Laravel vs Symfony Comparison
Framework Features Comparison
| Laravel 11 | Symfony 7 | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Artisan | Symfony Console | Command-line tools for managing the application, running migrations, generating code, etc. |
| Tinker | Symfony REPL (PsySH) | Interactive shell for working with the application from the command line. |
| Eloquent | Doctrine ORM | ORM (Object-Relational Mapping) for database interaction. |
| Facade DB | Doctrine DBAL | Interface for low-level database operations, below the ORM level. |
| Laravel Mix (uses npx) | Webpack Encore | Tools for compiling and managing frontend resources such as CSS and JavaScript. |
| Blade | Twig | Templating engines for generating HTML on the server side. |
| Laravel Scout | Elasticsearch (via package) | Tools for full-text search, integrating with Elasticsearch and other search systems. |
| Laravel Socialite | HWIOAuthBundle | Packages for integrating OAuth social authorizations. |
| Laravel Passport | LexikJWTAuthenticationBundle | API authentication implementations using tokens. |
| Laravel Horizon | Symfony Messenger | Tools for managing job queues and background processes. |
Additional Features Comparison
| Laravel 11 | Symfony 7 | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Paginate in Eloquent | Pagerfanta or KnpPaginator | Pagination of data, implemented in ORM or through third-party bundles. |
| Laravel Fortify (supports 2FA) | SchebTwoFactorBundle | Solutions for two-factor authentication (2FA) in web applications. |
| Laravel Sanctum | LexikJWTAuthenticationBundle | Solutions for API and SPA authentication, providing tokens and handling session states. |
Directory Structure Comparison: Laravel vs Symfony
| Laravel 11 | Symfony 7 | Description |
|---|---|---|
| /app | /src | Main application code, including controllers, models, and other classes. |
| /app/Http | /src/Controller | Controllers that manage the logic of incoming requests. |
| /app/Models | /src/Entity | Models in Laravel, entities in Symfony (used with Doctrine ORM). |
| /resources/views | /templates | User interface templates. Laravel uses Blade, Symfony uses Twig. |
| /resources/js | /assets/js | JavaScript files. Symfony uses Webpack Encore for managing assets. |
| /resources/sass | /assets/css | SASS/SCSS styles for frontend. |
| /bootstrap | /config/bootstrap.php | Bootstrap scripts in Laravel. Part of configuration in Symfony. |
| /config | /config | Application configuration files. |
| /database/migrations | /migrations | Database migrations. |
| /public | /public | Public root directory, the web application entry point. |
| /routes | /config/routes | Application routing definitions. |
| /storage | /var | Storage for log files, cache, and sessions. |
| /tests | /tests | Application tests. |
| /vendor | /vendor | Third-party libraries and dependencies installed via Composer. |
| .env | .env | Environment configuration file managing sensitive data and configurations. |
| composer.json | composer.json | Defines PHP dependencies and other Composer parameters. |
| package.json | package.json | Defines Node.js dependencies for frontend tools and libraries. |
| Laravel Command | Symfony Command | Description |
|---|---|---|
| php artisan list | php bin/console list | Displays all registered commands in the application. |
| php artisan make:model ModelName | php bin/console make:entity EntityName | Creates a new model in Laravel and a new entity in Symfony. |
| php artisan make:controller ControllerName | php bin/console make:controller ControllerName | Generates a new controller class in both frameworks. |
| php artisan make:event EventName | php bin/console make:event EventName | Creates a new event class in both Laravel and Symfony. |
| php artisan make:listener ListenerName –event=EventName | php bin/console make:subscriber EventName | Generates an event listener in Laravel and an event subscriber in Symfony. |
| php artisan migrate | php bin/console doctrine:migrations:migrate | Executes database migrations in both Laravel and Symfony. |
| php artisan serve | php bin/console server:run | Starts a development server for Laravel and Symfony applications. |
| php artisan route:list | php bin/console debug:router | Displays routes registered in the application for both frameworks. |
| php artisan cache:clear | php bin/console cache:clear | Clears the application cache in both Laravel and Symfony. |
| php artisan config:cache | php bin/console cache:warmup | Creates a cache file for faster configuration loading in Laravel and warms up the cache in Symfony. |
| php artisan queue:work | php bin/console messenger:consume | Starts the queue worker in Laravel and consumes messages from the message queue in Symfony. |
| php artisan make:middleware MiddlewareName | php bin/console make:middleware MiddlewareName | Generates a new middleware class in both Laravel and Symfony. |
| php artisan make:migration MigrationName | php bin/console make:migration | Creates a new database migration file in both frameworks. |
| php artisan db:seed | php bin/console doctrine:fixtures:load | Seeds the database with records in Laravel and loads data fixtures in Symfony. |
| php artisan tinker | php bin/console psysh | Provides an interactive shell for Laravel and Symfony, powered by PsySH. |
| php artisan optimize | php bin/console cache:warmup | Optimizes the framework loading in Laravel and preloads cache in Symfony. |
| php artisan schedule:run | php bin/console scheduler:execute | Runs the scheduled tasks configured in Laravel and Symfony. |
