Laravel vs CakePHP

With the easy access to technology for everyone generates a high demand for more online platforms for different purposes like health, education, business management, financing, etc. This demand is fulfilled by developing web applications at a much faster rate which is only possible with the aid of frameworks. Frameworks are software abstractions that contain pre-built libraries and packages for hassle-free development by reusing these components. Laravel and CakePHP are two such frameworks. So let’s compare them.

What is Laravel?

Laravel is MIT licensed free framework of PHP. It was developed by Taylor Otwell and released as open-source software in 2011. It contains advanced dependency manager which allows easy database interaction. It is one of the most popular frameworks used worldwide due to its Object Relational Mapping features.

Advantages of Laravel

• Access control can be easily implemented in Laravel.
• It can integrate easily with cache back ends.
• It provides a notification feature using mail integration.
• It provides an easy way to implement task scheduling functionality.

Disadvantages of Laravel

• It is not SEO optimized by default.
• Upgrading from one version to another is problematic.

What is CakePHP?

CakePHP is a cross-platform PHP framework developed by Cake Software Foundation, Inc. using HMVC (Hierarchical Model View Controller) architecture. It is an open-source framework that was first launched in 2005 in multiple languages. It helps in separating the business logic data from the fun presentation layer for better performance.

Advantages of CakePHP

• Interaction with the database is simple and straightforward. 
• No configuration is required to start a new project.
• It allows developers to implement caching operations easily.
• It has inbuilt unit testing features for saving time.

Disadvantages of CakePHP

• Its documentation is unstructured which is confusing for beginners.
• It does not have two-way data binding functionality.

Below is a table of differentiation between Laravel and CakePHP:

Category	Laravel	CakePHP
Definition	Laravel is an open-source framework that is used in making simple PHP applications.	CakePHP is an HMVC-based free framework that is used in making PHP-written web applications.
Model/Architecture	It follows object-oriented model for building web applications.	It follows document-oriented database model for building web applications.
Source Code	Its source code is available at github.com/laravel/framework	Its source code is available at github.com/cakephp/cakephp
License	It has an MIT license.	It is MIT licensed.
Routing	Routing functionality is difficult to implement.	Routing functionality is very easy to implement.
Scalability	It is highly scalable as compared to CakePHP.	It is comparatively less scalable.
Data Backup	It provides better data backup options.	Data backup option is limited.
Developer(s)	It was developed by Taylor Otwell.	It was developed by Cake Software Foundation, Inc.

Conclusion/Summary

On comparing Laravel and CakePHP it is clear that Laravel is more popular due to its high scalability and data backup options. It has structured documentation along with community support which makes it really easy for beginners. On the other side, CakePHP is also a good choice for developers but it is tough for beginners.