PHP v/s ASP.NET: Which is better language for Website Development?

There is a growing tendency to deliver progressive web applications that will empower user experience and engagement as well as facilitate the Web development services process. The market requirements are growing extremely fast and it is obvious that the right technology stack could make a difference to the project. According to statistics, most market share of the back-end technologies is gained by two programming languages – PHP and ASP.NET.

Let’s find out more about PHP v/s ASP.NET: Which is better language for Website Development?  Its pros and cons, the main differences and why it can work better for certain cases.

ASP.NET And Web Development

ASP.NET is a C# based server-side web application framework. It was introduced by Microsoft in the early 2000s as an extension to the ASP .NET Development platform. This framework offers a variety of libraries and tools, particularly for web development. Moreover, any other packages available on the .NET platform like Visual Studio can be comfortably used by web developers.

Microsoft presents the base framework for processing requests along with web-page template syntax, the authentication system, editor extensions, and pattern libraries. This framework enables developing different types of applications including dynamic web pages, micro services, REST APIs and real-time hubs. The Microsoft team delivers constant improvements to extend the overall functionality and presents the huge ecosystem of open libraries. Nevertheless, this is an open-source framework supported by Microsoft, developers are also encouraged to contribute to the community.

Among the main functionalities is the web-page templating syntax called Razor. It allows developers to write the back-end code in C#. After code evaluation on the server, the HTML content will be sent to the users. Furthermore, the user side is coded in JavaScript that efficiently integrates with ASP.NET. Different editor extensions empower code completion and syntax highlighting.

Previously, ASP.NET web applications ran only on the Microsoft servers that usually require higher hosting fees. With the new version of ASP.NET Core released in 2016, software engineers are able to apply for Linux and macOS hosting services. In the light of ASP.NET and web development connection, we can infer that this framework provides a reasonable solution and has a number of advantages to be chosen for the next project.

Is ASP.NET Good For Web Development

In fact, any web technology can be an excellent choice for the project whenever it meets the set expectations. Giving a comprehensive answer on the question “why use ASP.NET for web development?’’, we would like to define the most important aspects that should be taken into account.

To start with, ASP.NET is a mature framework that has been on the market for more than a few decades. In comparison to other frameworks, it has gained a decent market share and continues to strengthen them through constant evolvement. Today’s community consists of more than 60,000 developers all around the world. While being an open-source framework, it is also strongly supported by Microsoft and known for active community support. This tight cooperation leads to the accessibility of different libraries and clear guidelines. Microsoft invests significant amounts of resources in the development of their platforms and community support. There are no worries that they would suggest some outdated approaches.

As for the technology side, ASP.NET is often chosen due to fast and efficient performance. The compilation needs to be done only once as the .NET platform is capable to execute the compiled code over and over again. Unlike the interpreted code that needs to be executed every time by the machine, compiled one is more consistent and scalable.

Scalability is a great performance accelerator. It covers the optimization of the code as well as architecture and infrastructure including catching, networking, etc. This framework obtains the vertical scalability that focuses on reducing the overall delivery time.

One of the distinctive advantages is strong security. This web application framework supports all the required authentication protocols. Hire ASP.NET developers that offers number of built-in features for while development and app protection along with cross-site scripting and request forgery. In addition to multi-factor authentication, the framework ensures it externally for example with Google.

Previously developers had to purchase IDEs to write the code. Nowadays, free tools and libraries are accessible to everyone. However, It is common that professional development companies will pay for additional licenses to get more functionality. Moreover, all web software requires the hosting servers. Windows hosting is more expensive in comparison with Linux servers. Also, there is Microsoft IIS that is free for different versions of Microsoft windows.

As a result, ASP.NET development services have become a great solution for many companies due to great functionality, security and regular improvements.

PHP Web Development

PHP as a server-side web development language has evolved from the small open-source project. It was created in 1995 by Rasmus Lerdorf who wrote a few CGI programs and managed to make them work with web forms and databases. He hasn’t aimed to create a new programming language but it turned to become among one of the biggest open-source languages. Anyone can make a contribution to the new release including task deployment, testing, documentation, and sources.

Thanks to its accessibility, PHP has gained popularity among a huge number of developers. It might be a common choice for newcomers, as its learning curve is much easier in comparison with others.

The Php agency works with various open-source free libraries, tools and extensions. For example MySQL Extension, it allows developers to create PHP apps that interact with the database while enabling improved statement and transaction support.

