Top 10 PHP Web Development Trends For 2024

2024 is the year of PHP web development - it is becoming more fascinating and dynamic than ever before.
According to the surveys, almost 80% of the global websites are developed on PHP, making it a mainstay of the web development business. PHP is popular due to its simple syntax and extensive functionalities. Despite the launch of new languages and frameworks, it's been more than 20 years that PHP has dominated the software industry.

PHP continues to evolve. With performance boosts and new features, it leads the development world. It is important to keep up with the changing PHP development trends to stay relevant to the latest developments. We will discuss the latest PHP trends of 2024 in this blog. With these insights, you can strategize according to the ongoing trends.

Why Is PHP Popular Among Businesses?

Most businesses prefer PHP for their web development projects and it's not a coincidence!

Several reasons account for the popularity of PHP. Let's have a look at some of the main reasons why businesses opt for PHP for their development projects.

1. Simplicity - Ease Of Learning And Implementation

One of the main reasons why PHP goes on to stay popular is its simplicity. Even beginners can easily understand, learn, and excel in it. Companies can hire PHP developers and retain productivity.

2. Community Support - Rich In Resources

The community of PHP is known to be huge and vibrant. This huge community has a generous amount of resources, guides, and documentation to offer. It is also updated frequently.

3. Cost Effectiveness - OpenSource Resource

PHP is an open-source scripting language. PHP development does not require special development environments or expensive licenses. Due to their easy availability, companies can also hire PHP developers at comparatively lower rates.

4. Flexibility - Seamless Integration

PHP can be easily integrated into HTML and web pages. It is highly interoperable with different databases like PostgreSQL, MySQL, and SQLite across different platforms, such as Windows, Linux, and macOS.

5. Efficiency - High-Performance Experience

Web applications should be high speed and PHP offers this option. It is a perfect choice for making scalable applications as it has the ability to manage massive volumes of data and traffic effectively.

6. Security - The Most Significant Feature

PHP is known to provide a number of options to create safe applications. The built-in security mechanisms of PHP web development frameworks also lower the potential security threats.

Read More: How to Build a Web App: A Step-by-Step Guide

Latest PHP Web Development Trends To Look Out For In 2024

It won't be an overstatement to call PHP the backbone of web development. Even with the emergence of new programming languages, PHP has still maintained its role in the IT industry due to its constant evolution and enhancement.

Let's explore Some interesting PHP development trends that are expected to emerge in 2024.

Trend #1: Glory of  PHP 8 and Beyond

A new series of PHP is introduced every now and then with better features and functionalities.
You can expect some exciting features and performance improvements in the PHP 8 series. The enhanced JIT (Just-In-Time) compilation is one of the standout features introduced in this series. This feature converts PHP code into machine language at runtime, thus improving the performance and app speed.

Trend # 2: The Rise of Asynchronous Programming

Asynchronous programming allows concurrent users and lower latency. 

Due to libraries like ReactPHP and Swoole, asynchronous programming has become a popular trend in PHP. They enable multitasking and non-blocking code which are especially useful for real-time applications like chat apps. You can expect to see more PHP frameworks with asynchronous features in 2024.

Trend #3: Microservices Architecture For Enhanced Scalability

Microservice architecture divides the software into smaller, independent services. Every service individually manages a certain function using the relevant APIs. This approach is gaining popularity among PHP developers. Expect to see the integration of more microservices architecture in PHP environments in 2024.

Trend # 4: Emergence of Serverless PHP

Serverless computing doesn't require the developers to manage the app server. It allows the developers to concentrate on writing the code while the app infrastructure, enhancement, and maintenance are handled by cloud providers

Trend# 5: Better Security Measures Than Ever Before

The updated versions of PHP have pre-installed security protocols for better threat protection.  PHP 8 has a `Random\Engine} class and read-only attributes to improve the random number generation and hence app security.

It is expected that more attention will be paid to PHP application security in 2024. 

Trend # 6: AI and Machine Learning in PHP

Machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) are dominating every industry. PHP takes part in this AI revolution by allowing developers to include AI and ML functionalities in their apps. Exclusive libraries such as PHP-ML are introduced to support this option. 

Due to the simplicity of PHP, this trend will only get stronger in 2024. 

Trend # 7: The Onset of Progressive Web Apps (PWAs)

Applications with native apps like performance are Progressive Web Apps or PWAs. They are becoming popular due to their ability to retain attention and engagement.

PHP is capable of creating functional PWAs for smooth and high-performing tasks. So, expect to see more PHP developers making use of this technology in 2024.

Trend # 8: Headless CMS and PHP

A headless content management system is one that only has a backend but no front end. PHP can effectively support headless CMS systems as a backend. Some popular examples include frameworks like WordPress and Strapi.
You can anticipate seeing more headless CMS systems based on PHP in 2024.

Trend # 9: Cloud Integration For Multiple Benefits

Cloud computing is revolutionizing the foundation of modern apps. PHP developers are incorporating cloud services including AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud into their app development projects. You will see a rise in cloud-native PHP applications by 2024.  

Trend # 10: Active Community and Growing Ecosystem 

The PHP community is known for its encouraging nature and continuous growth. Open-source programs like Composer and Packagist have completely transformed the developers’ approach to managing dependencies. 

2024 is expected to be a year of more community contributions. Developers are working on creating new frameworks, tools, and libraries to facilitate the PHP ecosystem even more.  

Future of PHP: What To Expect…

The dynamics of web development are rapidly changing. PHP still holds its position in this fast-changing environment due to its continuous evolution and improvements. The future of PHP development seems promising. With the release of the updated version, PHP is gaining even more attention among the developers community. Companies hire backend developer who are well-versed in software updates. So it's important to keep an eye out for the changing PHP development trends since PHP is here to stay and will continue to evolve.