Would you like to reduce the countless hours spent repetitively coding?
We have found the 8 best PHP boilerplates and frameworks to improve coding time and provide outstanding, secure code. Each boilerplate template aims to provide quality code and help you in your development journey.
Best PHP Boilerplate Code and Frameworks
Kitto
Kitto is a SaaS starter kit designed to streamline the development process for PHP developers. It offers a backend foundation built on PHP 8 and Symfony 7.
The inclusion of the EasyAdmin bundle provides a customizable administrative backend, facilitating efficient management of application data and settings.
On the front end, Kitto uses modern technologies such as Tailwind CSS and Flowbite, connected with features of Bootstrap and jQuery.
This combination ensures optimal user experience, allowing developers to craft responsive and aesthetically pleasing interfaces.
Kitto supports Stripe as a subscription gateway for payment processing. The integration enables recurring payments and flexible per-user pricing.
The deployment of the boilerplate is made with Kitto’s ready-to-use Docker configuration, to allow an easier deployment and execution of projects.
Kitto serves as a powerful and flexible foundation for developing SaaS applications, especially for developers seeking PHP boilerplates to build upon.
PHP Microsite Boilerplate
PHP Microsite Boilerplate is a framework designed for the rapid development of simple, highly functional, fast, and secure websites.
Unlike many PHP frameworks that demand extensive setup processes and multiple dependencies, this boilerplate shows minimalism and efficiency.
It is deemed to be perfect for small-scale projects or individual developers, who want to execute projects faster.
The PHP Boilerplate It includes tools and processes, such as service-worker cache, to provide optimized and fast-loading code.
As for security, it offers multi-level security measures, including sanitization functions and configurations for both Apache and Nginx servers. The configurations include firewalls and security headers, to fortify and mitigate future threats.
The PHP microsite boilerplate is also prepared for Progressive Web App development, making websites installable and capable of delivering an app-like experience.
For developers aiming to create multilingual websites, the boilerplate offers comprehensive support. Features include a user-friendly language switcher, cookies that remember user language preferences, and Gettext support.
In terms of design and content management, the PHP microsite boilerplate integrates support for Tailwind CSS, for rapid front-end development with a utility-first approach.
PHP HTTP Boilerplate
PHP HTTP Boilerplate is a library designed for the development of HTTP clients in PHP applications. With its standardized structure, it simplifies the creation of custom HTTP clients, reducing the overhead associated with setting them up from scratch.
The boilerplate is particularly beneficial for developers aiming to implement HTTP client functionality without delving into the intricacies of lower-level details.
To integrate the PHP HTTP boilerplate into a project, developers can utilize Composer.
The boilerplate is compatible with PHP versions 7.1 and above, ensuring it aligns with modern PHP standards and practices.
In terms of licensing, the PHP-HTTP Boilerplate is distributed under the MIT License. This permissive licensing model grants developers significant freedom to modify and incorporate the boilerplate into their projects, whether they are open-source or proprietary.
PHP Package Boilerplate
The PHP Package Boilerplate by Elliot J. Reed is designed to assist developers in creating PHP packages or applications with a standardized structure.
The boilerplate is compatible with PHP versions such as 8.2 and above, ensuring alignment with the latest PHP features and improvements.
For projects requiring compatibility with earlier PHP versions, specific branches are available: the ‘8.0’ branch supports PHP 8.0 and 8.1.
The PHP package boilerplate includes a ‘composer.json’ file, helping with managing dependencies and autoloading through Composer.
The setup streamlines the integration of external libraries and promotes adherence to modern PHP development practices. The PHP boilerplate is equipped with PHPUnit for unit testing, enabling developers to write and execute tests to ensure code reliability and maintainability.
Its directory structure is organized to separate application logic from tests, promoting a clean and maintainable codebase. This feature helps with the scalability of the project and enhances collaboration among development teams.
CakePHP
CakePHP is an open-source web framework written in PHP, by following the model–view–controller approach.
CakePHP is designed to facilitate rapid application development by providing a structured framework enabling developers to build web applications with less code.
The PHP framework is created to reduce the need for complex XML or YAML files. Developers can simply set up databases and directly start building.
CakePHP comes with built-in tools for input validation, CSRF protection, form tampering protection, and SQL injection prevention.
The Cake PHP boilerplate also includes features such as translations, database access, caching, validation, and authentication, all integrated into a single package.
CakePHP is licensed under the MIT license, making it suitable for use in commercial applications.
The framework’s community encourages involvement and support, offering various ways for developers to contribute and collaborate.
FuelPHP
FuelPHP is an open-source web app framework designed to develop scalable PHP applications. With its applied Hierarchical Model-View-Controller (HMVC) architecture developers now can prioritize code reusability and maintainability.
The framework offers a set of features, such as a flexible routing system, RESTful capabilities, and a built-in Object-Relational Mapping (ORM) tool, which simplifies database interactions by mapping database tables to PHP classes.
Security is a core focus of FuelPHP, with built-in mechanisms to protect against common vulnerabilities such as Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) and Cross-Site Scripting (XSS).
The Fuel PHP boilerplate also provides tools for input filtering and output encoding, enhancing the overall security of applications developed with it.
While FuelPHP offers a range of powerful features, it is said that its development team has been less active in implementing new updates and security patches.
Yii PHP Framework
Yii is a component-based PHP framework for developing modern web applications efficiently. Pronounced “Yee,” the name signifies “simple and evolutionary” in Chinese.
Yii follows the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architectural pattern, promoting a clear separation of concerns within application development. This structure enhances code organization and maintainability, allowing developers to manage assets separately.
The Yii PHP framework offers a comprehensive set of features, including a powerful code generator called Gii, that aids in rapid code scaffolding for models, controllers, forms, and CRUD operations.
Yii also provides robust support for database access through Active Record, query builders, and data migrations, simplifying interactions with various database systems.
Security plays a huge role for Yii, as it utilizes built-in tools to prevent common vulnerabilities such as SQL injection, Cross-Site Scripting (XSS), and Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF).
Yii supports theming and internationalization, enabling developers to create applications that are both visually appealing and accessible.
Symfony PHP Boilerplate
Symfony is a high-performance PHP framework designed to streamline the development of web applications, APIs, microservices, and web services.
It offers a collection of over 50 reusable PHP components, allowing developers to select and integrate only the parts they need for their projects.
The Symfony framework follows the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architectural pattern, separating applications into three interconnected components:
- The model (data)
- The view (user interface)
- The controller (business logic).
This separation enhances code organization, maintainability, and scalability.
Symfony emphasizes convention over configuration, reducing the need for extensive setup and allowing developers to focus on writing code. It includes features such as a flexible routing system, a powerful templating engine, and robust security measures to protect against common web vulnerabilities.
The framework is backed by a vibrant community and comprehensive documentation, providing ample resources for both novice and experienced developers. Its component-based architecture allows for the creation of custom frameworks tailored to specific project requirements, offering a high degree of flexibility.