In the light of ASP vs PHP comparison, the PHP developers deal with the other type of code –  interpreted one that is completely written in C. It allows excellent customization nevertheless that might be the cause for some bugs and poor coding.

Since this server-side language was initially released for web development, it is efficient in communicating and accessing most types of databases. Due to its adaptability and flexibility, developers are not limited in their choice. Moreover, Php program can support multiple services covering different protocols like POP3, HTTP, IMAP, LDAP, etc.

Consequently, being open-sourced turned out to be a great solution for the PHP web development community. They have gained the biggest market share and keep on the constant improvements and regular releases.

Why We Use PHP For Web Development

Whereas it might seem an easy question to answer, we would like to be more specific and define all the pros and cons of this development approach.

The first reason why we use PHP for web development is that this programming language has been initially presented as a web scripting language. It is greatly supported and improved by own community that consists of more than 5 million PHP developers. The open-source programming language is quite popular among newcomers and has gained the biggest market share. Its supportive community keeps on growing for more than 25 years.

Working with the open source has its own advantages and disadvantages. In fact, this language is easy to learn, compatible with different servers and suitable for various web applications. Another distinction of PHP development services is the interpreted code. This type of code is usually executed on the server, later generated into HTML and only then sent to the user side. Accordingly, the execution time is longer and might get some errors with importing heavy files and lead to slower performance compared to other languages.

On the other side, PHP web development is often chosen for increased scalability. This is accomplished by adding more servers. The overall workload will be distributed between them and can handle more user requests. This approach relies upon the horizontal scalability that differs PHP from ASP.NET.

Having a number of in-built security features, PHP services are still considered less secure compared with other web-server programming languages. While obtaining more flexibility in writing the code, engineers have more responsibilities to secure it and can’t rely only on the in-build tools.

Lower development and maintenance cost is usually acknowledged as a great benefit. PHP developers have access to all the tools and libraries without any additional fees. Moreover, developers can choose among the different hosting services and have the opportunity to pay less.

This adaptable and flexible programming language can easily meet the primary needs for web development. However, the companies need to outline their needs at first and make sure it corresponds to the set requirements and final goals.

ASP.NET VS PHP

Any company starting the web development project can come across this common question – ASP.NET vs PHP: which is better. There is no doubt that each approach has own benefits. Moreover, they have worked efficiently for different projects and companies are really satisfied with the final results.

The point is that the company needs to address the ASP.NET vs PHP choice from a different perspective – which is better for their project, what points are the main concern. You can take simple advice – all the requirements should be divided into business and technology aspects. It is obvious that there is no point to choose some technology that has a great market share but doesn’t meet any of your technical requirements.

Both technologies have been presented on the market a long time ago and gained special recognition among web developers. Since PHP was released earlier and was presented initially as the web programming language, its community was increasing faster with the demand of ASP.NET development company. At present, there is a high market demand for these developers as SPA and SaaS applications are the new default business standard.

In terms of support, developers are offered totally different approaches. As mentioned above, while open-source too, ASP.NET is supported by Microsoft, whereas PHP is the pure open-source project. The community support is always great, however, some complicated projects might require professional help and immediate solutions.

You can find many well-known companies among the users of these web approaches. For instance, UPS, Stack Overflow, DELL are applying ASP.NET whereas Facebook, WordPress, and Wikipedia are practicing PHP web development.

Making your final ASP.NET vs PHP choice mostly relies on the technology sides that influence the overall app functionality. It requires more detailed research to understand your options to fulfill ideas in the most appropriate way.

Performance is the key requirement for any project. Everyone wants to deliver a fast and efficient solution for their users. ASP.NET would be the definite winner here as the compiled coding is more accurate and systematic.

In addition to different coding methods, businesses should draw special attention to scalability that greatly improves the performance of services. Vertical scalability aims at acquiring more power (CPU, RAM) to existing machines whereas horizontal one focuses on adding more machines.

In terms of ASP.NET vs PHP comparison, we should mention security as one of the main requirements. It is worth making an effort to get the highly secure software. Of course, it might also depend on the project. When the business deals with tons of data, it will better to use ASP.NET. But if it an open small size project, PHP will be an excellent match.

PHP is an open-source programming language that does not require paid tools or licenses. However, the additional expenses spent on ASP.NET development are definitely worth it due to improved functionality and high quality.

