PHP VS. CodeIgniter: How Do They Differ?

Introduction:

Technology is driving the change around us. Mobile and web apps are two of the major technology trends we see around us. Website is another good news for businesses. All of these tech trends have a huge impact on their business and marketing. What forms the base of these apps and websites? The web development language and frameworks form the backbone of any application. PHP is a well-known app development language used for developing responsive websites and applications. Next on the pedestal come the PHP frameworks. Frameworks comprise different components such as libraries and tools to make coding easier and fast. Companies getting into PHP development often enquire about CodeIgniter. What is it and why should we use it? You may also wonder about the difference between PHP and CodeIgniter to make a better choice for development.

Here is a short and crisp comparison between PHP and CodeIgniter. (PHP vs. CodeIgniter)

1. Brief overview

PHP is a scripting language widely used in web development. It can be embedded into HTML. It powers many app development frameworks. 

CodeIgniter is a PHP framework that is widely used to develop web applications. It acts as a powerful toolkit that offers exceptional performance and high security. 

2. Popularity

Statistics suggest that about 86097712 websites are based on PHP. About 1482169 websites are estimated to use CodeIgnitor. 

Coming to the market share, about 79.2% of all websites use PHP which forms a huge chunk of the market share. On the other hand, CodeIgnitor is known to have only 13% of the market share which is very less when compared to PHP. 

The statistics and numbers indicate that PHP is the more popular. However, CodeIgnitor is famous as one of the most streamlined frameworks of PHP. Whichever is your choice, you can always hire PHP developers to develop web applications. 

3. Geographical reach

PHP is widely used across the globe for web application development. United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Russia are some of the leading economies running more than one million PHP-based websites. 

In terms of geographical reach, CodeIgnitor is nowhere near PHP. The leading nations such as India and the United states are known to have less than 9k PHP-based websites. PHP leads in terms of geographical reach. 

4. Usage 

The availability of numerous web development languages and frameworks confuses us. It is better to get clarity on when to use them. PHP is a general-purpose programming language that can be used to develop dynamic web pages. Different content management systems like WordPress and Moodle have evolved over PHP. They make PHP a great solution for developing e-commerce sites and e-learning systems. 

You have all the reasons to hire a PHP development company when it comes to powerful frameworks like CodeIgniter. The entire framework is very light with only a few small libraries in its core. CodeIgnitor is also known to be a very fast framework. The main part is the MVC architecture which greatly influences its usage. It allows you to have a creative focus on the project. CodeIgniter is a great framework for projects where designers are working in sync with the developers. The minimized codes work in the favor of the designers.

5. Developer salary

Salary makes a major difference between languages. PHP is a popular language and powers many frameworks. This increases the job prospects and salary of any PHP developer. According to Glassdoor, the salary of a PHP developer can be around $81K per year. 

Being a CodeIgnitor developer does not cast any shadow on the pay scale and they can also earn competitive pay. According to Ziprecruiter, CodeIgniter developers make around $90K per year in the United States. CodeIgniter is a powerful and in-demand framework that offers surplus opportunities to developers. 

Conclusion

Developers planning to get into PHP development have the clear advantage of the flexibility to work on numerous frameworks. They can learn and work on CodeIgniter and other frameworks. In terms of salary, both developers can get handsome incomes based on their expertise and experience. PHP is a widely used scripting language with a wider reach. CodeIgniter is a powerful and established PHP framework that is trending today. Business owners hire PHP developers and CodeIgniter experts to develop creative apps that give a competitive edge to their websites. Both PHP and CodeIgniter differ in their reach and applicability. Another difference can be the usage. PHP can be used to develop an app from scratch whereas CodeIgniter offers a toolkit for web development that simplifies application development. Being a web developer can be very rewarding in terms of opportunities, growth, and salary. At the same time, hiring a PHP development company can be beneficial for organizations hoping to develop web applications to strengthen their brand name and marketing strategy.