Written in 2016. Versions and links mentioned here may be out of date.
Laravel and codeigniter are among the best frameworks in PHP so far.
CodeIgniter is the oldest, most commonly used and simplest of all; while Laravel is very young but it comes with a lot of features out-of-box and is becoming a preferable choice for new applications.
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Laravel vs CodeIgniter
From my experience I have listed down comparison between the two php frameworks:
| # | Laravel | CodeIgniter |
|---|---|---|
| Initial release | 2011 | 2006 |
| Started by | Taylor Otwell | Rick Ellis, now it is a project of British Columbia Institute of Technology |
| License | MIT License | MIT Licence |
| Official website | www.laravel.com | https://codeigniter.com/ |
| Current stable version | 5.2 | 3.1.0 |
| Difficulty level | Average | Very easy |
| Framework pattern | MVC | MVC |
| Memory recommended | 1GB | 256MB |
| CLI Tool | Yes, Artisan tool is present. It helps to create controller,model,migrations, seeding, put/bring project in maintenance mode, and a lot more features. | No |
| Databases support | MySQL, Postgres, SQLite, SQL Server | MySQL, Oracle, PostgreSQL, MSSQL, SQLite, CUBRID, Interbase, ODBC |
| NoSQL(MongoDB) support | Not inbuilt, 3rd party library can be used. | Not inbuilt, 3rd party library can be used. |
| Cache drivers | File, Memcache, Redis | File, Memcache, Redis, WinCache (useful for windows) |
| Session drivers | File, Cookie, Database, Memcached, Redis | Files, Database, Redis, Memcached |
| Mail Drivers | SMTP, Mailgun, Mandrill, SparkPost, Amazon SES, Mail, and sendmail | Mail, Sendmail, and SMTP |
| Queues Drivers | Database, Beanstalkd, Amazon SQS, Redis, and synchronous (for local use) driver. | not inbuilt, 3rd partly library can be used. |
| Supports ReSTfull architecture | Yes, good support with routes and controllers. | Yes |
| Localization / Language | Yes | Yes |
| Route support | Yes, with lot of features. Using routes is compulsory. | Yes, using routes is optional. |
| Template engine | Yes, Very good support of Blade template. | Minimal, and they discourage the use of template engine. |
| Authentication system | inbuilt, very flexible | Not inbuilt, 3rd party auth can be integrated. |
| Authorization system | Inbuilt | Not inbuilt, 3rd party authorization can be used. |
| Admin generator | No, scaffold for login and registration is present. | No |
| ORM | Eloquent ORM, with lot of features. | Codeigniter DB driver (CI_DB_driver) |
| Pagination | Inbuilt, easy to use, flexible with inbuilt bootstrap support. | Inbuilt, easy to use, flexible |
| Migration & seeding | Inbuilt | not inbuilt. |
| TDD (Test driven development) framework | Inbuilt PHPUnit | not inbuilt, PHPUnit or any other can be integrated. |
| Form data validation | Inbuilt with good support | Inbuilt with good support |
| Uses Middleware | Yes, helps with validation like CSRF check, authentication, etc | No, but all such validations can be done here also. |
| Support for Virtual machines | Inbuilt, Homestead for linux/windows(pre-packaged Vagrant box), Valet for mac. | Not inbuilt. Virtual box / Vagrant can be easily used. |
Hope I have listed all points which will help you choose between the two frameworks for your next project. In case I missed some points, I would highly appreciate if you could share in comments below.
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