Consequently, there isn’t one definite answer to the raised ASP.NET vs PHP question. The final choice is always defined in accordance with the company’s outlined requirements and available resources. 

Key Features of PHP

Here are some key features of PHP that are used for web development:

1. Server-Side Scripting: PhP is mainly used for server-side scripting. Which means that PhP code will execute on the web server to generate dynamic web content before being sent to the client’s browser.
2. Real-Time Communication: It is also used for real-time communication. It helps to develop chat applications and collaborative tools with the use of WebSocket libraries.
3. Interpreted Language: PHP is an interpreted language that does not require compilation. It can read and execute a program line by line. Because of the interpreted language, the PhP code becomes platform-independent.
4. Free and open-source: It is a free and open-source programming language with absolutely no-hassle to acquire a license and use it.
5. Database Support: There is a wide range of database support in PHP, including SQLite, PostgreSQL, Microsoft SQL Server, and MySQL. It helps to make database integration processes straightforward in web applications.
6. Error Reporting and Handling: As PhP has so many pre-defined functions and reporting constants which generate errors while running. PhP5 allow to use semantics like use, through and catch similar to Java and C#. Plus error reporting in PhP is super easy with function error_reporting().

Key Features of ASP.NET

Here are some popular features of ASP.NET required for web development:

1. Cross-Platform and Container Support: ASP.NET is the most compatible framework with all other operating systems. It supports cross-platform and can use the code across any OS.
2. Asynchronous Programming Patterns: It means that the compiler is not blocked off when it’s waiting for a response. It continues compiling and gets the notification when a response is received.
3. Language Independent: ASP.NET is language independent and developers have the option to choose a wide array of languages at their convenience.
4. Action Filters: Action Filters are one of the powerful features of ASP.NET, where these filters are used to produce custom logic that needs to be put in the application, such as error handling, authorization, caching, and more. As the application has built-in logic which executes before and after the controller’s operations then an action filter is required to put the logic into practice.
5. Rich Development Environments: ASP.NET has rich development environments, which means developers have a wide range of built-in control operations, including text boxes, buttons, data grids, etc, to make web application development easier and faster. Plus, this framework can easily integrate with Microsoft Visual Studio for extensive development and debugging capabilities.

ASP.NET v/s PhP: Quick Comparison

Aspect	ASP.NET	PhP
Type	It’s a framework	It’s open-source with numerous frameworks
Platform	Window dependent	Cross-platform support and works on various servers
Speed and Performance	It’s faster in performance for the desktop	Its performance may lag a bit on the desktop
Learning Curve	It has a steeper learning curve	It’s a beginner-friendly
Ecosystem	It’s Microsoft-centric with .NET integration	It’s open-source with various frameworks
Customization	It’s less prone to customization	It allows detailed customization but causes bugs that lead to poor coding than .NET
Cost	It requires license cost for some features	It’s open-source and free
Use Cases	It’s used for enterprise apps and Windows environments	It’s used for a diverse range of web apps
Security	It has strong built-in security measures	It required careful security management
Scalability	It’s quite scalable	It offers excellent scalability
Community	It has a dedicated community with few developers	It has a large community because it’s open-source

CONCLUSION

We have gathered the most important details that usually influence the choice of the web development strategy. The main thing to remember that each method has significant benefits to be chosen. Always take a moment to outline your project needs. The ASP.NET v/s PHP choice would be simplified if the company sets certain requirements and finds reasonable ways to meet them. Another great decision will be to consult some professionals that have experience in web development.

If you have additional questions or need a consultation, feel free to contact Dreamsoft4u. We are an outsourcing software development company in USA with extensive web expertise that would be glad to share it and find the most reasonable solution in your case. You are welcome to fill in the contact form or use the chat widget on the right.

FAQs

Q.1 Which is better ASP.NET or PHP?

ASP.NET and PHP, both are popular web development frameworks. However, PhP is better than ASP.NET because of its robustness and efficiency.

Q.2 Is ASP.NET enough for web development?

ASP.NET is an open-source framework which can be used to build dynamic websites with advanced features. It’s a solid choice for web development and has everything needed for complete web development.

Q.3 Is .NET more secure than PHP?

Yes, .NET is more secure than PhP and it has various built-in security features that make it a more secure option than PhP.

Q.4 Can PHP and ASP.NET work together?

Yes, ASP.NET and PhP both work together for the same website development.