Navigating the ever growing landscape of web development in 2024, Laravel and WordPress emerge as two of the standout choices. But which among the two platforms suits the best?
Are you a developer who is looking for a versatile framework or a business owner who is aiming to boost your digital visibility?
Your choice lies on understanding both options thoroughly based on the unique strengths and possible drawbacks of each.
In this article, we’ll take on the Laravel vs WordPress debate, thus offering a clear, comparative insight. We’ll also talk about critical aspects like flexibility, scalability, security and user-friendliness and extensibility to help you make an informed decision.
So, if you are a developer or a business owner, join us as we talk about the worlds of Laravel and WordPress. Let us discover the perfect platform for your 2025 web project.
First let us get a little overview about Laravel vs WordPress
Let us first talk about “What is Laravel”
Laravel is an open source web development framework which is written in PHP, and it works on Model-view-Controller architecture. Laravel is basically used to develop the backend, and it is also useful in executing the logical part or business rules with the database.
Used by various large-scale-enterprises, Laravel needs some amount of coding knowledge of HTML, CSS and PHP in order to create a web application.
Laravel is not for beginners but it is more beneficial for a seasoned developer. Although it possesses a very small market share, it offers absolute stability to websites. With a bunch of in-built Laravel developer tools to pace up the web application development, it is one of the most sought-after technologies for enterprise applications and eCommerce websites.
WordPress is the best and highly used content management system for all small and medium-scale websites and it occupies more than 40%% of the market share. Being an open source CMS that keeps evolving regularly, this one requires no technical knowledge.
With hundreds of easy-to-customize. Free templates, themes and plugins, WordPress offers ease of website development and is suitable even for beginners. So, WordPress proves to be a versatile CMS used for building all kinds of websites.
Now, further let us talk about a few similarities between laravel and WordPress.
In their full capabilities, both these technologies can be used to build feature-rich, fully-functional websites, where both the development framework offers excellent user experience and have some technical similarities as listed below:
Both are free and are open-source technologies
Written in PHP
Helps to build fast, flexible, custom websites
Uses an object-oriented structure
Have online communities which frequently come up with new features.
Now, further let us talk about the differences between Laravel vs WordPress
WordPress is a good choice for developing simple and straightforward websites, while Laravel is more suitable for building complex and custom web applications. Let us have a quicker look at the comparison between WordPress vs Laravel.
WordPress | Laravel | |
Launch Year | May 2003 | June 2011 |
License | General Public License | MIT License |
Creator | Mike Little and Matt Mullenweg | Taylor Otwell |
Written in | PHP | PHP |
Current version | 6.7 | 11 |
Cost-effectiveness | WordPress is free by default, and there are a number of free plugins available to enhance the look and feel of the website. | It might be a difficult task to build websites using Laravel, so it needs to you hire expert developers |
Scalability | WordPress can help you build a scalable website. | WordPress can help you achieve scalability |
Architecture | It has features like plugin architecture. | It is based on Model view controller architecture. |
Authentication | Authentication in Wordpress is taken care of by plugins | Laravel allows authentication, authorization and inversion of control, with every release it improves authentication. |
Database system | MySQL | MySQL, Postgres, SQLite and SQL |
Features |
|
|
Server Requirement | Web server: Nginx or Apache with mod-rewrite module Disk space: At least 1 GB PHP: Version 7.4 or higher Database: MySQL 5.015 or higher (An alternative is MariaDB, version 10.1 or higher) RAM (Random Access Memory): At least 512 MB CPU (Central Processing Unit): At least 1.0 GHz Support for HTTPS | PHP >= 7.2.5 BCMath PHP Extension Ctype PHP Extension Fileinfo PHP extension JSON PHP Extension Mbstring PHP Extension OpenSSL PHP Extension PDO PHP Extension Tokenizer PHP Extension XML PHP Extension |
Learning Curve | WordPress has a steep learning curve, but its simple publishing features and scalability makes it a formidable contender in the long run. | Laravel has a very steep learning curve, but with Laracasts and strong documentation, you can learn the framework and PHP faster. |
GitHub Star ratings | 16.9k stars | 71.7k stars |
Now, further let us understand the Use Cases of Laravel and WordPress
Laravel is literally stuffed with the features that allow you to build almost any project. Despite the features that it contains it would be wiser to employ Laravel for constructing complex as well as highly extensible applications.
Let’s have a look at some use cases:
The word to focus on here is customization and this is what Laravel is all about as a framework. Laravel allows you to build high quality and unique web applications with unique functionalities. If there is no special feature available for it in Laravel, Laravel has many helper functions to guide you in creating the exact thing you want from scratch.
