Software Development

Which is better, PHP or ASP.NET and why?

The primary goal of web development teams is to deliver web applications with the best user experience, scalability, and sustainability. Hence, developers always look for the right technology stack to build with these goals.

There are various web technologies stacks like PHP, .Net, Ruby on Rails, Java, or Python. PHP and .NET are the most commonly used technologies in web development. As statistics claims, PHP and ASP.NET hold the lion’s share of the web technologies market. In most cases, development teams choose between these two variants.

Both options have their pros and cons. In this article, we’ll discuss the differences and applicability of PHP and ASP.NET.

What is the best framework for web development?

Introduction to ASP.NET

ASP.NET extends the .NET platform with components for web applications building. It is an open-source server-side web development platform created by Microsoft. Among the many things that ASP.NET adds to the .NET platform, we can mention the following:

  • The basic platform for processing web requests in C# or F#
  • Libraries and common web patterns, such as Model View Controller (MVC)
  • Web page template syntax
  • Authentication system
  • Editor’s extensions and more.

Currently, ASP.NET is open-source on GitHub with a user community of over 60000 developers and 3700 companies. This number is constantly growing.

Pros and Cons of ASP.NET

Pros:

  • ASP.NET is highly scalable and is expanding at a rapid speed.
  • Owned by Microsoft, it has a better reputation in the market.
  • It supports all the major programming languages and is compatible with both app and C#.
  • Developers can trace any error made in the coding bere compiling it.
  • It offers plenty of tools and features to support programming.
  • ASP.NET ensures the best results on Windows.
  • It is the best platform for enterprise applications.
  • Developers can use numerous pre-coded options making development faster.
  • There is an excellent UI for developers.

Cons:

  • It is more sophisticated in comparison to PHP.
  • The developer community for support is smaller.
  • ASP.NET only works with Microsoft servers.
  • It is more expensive, as it requires purchasing a Microsoft license.
  • For web development purposes, it is less efficient than PHP.
  • ASP.NET grounds on closed source technology.

Introduction to PHP

PHP is a programming language mainly focused on server-side scripting. You can perform tasks with PHP as any other CGI (Common Gateway Interface) program can. It is applicable for collecting the form data, dynamic page content generating, sending and receiving cookies, and many more. The primary areas of PHP scripts use are server-side scripting, command-line scripting, and desktop applications writing.

Among the major insights of PHP, we should notice the following:

  • PHP is a server-side-scripting language embedded with HTML. Developers apply it to manage dynamic content database session tracking and many other tasks.
  • It is integrated with various databases, such as MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, Sybase, Informix, and Microsoft SQL Server.
  • It supports major protocols such as POP3, IMAP, and LDAP.

You can use PHP on all major operating systems, including Microsoft Windows, Linux, macOS, etc.

Pros and Cons for PHP

Pros:

  • It is open-source and free for users.
  • It has a vast community of dedicated developers worldwide.
  • PHP is the best choice for large projects like Facebook.
  • It is also a perfect choice for web-based scripts such as web content management systems (CMS) due to efficient communication with various database types.
  • You can customize it for your needіs, and it is highly scalable.
  • It is cost-efficient and easy to learn, code, and pick up.

Cons:

  • PHP is generally not suitable for desktop applications, as it targets web applications.
  • PHP applications tend to run slower than apps built with other programming languages.
  • Customization options can lead to bugs and poor coding.
  • In comparison with other programming languages, PHP lacks efficiency in error handling. Therefore, it takes more time to detect errors.
Basic differences between ASP.NET and PHP

PHP vs. ASP.NET for different parameters

1. Speed and performance

The speed of any programming language does not have any noticeable effect on most websites today. There are other factors to consider when it comes to measuring the web application’s speed. However, if the website must perform lots of different tasks, you should check thoroughly which programming language would be the best for the required enormous tasks.

It is better to select the programming language by analyzing its performances under different scenarios. Those can be accessing and querying the databases, outputting the results, accessing the file systems, finding an image and sending it to a web server, etc.

2. Security

Both platforms provide security features but in different ways. ASP.NET comes with such a built-in security feature as SQL injection. PHP provides tools to structure the applications securely.

In other words, ASP.NET makes it easier and more reliable for developers to apply security features, whereas PHP only provides you with the tools.

Many PHP developers tend to overlook security features, thus resulting in apps vulnerability. On the other hand, the security features of ASP.NET are the best because of its in-built nature that saves efforts.

3. Cost

LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) is popular among hosting companies. Thus, it has lower monthly costs on hosting than Windows hosting.

ASP.NET is free if you purchase Windows OS. Still, there will be licensing costs for MS Windows Server, MS SQL server, and future upgrades.

Thus, PHP is more cost-efficient – it is open-source and free of charge. ASP.NET comes with free web hosting only.

4. Support and resources

Since LAMP is open-source, lots of dedicated developers support, update, and improve the platforms globally. If you seek help for any functionality challenge, post a question on the PHP forum. You will receive plenty of helpful information from developers around the world. The number of developers and support resources for PHP and LAMP platforms is continually growing.

ASP.NET relies on a limited number of developers from the Microsoft platform. Therefore, fewer developers are available if you seek help with some ASP.NET challenge.

5. Tools and editors

PHP and MySQL are editor-independent. PHP developers can access lots of functional editors. However, most ASP.NET developers rely on Microsoft’s Visual Studio Editor to develop .NET applications. ASP.NET offers lots of tools and in-built features allowing the developers to create websites with no issues.

6. Platform Dependency

PHP is platform-independent and can run on any platform, such as Linux, UNIX, macOS X, and Windows. ASP.NET runs on the Windows platform only. It is one of the reasons why the PHP audience is so large, and its community is so powerful.

Conclusion

PHP has proved to be a powerful framework with lots of various open-source free libraries. Still, ASP.NET also has many advantages, especially for enterprise companies preferring Microsoft technology.

PHP has a huge open-source community, and you can find plenty of solutions online. Microsoft has a community of .net developers that you can reach for assistance. However, there might not be as many open-source solutions in .NET as you’d find in PHP.

The choice of ASP.NET vs. PHP becomes simpler when businesses and developers know all technical requirements precisely. Then, they can estimate the benefits of each technology correctly.

That’s why it is crucial to take time and evaluate the project needs. Always consult experienced professionals in web development to pick the right technology.

 

Thanks

Supertek