Why PHP is Gaining Popularity in 2024: The Unexpected Comeback of a Classic Language

PHP has been a cornerstone of web development for over two decades, powering millions of websites and web applications, including giants like Facebook and Wikipedia. For a while, PHP had a bit of a reputation problem, with many developers and tech pundits predicting its decline in favor of newer languages like JavaScript (with Node.js), Python, or Ruby. Yet, here we are in 2024, and PHP is not only alive but thriving again.

So what happened? Why is PHP gaining popularity, especially when so many were ready to write it off? In this article, we’ll explore some key reasons why PHP is making a comeback and why you might want to give it a second look if you’re a developer or a business looking to build robust web applications.

1. Modern PHP is Fast and Efficient

One of the main reasons PHP got a bad rap in the past was its perceived performance issues. However, since the release of PHP 7 in 2015 and the subsequent improvements in PHP 8 and beyond, the language has seen massive performance enhancements. These updates drastically reduced memory usage and execution time, making PHP one of the fastest scripting languages available for web development.

In fact, benchmarks show that PHP 8.2 (released in December 2023) is almost three times faster than PHP 5.x, which was the norm just a few years ago. The performance improvements, combined with PHP’s low barrier to entry and wide hosting availability, make it an excellent choice for building high-traffic applications without breaking the bank on server costs.

2. PHP 8 Features Are Game-Changing

PHP 8 and 8.1 introduced new, modern features that have made the language more robust, secure, and easy to work with. Some key features include:

• JIT (Just-In-Time) Compilation: JIT optimizes the execution of PHP code by compiling it into machine code at runtime, greatly improving performance for certain tasks.

• Union Types and Named Arguments: These new typing features make PHP code more predictable and maintainable, closing the gap with more strongly-typed languages like Java or C#.

• Attributes (Annotations): These allow developers to add metadata to their classes and methods, which makes frameworks like Symfony and Laravel even more powerful and intuitive to use.

These modern features make PHP feel more like a first-class language for today’s web development needs, keeping it relevant and competitive against newer technologies.

3. Laravel’s Continued Dominance

One of PHP's biggest strengths in recent years has been its ecosystem, and no framework has done more for PHP's modern-day relevance than Laravel. Laravel, the most popular PHP framework, has made PHP development faster, easier, and more enjoyable for developers by offering:

• A clean and elegant syntax

• Integrated tools for routing, authentication, and database management

• An extensive library of packages to extend functionality

• A vibrant, active community that continues to push the boundaries of what PHP can do

Laravel's influence has been so strong that many developers who might have otherwise avoided PHP have embraced it because of the framework's productivity benefits. And with each new version, Laravel continues to attract newcomers and experienced developers alike.

4. The PHP Ecosystem is Evolving

Beyond Laravel, the broader PHP ecosystem is alive and evolving. Composer, PHP’s package manager, has become a central part of modern PHP development, providing access to thousands of libraries and tools. With a growing number of high-quality open-source packages, PHP developers have a vibrant ecosystem to draw from when building applications.

Additionally, new tools like RoadRunner (a high-performance PHP application server) and PHP-FPM have redefined how we deploy and run PHP applications, bringing it closer to the speed and scalability of languages like Go or Node.js.

5. Widespread Hosting Support and Easy Deployment

One of the biggest reasons for PHP's resurgence is its simplicity in terms of hosting and deployment. Nearly every web host in the world supports PHP out of the box, and it’s one of the cheapest languages to host due to its widespread use.

With the rise of cloud-native applications and platforms like AWS, Google Cloud, and DigitalOcean offering easy-to-setup LAMP stacks (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP), developers can deploy PHP applications quickly and at low cost. This has made PHP particularly attractive for startups, small businesses, and freelancers who want to get a website or app live with minimal hassle.

6. PHP Is Still the Web’s Backbone

Let’s not forget that 79% of the web still runs on PHP, according to W3Techs. While newer languages have certainly gained ground, PHP remains the go-to for many of the world’s largest and most-visited websites. With such a massive install base, businesses and developers continue to invest in PHP because it's familiar, reliable, and supported by a vast community of developers.

Moreover, popular content management systems like WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal—which power over a third of the world’s websites—are all built on PHP. This ensures that PHP continues to have a huge presence in the digital landscape.

7. Backward Compatibility and Developer Familiarity

For many seasoned developers, PHP is a known quantity. It’s been around for a long time, and most web developers have at least some experience with it. Unlike more experimental or rapidly changing languages, PHP has maintained excellent backward compatibility, meaning that existing PHP applications can be updated or extended without needing to rewrite huge chunks of code.

This is particularly important for businesses with large legacy systems that need ongoing support and updates. PHP’s longevity and backward compatibility make it a safe choice for maintaining old systems while also modernizing them with the latest language features.

A Language Reborn

In 2024, PHP is far from obsolete. Thanks to its dramatic performance improvements, modern features, vibrant frameworks like Laravel, and a vast ecosystem, PHP has once again become a top choice for developers. It may have been overshadowed in recent years by trendier languages, but its reliability, speed, and widespread hosting options make it a practical solution for building everything from small websites to large-scale web applications.

If you’ve written off PHP in the past, now might be the time to reconsider it. With its modern capabilities and an ever-growing developer community, PHP is proving that it’s here to stay—maybe stronger than ever.