An enterprise app is an application that supports the efforts of an organization in solving its problems. All are on the web and offer a business data management solution. Few examples are billing systems, content management systems, project management systems, customer support systems and so on.
Laravel will be suitable if the business is more inclined towards growing and delivering new features more frequently. They have a scalable structure that fits the application’s workload perfectly well.
Besides, the Laravel core team and many international developers are working on the framework to fix the bugs and come up with regular updates that can make us confident about the framework’s updates. As such, it becomes the preferred choice of framework for applications that change rapidly.
When it comes to a practical implementation of laravel authentication makes it very easy. It is protected against cross site scripting (XSS), cross site request forging (CSRF), SQL injection and it supports cross origin resource sharing (CORS). In other words, there are few vulnerabilities and a high level of security.
Now, moving further let us understand the Use cases of WordPress
Due to constant improvements in the functionality, WordPress has become very much more than just being a blogging platform. It is a powerful and empowering technology which is bolstered by a global community of dedicated contributors who focus on allowing anyone to create and share without any boundaries.
A community website is therefore a locality for discussion, information sharing, contact creation and relationship building. It is for this reason that WordPress makes it easy to build such websites. You will also be able to acquire from WordPress multisite where several sites can be run in one instance of WordPress. Kinsta also has a number of plugins that are handy for multi-site management, and it’s fast and easy to scale up a multisite network.
And if you want to launch an ecommerce platform based on your idea right now and achieve it quickly, WordPress is exactly what you need. If you install the right plugin, you will be able to go live within minutes. WooCommerce is one of the best known plugins for selling goods; it is very flexible, backed up by a loyal community; you can offer your customers a subscriptions option.
There are also other product types available for selling on Shopify such as products for selling membership. This might be useful if for instance you are an educator or a writer who expects to be reimbursed for his or her effort. Using WordPress, you are able to develop membership which grant rights for accessing paid contents on your site. One of the easiest things is to organize membership sites on Kinsta, and increase the speed of membership functionalities.
A business website is where one would expect to see a neat and well arranged website to portray the brand as a worthy competitor in the market. This can be easily achieved if you choose the right theme – WordPress shall automatically handle the rest of the process. There are also numerous plugins that you can use to display your work as well.
Now, moving next let us understand the Key features of Laravel and WordPress.
In this section, we’ll talk about the key features of Laravel and WordPress. Let’s first begin with Laravel.
Laravel allows the users to create routes as they desire and then configure them. Moreover, it also offers the ability to protect routes with middleware, limit HTTPS requests, application tasks and complete them in the background. It offers a unified API queuing for multiple queue backends like Redis, Amazon SQS and other relational databases.
Laravel prevents cross-site scripting attacks and also generates secret tokens for all users during each session. Any request made to application will be cross validated with the tokens and invalid tokens would automatically be rejected. Malicious applications will not be assigned any tokens and Laravel safeguards applications from cross-site request forgeries as well. The session then retains information about users across many requests and the framework has several session backends which can be accessed with the help of the Laravel API.
Laravel also has very easy to use database migrations, and thus teams that are from various platforms and domains can have similar structures in their databases. Many helpers global functions are available to help it to use fundamental features and often, it can dump variable contents to web browsers helping debug the program and stop the execution of malicious scripts.
Laravel reduces performance related problems for websites through the practice of caching on a regular basis. It is designed to use the default file cache driver and comes bundled with support for top rated caching platforms such as DynamoDB, Memcached among others.
WordPress.org does not cost and any person can arrange it independently. It has millions of possible modifications and allows uploading/installing and using it as a part of the web site for novices. WordPress.com is the paid service that enables users to create simple websites and sell something online. It is however not as scalable as WordPress.org.
Some of the benefits of relying on WordPress for web development includes its ability of allowing contributors to post information on websites and high levels of interaction. Organizational functions allow setting up specific permissions for users and sharing them as well as sharing numerous capabilities through CSV files. WordPress has its own media management system that enables the user to store and share text, images, captions, videos and any other media. Here are several campaigns and inconveniences of some built-in image editing tools for optimally tuning website images.
WordPress supports modern web browsers; in fact its CMS core conforms to W3C standards of the contemporary period. It has an integrated comment system, can moderately filter the spam and users can create forums on the website.
In as much as content publishing is concerned, WordPress leaves developers to their own devices as far as creativity is concerned. Users can make as many posts as they want, save it as a draft, edit it and publish the post. They can also decide on settings of posts and the pages so that the contents are either private or public. To this end, there is a way to password protect WordPress publications as well.
