Laravel APIs that scale to millions of requests.
REST and GraphQL APIs built with Laravel, secured with Sanctum or Passport, documented through OpenAPI, and load tested before launch. Ready for mobile apps, partner platforms, and high traffic production systems.
- REST and GraphQL covered, REST is our default unless flexibility demands GraphQL
- Sanctum or Passport auth depending on your use case, never both
- OpenAPI 3.1 specification hosted on the API itself at /docs
- Load tested at 3x expected peak before production launch
The backend that powers mobile, web, and partner systems.
An API, in plain terms.
A Laravel API is a server side application built with the Laravel PHP framework that exposes data and business logic through HTTP endpoints (REST) or a typed query language (GraphQL). It is the backend that powers mobile apps, single page web apps, partner integrations, IoT devices, and microservices that talk to each other.
Laravel ships with everything an API needs out of the box, including routing, validation, authentication through Sanctum or Passport, rate limiting, queue processing through Horizon, real time events through Reverb, and a testing framework that makes writing endpoint tests fast. That foundation is why over 1.5 million live applications use Laravel today, and why we have built APIs in Laravel for fintech, healthcare, SaaS, and on demand platforms since 2007.
Two ways to expose an API. We build both.
Most teams agonise over this decision longer than they need to. The honest answer is that both work well in Laravel, and the right choice depends on who is consuming the API and how flexible the queries need to be.
RESTful APIs
The default for most projects. Endpoints map to resources, HTTP verbs map to actions, responses are predictable. Easier to cache, easier to consume, easier to document, and almost every developer already knows how to work with one.
Best for
- Mobile apps with multiple platforms (iOS, Android)
- Public APIs consumed by partners or third parties
- Microservices talking to each other
- When HTTP caching matters at scale
GraphQL APIs
The right call when a single client needs flexible, deeply nested queries and you want to avoid over fetching. The schema becomes the contract and the documentation in one. About 20 percent of our API work is GraphQL today, mostly for SaaS frontends and internal admin apps.
Best for
- SaaS web apps with complex nested data
- One frontend team consuming the API
- When clients change queries frequently
- Internal apps where typed schemas help
Sanctum or Passport. Almost never both.
Laravel offers two official auth packages and the choice between them confuses a lot of teams. Here is when each makes sense.
Use Sanctum for most APIs
Laravel's default. Issues simple API tokens or signed cookies for SPA auth. Easy to set up, easy to scale, easy to revoke. Around 80 percent of the APIs we build use Sanctum.
Pick Sanctum when
- Building a mobile app (iOS, Android, Flutter, React Native)
- SPA web app on the same root domain
- Simple machine to machine API keys
- Internal APIs and partner endpoints
Use Passport for OAuth providers
The heavier full OAuth 2.0 server you reach for when you need third party developer access. Around 20 percent of our APIs need this, mostly fintech and developer platforms.
Pick Passport when
- Customers will build apps on your API (developer platform)
- Need scopes, refresh tokens, authorisation code flow
- Multiple client apps with different permissions
- OAuth provider for "Login with our service" features
Everything an API needs to ship and stay reliable.
Not just endpoints. We deliver the full stack of work that takes an API from architecture to production with confidence.
API architecture & endpoint design
Endpoint inventory, resource modelling, auth design, rate limit strategy, and versioning policy documented before any code is written.
OpenAPI 3.1 specification
Full OpenAPI spec auto generated from the codebase using Scribe or L5 Swagger, hosted at /docs on the API, and exported as a Postman collection.
Authentication & authorisation
Sanctum or Passport auth, role and permission policies, scope based access for OAuth, and signed webhook validation for incoming events.
Versioning & deprecation
Semantic versioning (v1, v2) with deprecation headers, sunset dates communicated to consumers, and a migration guide for each breaking change.
Rate limiting & abuse protection
Per token rate limits, IP based throttling, CAPTCHA for unauthenticated endpoints, and signed URL validation for sensitive flows.
Queues, jobs & async work
Horizon backed queue workers for heavy operations (email, exports, third party calls), retries with backoff, and dead letter queues for failures.
