Top 5 PHP Alternatives You should know for Web Development

In the web development industry, PHP has carved its own niche. First of all, it is one of the oldest scripting languages in the programming world and exhibits a wide range of usability for beginners and veterans alike. According to SimilarTech, PHP currently empowers almost 43 million websites in the web world. That’s some number!

The latest release which was PHP7 came with lots of improvements including augmented speed. Another great benefit of using PHP is that it serves developers with a plethora of powerful web development frameworks like Symfony, CodeIgniter, and Laravel that make PHP development services better, easier, and more efficient owing to their advanced tools.

Last but not the least, PHP enjoys the support of a huge community that has empowered it with much-needed advancements. But, not everything is meant for everyone and while some developers enjoy working with this multi-paradigm, general-purpose scripting language, some prefer to work with more recent technologies.

However, someone who is comfortable working with PHP might find it hard to get an alternative to it, especially because of the availability of so many choices. Other developers, on the other hand, would simply prefer to avoid the cons of the languages.

So this article presents you with the top five PHP alternatives for all those developers who are looking for a suitable replacement for the language.

List of the Best 5 PHP Alternatives for Web Developers

1 JavaScript

Isn’t it obvious? This programming language is only a year younger than PHP and over time, it has grown to become the web world’s most popular programming language. It is also one of the three languages that a web developer must learn, the other two being HTML and CSS.

Owing to its easy learning curve and (once again) the availability of numerous powerful frameworks and libraries, JavaScript ranks as the best alternative to PHP. It is object-oriented and features dynamic tying.

It has first-class functions and offers support for both imperative and event-driven programming styles. One of the best things is that almost all major browsers like Chrome and Firefox consist of a dedicated JavaScript engine. No wonder it ranks as the top PHP alternative for developers

2. Python

Python has emerged as a robust programming language and there are several reasons why this robust programming language has gained worldwide recognition. Among the many reasons for its popularity, the major two are — first, its plain and unfussy syntax that’s said to be as easy as the English language, and second, its capability to let developers code with very few lines.

Python provides cross-platform support for Windows, Linux, Raspberry, and Mac. It features an extensive standard library and offers support for different programming paradigms like functional, procedural, and object-oriented. Another advantage of using it is that it is suitable for rapid prototyping as it can run on an interpreter system.

This language is also known for handling complex mathematical operations and big data. Python is widely used for server-side web development, system scripting, and the development of complex software systems. It is already being used by some top giants of the web world like Netflix, Uber, and Dropbox.

3 C#

As a Microsoft technology, C# certainly stands as a strong contender and a viable alternative to PHP. This too is a multi-paradigm and general-purpose programming language that runs on the .NET framework. It supports strong typing, declarative, object-oriented, component-based, and functional programming disciplines.

One of the biggest perks of C# is that compared to other Microsoft technologies, it is easy to learn and use. Also, it offers a clean programming structure and reusability of codes thus lowering the overall development time.

Since the language has its roots in the C family, it becomes easy for developers to switch from C or C++ to C# and vice versa. C#’s popularity is seated in its wide usability as it can be used for the development of desktop apps, mobile and web apps, web services, gaming and database apps, and many other things.

4 Go

Go, also referred to as Golang, was conceptualized and designed at Google and till today, it enjoys the support of the tech giant. The very first reason to opt for Go is its support for multiple platforms including Linux, Windows, Plan 9, macOS, and Solaris.

Syntactically, this compiled and open-source programming language is said to be similar to C and offers support for imperative, concurrent, and object-oriented programming disciplines. It features a comprehensive standard library along with in-built concurrency and is easy to learn and work with.

Though it is relatively new, Go has made its place in the programming world because of its programming ease, modernity, and its support for multi-core and networked computing. Go is also preferred by developers for reducing coding complexity and clutter.

5 Java

We are discussing some of the most popular programming languages in the tech world and that means that Java has to be here. The typing discipline of this high-level language is nominative, strong and safe. Syntactically, Java too is similar to C and C++. So it becomes easy for programmers to switch between these languages.

Like the other PHP alternatives mentioned here, Java also provides multi-paradigm programming support including class-based (that is object-oriented), functional, concurrent, reflective, and imperative styles. Java’s popularity can be deduced by the fact that it empowers more than 3 billion devices.

It features cross-platform support and reusability of codes and hence, reduces the overall coding time. Its security and huge community support are among its other perks. Java can be used for the development of web and mobile apps (especially Android), desktop apps, games, and web servers.

Take Away

There was a time when PHP development service was raging. It is still thriving and people do hire dedicated PHP developers to get their apps built. But the emergence of other technologies has offered developers better alternatives; the most popular of them being JavaScript, Python, Go, Java, and C#.

But that doesn’t mean that PHP is losing its mojo. It simply means the availability of more options for both developers and businesses. However, the selection of the technology depends largely upon the software requirements, budget, and capabilities of the languages to cater to all these.