiency are crucial: high-traffic e-commerce stores, applications with complex architecture, internal corporate portals, B2B projects, ERPs, and other complex products.

Now, let's talk about geography and popularity. Resources like BuiltWith collect statistics to help explore the dynamics of web technology usage. According to their data, there are currently 707,893 active Laravel sites, with the majority created in the USA, the UK, and EU countries. For Yii, there are 135,871 active sites worldwide, with usage in the USA, Germany, Hungary, Ukraine, the Netherlands, and Poland.

This information is crucial for both developers and product creators. Developers should focus on mastering in-demand tools for prospects, while product creators need to analyze which market to target, how many specialists work with a particular framework, and which option is more cost-effective.

For business owners, Laravel seems to be the optimal choice due to its popularity, making it easier to find developers proficient in this framework. Developer salaries for Yii and Laravel are almost identical, but the overall development cost will depend on the popularity of the service provider, the developer's experience, the complexity of the task, and other factors.

Real-world examples of framework utilization

The concluding part of the comparison will be a review of popular products created on Laravel and Yii. This will help determine which framework is preferred by owners of large businesses and successful companies.

Laravel

SSYoutube

A service for downloading videos from popular platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and others, built on Laravel. To obtain a video, simply copy the link with the desired content, paste it into the website's input field, and wait for the ‘Download’ button to appear. It allows downloading videos in up to 4K quality of various formats. The daily view count is 32 million.

ТСН

A Ukrainian news media channel, with its website developed using Laravel. It features replays and recordings of TV shows, news in both video and text formats, and live broadcasts of the TSN channel. The daily traffic statistics amount to approximately 3 million views.

Wattpad

The world's largest storytelling community with 97 million users. Stories published by users have the chance to become the plot for books or even be used for creating entire movies or series (Wattpad collaborates with Sony Pictures, Hulu, and others). Created using Laravel. View count: 10,000+ per minute.

Laracasts

A Laravel product that gathers various educational materials (podcasts, videos, instructions, etc.) on programming for developers. The information provided, according to the project creators, is curated by 100,000 programmers and specialists. View count: 10,000+ per minute.

Warcraftlogs

A website providing analysis of combat actions in the MMO World of Warcraft by Blizzard. Users can record battles, upload them to the site, and analyze them in real time. Additionally, the site offers online streams, forums, and raids. View count: 10,000+ per minute. Created using Laravel.

Koel

A server for personal music streams. The service allows storing, adding, and playing music without using the device's storage. View count: 30,000+ per day.

Esteemed global brands, such as furniture component manufacturer Blum, accounting software producer Xero, legendary men's magazine Playboy, and others, frequently utilize the Laravel framework.

In Ukraine, Laravel is also employed by niche business giants like the WOG network of gas stations, the cosmetics and perfume store Eva, medical laboratories Synevo, Kyivstar (Mobile Security service), E-TENDER government procurement platform, mattress retailer Mir Matrasov, and others.

Yii

Upon Lesson

A Ukrainian educational product for teachers, created on Yii. Provides access to professional development courses, a library of books, articles, and tests, as well as webinars, intensives, and an AI tool for creating presentations, checklists, tables, conversation simulations, and more. Averaging around 3 million views per day.

Codermap

A social network for developers where users can communicate, assign and receive tasks, collaborate on common products, offer services, find jobs, and read and leave reviews. The platform is built on Yii.

Yii is also popular in Ukraine, with some products of companies such as PrivatBank, ice cream manufacturer Rud, ICTV channel, and websites like youcontrol.com.ua, protocol.ua, planetakino.ua, shashlikyan.ua, and others developed on Yii.

As we can see, there are significantly more examples of high-performance products on Laravel compared to Yii, and for good reason. Laravel is more suitable for high-load projects, while Yii is optimal for simpler products.

Conclusion

Laravel is a popular PHP framework that simplifies the coding process. Yii, being also a PHP framework, is a little behind in development compared to Laravel, but is still used by some developers. After comparing the two frameworks, we came to the following conclusion: Laravel is suitable for those who have special requirements for product quality, expect high traffic and have enough time for development, and Yii for those who have limited time and money for coding, but need to create there is no ideal and logically complex product that can withstand a high load.

For our part, we recommend Laravel, if time and budget allow, because on this framework any product (marketplace, CRM system or online store) will turn out to be much higher quality, more structured and more productive

Asabix — are Laravel development experts. We will be happy to help implement any product with quality and accuracy. Our specialists include developers with vast experience and large-scale cases. In addition, we also provide Yii technical support. Trust the professionals, because we guarantee quality!