Load testing & performance budgets
Load testing with k6 or Locust at 3x expected peak before launch. P95 and P99 latency budgets agreed up front and enforced through CI.
Monitoring & observability
Pulse for real time performance, Telescope for request tracing, Sentry for error tracking, and PagerDuty integration for critical endpoint alerts.
Named senior engineers on every project.
Acquaint engagements are led by senior project managers with a decade of Laravel experience. Here is who leads our API work.
Jilesh Mahamunkar
Project Manager, API & Cloud Lead
Six steps from architecture to production.
OpenAPI specification first, code second. Tests written alongside every endpoint. Load tested at 3x peak before going live.
Discovery & Endpoint Architecture
Map consumers, endpoint inventory, data shape, auth model, and rate limit strategy. Output is an OpenAPI draft and ERD signed off before kick off.
OpenAPI Spec & DB Design
Full OpenAPI 3.1 specification written before code, alongside the database schema. Reviewed with your team. Becomes the contract for the build.
Build with Tests First
Endpoints shipped in feature branches with Pest tests covering happy path, validation, auth, and edge cases. Larastan static analysis on every PR.
Integration & Load Testing
End to end integration tests on staging. Load testing with k6 or Locust at expected and 3x peak traffic. Latency budgets enforced before launch.
Versioning & Deployment
Deploy through Forge, Vapor, or GitHub Actions with semantic versioning, deprecation headers, and per token rate limit configuration.
Monitoring & SLA Support
Pulse and Telescope monitoring, Sentry error tracking, PagerDuty alerts. SLA backed support for production APIs with on call coverage.
The tools we use for production Laravel APIs.
Production tested at scale. We pick the simplest tool that fits the problem, not the trendiest one on Twitter.
Laravel API core
API protocols
Authentication
Async & queues
Documentation
Testing & monitoring
A Laravel API we built at scale.
One detailed snapshot from the API work behind our 1,300 plus delivered projects. Full case studies sit in our portfolio.
Lending API processing 80,000 plus loan applications a month at 120ms P95
"The Acquaint team built our lending API on Laravel and got us through SOC 2 readiness in eight months. The architecture decisions they made early on are still paying us back today."
A growing consumer lending platform needed a Laravel API that could handle 80,000 plus loan applications per month with strict sub 200ms response times. The API had to integrate with three credit bureaus, two KYC providers, a payment processor, and three core banking systems. SOC 2 Type II compliance was on the roadmap, which meant audit logs, role based access, and encrypted PII at rest from day one.
We designed a versioned REST API on Laravel 11 with Sanctum auth for internal services and Passport with OAuth scopes for partner banks. Heavy operations (credit pulls, document parsing, underwriting calculations) were moved to Horizon backed queue workers with retries and dead letter queues. PostgreSQL with read replicas handled the data layer, Redis cached hot loan calculations, and CloudFront fronted public endpoints. All endpoints were instrumented with Pulse and Sentry, with PagerDuty alerts for the underwriting flow. The OpenAPI 3.1 spec was hosted at /docs and exported as a Postman collection for partner banks.
Three ways to engage on a Laravel API project.
Pick the model that fits your scope and budget. Most clients start with one and switch as the project evolves.
Dedicated Developer
- Full time, exclusive to your project
- 176 hours per month per engineer
- 5 day developer replacement clause
- Direct Slack and email access
Fixed Price API Build
- Discovery, OpenAPI spec, build, QA, launch
- Project lead, API engineer, QA included
- Two week sprint demos throughout
- Post launch handover with docs
Time & Material
- Hourly billing, weekly invoices
- Scale team up or down on demand
- Effective rate from $18 per hour long term
- Full transparency on hours worked
Questions teams ask before starting a web app project.
Cannot find your answer here? Speak directly to our team. No sales pitch.
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What is a Laravel web application?
A Laravel web application is a server rendered or hybrid web app built using the Laravel PHP framework. It can serve interactive dashboards, multi tenant SaaS products, customer portals, internal business systems, marketplace platforms, or anything that needs structured server side logic with a polished user interface. Laravel handles routing, database access, authentication, queues, real time events, and testing out of the box, so engineering teams ship faster than writing raw PHP and end up with code that is much easier to maintain over the years.