Now, further let us discuss the differences Laravel vs WordPress
With over 43% of websites, WordPress is the famous content management system. However, Laravel is an evolving web development platform which offers some excellent features.
Let us read difference between WordPress and Laravel based on the following factors:
Factor | WordPress | Laravel |
Usage Statistics | Powers over 43% of all websites, making it the most widely used CMS globally. | Less than 1% of websites use Laravel, primarily for custom applications and complex projects. |
Speed | Performance can be hindered by plugins; page load speed may decrease with excessive use. | Generally faster due to optimized architecture and less reliance on plugins. |
Security | Security is variable; dependent on plugin updates and maintenance. Vulnerable to threats. | Offers robust security features including built-in authentication and protection against XSS and CSRF. |
CMS | Fully functional CMS designed for content management; user-friendly for non-developers. | Not a CMS; it is a framework requiring coding knowledge to build applications from scratch. |
Search Engine Optimization | Built-in SEO tools and plugins (e.g., Yoast) enhance SEO capabilities easily. | Requires manual setup for SEO; no native tools, but faster loading can improve rankings indirectly. |
eCommerce | Utilizes WooCommerce, a powerful plugin that supports millions of online stores easily. | Supports eCommerce through packages like Aimeos and Bagisto, but requires more coding effort. |
Plugins and Extensions | Extensive library of plugins (over 58,000) allows for easy functionality enhancements. | Fewer built-in packages; customization requires more development work compared to WordPress. |
Now, further let us understand which one out of WordPress and Laravel is a better choice for you.
WordPress is undoubtedly an undisputed king and blogging platform to manage content and even offer enterprise applications through WordPress VIP. However, Laravel enjoys more advantages over WordPress. Being a solid framework, it is chosen to fulfill specific requirements that cannot be fulfilled by Laravel.
When you want a flexible, scalable and secure web application, select Laravel over WordPress. You can either hire Laravel Development companies or can hire Laravel developers to integrate them with your in-house team. If you have a good budget, Laravel is perfect as it is a little expensive.
This is about Laravel, but on the contrary WordPress is for simple, less complex sites that demand no coding. If that aligns with your business needs, then WordPress is pretty best for you. If you have a low budget then WordPress should be your go-to choice.
WordPress powers more than 40% of websites on the Internet.
Released in the year 2003, it is the most popular CMS of all time.
WordPress is tech giants favorite framework, companies like Facebook, Google and The Guardian uses this platform the most due to the competence that it offers.
It provides multilingual websites.
It is very flexible and easy to configure
Runs a thorough unit testing when writing the code
The stable version was released during 2011
Useful for building complex websites.
Now, further let us talk about the price comparison between Laravel and WordPress
Price is an important consideration when contrasting Laravel versus WordPress.
It costs nothing to use the Laravel framework itself. The development and mentoring assistance you'll probably need for software implementation, however, won't be inexpensive.
Depending on the complexity and needs of the project, the price of a bespoke Laravel website can range from $3,000 to $250,000, with the usual range for such support being between $20 and $100 per hour.
Aside from this, the cost of hosting varies depending on the service you use.
Depending on whether you're handling the design yourself or hiring a consultant or web development company, the price of a WordPress website might vary greatly.
While employing freelancers costs between $500 and $5000, in-house WordPress development costs between $20 and $300. The cost of working with agencies could range from $3000 to $100,000.
In terms of maintenance, freelancers may charge $50 to $100 per hour, while in-house services may cost up to $25 per month. The monthly cost of choosing agency-based maintenance services could range from $119 to $449.
Additionally, the price of WordPress hosting can change based on the service you select.
Now, further let's see if both the frameworks can be used to together.
In a nutshell, WordPress and Laravel may be used together. Using Laravel for the front end and the WordPress administration panel for the back end makes it simple to divide your development process.
Corcel is a set of PHP classes that can be used to accomplish this hybrid combination. The Laravel Eloquent approach can be combined with an open-source collection to assist developers in retrieving data straight from the WordPress database.
The WordPress-Laravel hybrid is the way to go if you utilize Laravel but want to use WordPress for more complex projects.
In the future world of growing and expanding complexity of the internet, the choice of web development is all the more important for developers as it is for business owners. That’s why between Laravel and WordPress, two top options can be considered here, satisfying different requirements and aiming at different users and developers.
Here is an overview that provides a fresh approach to decision making in regard to these platforms.
However, it should be said that before going straight to the details of working with Laravel and WordPress, one should determine project needs.
Ask yourself
If you want to develop a website with much written content continuously updated, WordPress will suit you best mainly because of the interfaces and plugins.
