The waves of digital disruption are moving at a tremendous pace. Not only are they presenting notable opportunities for those who seize it but also huge risks for those who do not respond to it. Which is why, modern organizations look out for best-in-class programming languages and frameworks to thrive in the modern digital era. It means that they need to one-up their websites or web applications from their competitors.
It’s always been a daunting task to choose between the two outstanding tech stacks — ASP.NET and PHP. To make the right choice out of the two depends on how much information businesses have; the more it is, the better. If you are someone who feels stuck between PHP vs. ASP.NET, then this article will help you gain a thorough understanding to pick the best one for your project.
Exploring ASP.NET and PHP in Detail
From speed, security, scalability, and cost to popularity and flexibility, everything needs to be taken under consideration. ASP.NET and PHP are equally capable at accessing file systems, portraying images, and other functionalities.
As per SimilarTech, PHP is leading in Top 10K Sites, Top 100K Sites, Top 1M Sites and The Entire Web. In terms of market share, ASP.NET is clearly lagging behind, losing to PHP in all segments.
ASP.NET is the server-side web-app framework by the tech giant Microsoft is known for developing dynamic and highly secure websites and web apps. Some of the major user-centric organizations’ websites are built on ASP.NET. Microsoft, GoDaddy, DELL, Marketwatch.com, etc. are some of the famous websites that are developed with ASP.NET.
From the learning perspective, ASP.NET is written in C# hence has a stiff learning curve. ASP.NET is the best fit for enterprise-level websites. It offers a comprehensive software development environment and provides a plethora of features that can build superior web apps.
A majority of corporate giants use PHP as a major development language or leverage its components for their projects. Facebook, WordPress, Mailchimp, Wikipedia, etc. are some of the famous websites that are developed with PHP. Flexibility, speed, nativity, multiple integration opportunities, and more make PHP stand out in the market.
One of the notable features about PHP language is that it can quickly adapt to web development and digital transformation trends that allow organizations to get an edge over their competitors. PHP web development is the best fit for start-ups that want to build a small business website.
Features
PHP focuses on client and user interfaces hence it is best for client-facing user interfaces. It has an enormous scope of customization and is easy to learn. PHP is less secure as compared to ASP.NET. ASP.NET focuses on security and functionalities hence it is best suited for highly secure websites and functionalities. It has less customization options and the learning curve is stiff.
Speed and Scalability
PHP has average speed whereas ASP.NET has decent speed. If we talk about scalability, both of these languages are scalable for a series of development projects. However, it is crucial to consider the nature of your business and the type of development team you hire. And, an important point to consider here is that a framework’s performance depends on how the coding was done, not on the language used.
Community Support
As PHP is an older programming language, it has more community members as compared to ASP.NET. PHP is used widely with active forum support. ASP.NET has dedicated developers but fewer support contributors. PHP wins here, however, ASP.NET and PHP both have active community forums so you will get support for your queries.
Cost
Lastly, cost is one of the critical factors that needs to be considered before making a decision. PHP has an upper hand over ASP.NET. PHP is an open-source platform and free to use. PHP gives unlimited access to the users and there are numerous resources available to work with. ASP.NET is free but requires you to pay for web hosting which is not a big concern for many.
Taking a quick look at the pros and cons of ASP.NET and PHP
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ASP.NET
Pros
- Server-side app framework.
- Open source web framework created by Microsoft.
- Highly scalable and secured with a fantastic UI.
- Written in .NET language and supports Visual Basic.NET, JavaScript.NET, Python, Perl.
- Runs well on windows.
- Provides superior performance.
- Makes developers aware about the code errors before compiling.
- Bundle of resources and features to guide programmers.
- Comprises plenty of tools and features.
- An excellent supporting forum for business apps.
- Large number of pre-programmed options.
- Develops dynamic web pages, web apps, and web solutions.
- Offers built in security features like SQL injection.
- More scope in the future.
Cons
- Small community of developers.
- Runs only on windows and you have to use the mono project to run it across different OSs.
- Less efficient for web development purposes.
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PHP
Pros
- General purpose programming language.
- Open-source with a huge community support.
- Simple, scalable, and configurable to meet the requirements.
- Provides complete freedom to developers.
- Relatively easy learning curve.
- Great for beginners as well as for professional programmers.
- Involves low-cost and is simple to read, code, and use.
- Runs well on Mac, Linux, Unix, or Windows OSs.
- Sizable programmers group to back it up.
- Fits best for large projects.
- Powerful tool which connects to and interacts with a variety of databases.
- Ideal for scripts that run on the internet like website content management systems (CMS).
- Easily integrates with cloud computing, IoT, chatbots, and more.
Cons
- Not suitable for desktop apps.
- The apps run slower as compared to ASP.NET apps.
- Lacks efficiency in error handling and takes more time to detect errors.
- Offer tools to developers, however, it is less secure compared to ASP.NET.
Conclusion – Final Take
ASP.NET is a web app framework developed by Microsoft that suits best for medium and large-sized apps. The framework focuses on functionalities, is highly secured, and has high speed for desktop apps. It has a dedicated community with fewer developers to address problems and challenges. ASP.NET is suitable for ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) apps, enterprise-level web apps or websites, internet, enterprise-level web apps like CRMs, and heavy traffic websites.
PHP is a server-side scripting language developed by Rasmus Lerdorf that suits best for small to medium-sized web solutions. It is free across the web, focuses on user interface, has less built-in security features, and has slow speed for desktop apps. It is open source with a large community support. PHP is suitable for Independable Software Vendors (ISVs), startups, small entrepreneurs, small or medium websites, beginner level CRMs, and PoS software.
Ending Note
The decision to choose the perfect tech stack between ASP.NET and PHP for web development depends on your project requirements. Yes, You heard it right. The decision depends on which language best fits your project needs and other scenarios alike. All in all, you can safely assume that both PHP and ASP.NET development offer different advantages but have tremendous power to create phenomenal websites or web applications.
We hope that this article will help you explore both the platforms in detail. Having said that, now you will be in a better position to make a more-informed decision on the platform!