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How long does it take to build a web application with Laravel?
A focused MVP usually ships in 6 to 10 weeks with two engineers. A mid sized business application with several modules, third party integrations, and a polished admin lands in 3 to 5 months. Enterprise web platforms with multi tenancy, compliance work, and heavy custom logic typically run 6 to 12 months. The timeline depends on feature scope, decision speed, and how complete the specification is on day one. We share a week by week estimate after the discovery call.
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What types of web apps can be built with Laravel?
Almost any server backed web product. The common types we ship are multi tenant SaaS platforms, internal business systems, customer portals, marketplace and listing platforms, content management systems, fintech and payment backends, learning platforms, healthcare and telehealth tools, real time dashboards, and APIs that power mobile apps. Laravel scales from a single founder MVP all the way to enterprise grade systems running across multiple servers.
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Is Laravel suitable for large web applications?
Yes. Laravel is used in production by FedEx, Disney Hotstar, BBC, Razorpay, and Pfizer, all of which run very large web applications. For scale, we use queue workers with Horizon, Redis caching, read replicas, horizontal scaling on Forge or Vapor, and asynchronous job processing. We have shipped Laravel platforms serving 40,000 plus concurrent users and 80,000 plus loan applications per month on a single architecture.
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Does Laravel work for real time web applications?
Absolutely. Laravel ships with native real time support through Reverb (the official WebSocket server), broadcasting events through Pusher or Ably, and Livewire 3 for reactive UI without a separate SPA. Common real time features we build include live notifications, collaborative dashboards, chat, live order tracking, and presence indicators. For deeper real time work we pair Laravel with Livewire and Alpine.js. More on our Livewire development page.
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How much does Laravel web application development cost?
A focused Laravel web app MVP starts around $12,000 to $20,000. Most mid sized business apps land between $30,000 and $90,000. Enterprise platforms with multi tenancy, compliance, and integrations typically run $80,000 to $250,000. Dedicated Laravel developers at Acquaint Softtech start at $22 per hour or $3,200 per month full time. A full breakdown sits on our Laravel development cost page.
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How do you scale a Laravel web application?
Scaling Laravel is well understood. We profile bottlenecks with Telescope and Pulse, move heavy work to queues processed by Horizon, cache aggressively with Redis, introduce read replicas for the database, and horizontally scale the application layer through Forge or Vapor. For very large workloads we add CDN caching, edge functions, and asynchronous event driven flows. We have taken Laravel applications from a 12 second cold start to sub second response times in three sprints.
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Web application vs website in Laravel, what is the difference?
A website is mostly informational with limited interactivity. A web application has logged in users, data that persists, business logic, and workflows. Both can be built with Laravel, but a web application uses Laravel's full strength (authentication, authorisation, database modelling, queues, events, real time, testing) while a website often runs on a much lighter setup. If you log in, perform actions, and the system remembers state, you are looking at a web application.
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Do you build greenfield web apps or also rebuild existing ones?
Both. Roughly 60 percent of our Laravel work is greenfield, where we take a fresh idea or specification and ship the first production version. The other 40 percent is replatform work, where we modernise legacy PHP or migrate from CodeIgniter, WordPress, or older Laravel versions. For replatform projects we maintain feature parity, run shadow testing, and cut over with zero data loss. More on our migration services page.
What teams usually pair with API development.
APIs rarely live alone. Most clients combine API work with one or more of these.
Integration Services
Stripe, PayPal, Salesforce, HubSpot, Twilio and other third party integrations.
Mobile App Backend
Laravel APIs purpose built as backends for iOS, Android, and React Native apps.
Enterprise Development
Compliance grade Laravel for SOC 2, ISO 27001, audit logs, and RBAC at scale.
Web App Development
Full stack web apps where the API is one part of a larger build.
SaaS Development
Multi tenant SaaS with subscription billing, feature flags, and tenant isolation.
Laravel Development Cost
Pricing breakdown by project type, region, and engagement model.
Hire Laravel Developers
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