On the other hand, if you are catering to the development of a very precise application, which needs to carry lots of functionalities, then the Laravel framework can provide the much needed support.
WordPress represents an introductory level for teams with low coding skills by offering an interface that comprises a dashboard.
On the other hand if you are working with a proficient development team which is well versed to work with PHP and MVC architecture patterns, then Laravel can help to bring even more tailored solutions.
Consider your long-term goals for scalability and maintenance:
Laravel shines most in creating applications that can be easily scaled to accommodate your business growth. It is also designed to make it easy to add new features on the fly and organize them for high availability.
Therefore, WordPress can cope with scalability; through various plugs, yet, it may be more challenging to handle resources to keep the website running fast and smoothly as the traffic rises.
Laravel has implemented guards that make the website safe from hack such as SQL injection and cross site scripting (XSS). Due to such attributes, it can be worthy of use in areas of high priority of data protection.
Some plugins in WordPress are created by third parties, so you are at risk of having unsafe scripts; therefore, it is essential to update and maintain them frequently.
Budget constraints often play a significant role in platform selection:
As we know, developing a site using Laravel is usually more costly initially because the framework’s use requires highly qualified professionals.
However, it is fast at the lower cost setting-up in WordPress as it is possible for simple sites whereby the use of pre-designed themes and plugins is advisable.
Now, further let us talk about what are the important considerations in web development.
This is why the web development choice between Laravel and WordPress needs to be made with an eye to the future. With the ever increasing advance of technology, flexibility in implementing new trends required by the users is crucial.
Emerging Technologies: This means ensuring that one is up to date on newly developed inventions in the world of web technologies like, Progressive Web Apps (PWAs), Artificial intelligence integrations are other advanced inventions. Due to Laravel’s flexibility, it is easier to integrate these innovations than in WordPress where they may need new plugins or coding.
Community Support: Laracasts and forums of both platforms have an active user base, however, Laravel is making constant updates focusing on the modern practices. There is nothing wrong with turning to the Laravel community for advice on what is going well and what is expected next.
Long-Term Maintenance: Think of your site's long-term care or the future management of the site. Laravel is a rather rigid framework, and it is easier to update and scale it, in comparison to WordPress that demands constant plugin updates for security and performance. This can be useful when your project is growing and you realize that you have estimated the value, which requires more time and energy.
Acquaint Softtech is an experienced provider of software development outsourcing and IT staff augmentation services. We can assist businesses in hiring Laravel developers as an official Laravel partner. Additionally, we take great satisfaction in offering our clients Laravel development services.
We can assist you in hiring remote developers, MERN stack developers, and MEAN stack developers if skill scarcity gaps have been a problem for you. We offer a simple onboarding process that allows you to outboard your preferred remote developers in as little as 48 hours.
We charge a minimum of $15 per hour if the organization wants to hire remote developers. We are prepared and ready to go, whether you require full-service web development or wish to add outside talent to your internal teams.
The decision of whether to use Laravel or WordPress comes down to the project requirements and additionally the level of coding skills of the user. Laravel is suited specifically for developers as well as businesses with special needs when it comes to creating complex and safe applications.
On the other hand, WordPress is easy to use and has a myriad of plugins for those individuals that want simple solutions to their website needs. It is, therefore, necessary to look at some of the advantages and disadvantages that come with using each of these platforms.
Finally, it will be most beneficial to choose the approach that you are most technically capable of executing and the one that will be best for your project goals in web development.
Laravel is an application development framework built on PHP and WordPress is an open source content management system.
Based on our experiences, WordPress with plugins such as WooCommerce, is generally easier in establishing e-commerce sites. Laravel can also support eCommerce but there will be a need for a lot of coding.
No, WordPress is a fully user-friendly platform for those who do not have programming or web sites designing skills; it uses themes and plugins.
Laravel has a steep learning curve and it is more recommended for IT developers with a basic understanding of PHP, HTML, and CSS.
While comparing security features, we can say that Laravel has good-included protection against the most typical threats, including XSS and CSRF, but WordPress security depends on its plugins.
I love to make a difference. Thus, I started Acquaint Softtech with the vision of making developers easily accessible and affordable to all. Me and my beloved team have been fulfilling this vision for over 15 years now and will continue to get even bigger and better.
Overcome the common beliefs having an adverse impact on your software project. Find out how here!
In the ever-evolving world, the only habit that keeps us valuable is continuous learning. But how can you integrate this into your life? Read on.
Read this article for tips on the dos and don'ts for software development without budget overrun worries.
