Choosing the right web development platform is always a tricky game. The option you should choose depends on your needs and requirements. There are countless options available online. Each of them has its unique set of advantages and disadvantages.
Laravel and WordPress are the two best platforms out there.
This article will provide a comparative discussion of these two platforms and help you decide on the right one for you.
What Are Laravel and WordPress
Laravel is an open-source PHP web framework developed for code enthusiasts. It was created by Taylor Otwell and released in June 2011. Its built-in tools speed up web development and save time by mitigating many potential mistakes.
Laravel tends to develop web applications following the Ruby on Rails philosophy. It offers many rich features like a modular packaging system and different ways of accessing relational databases.
WordPress is an open-source content management system (CMS) by which you can build a website, or blog, or improve the existing one. It’s written in PHP and paired with a MySQL or MariaDB database.
It is extremely customizable, with a wide variety of themes and plugins available to change the look and functionality of your site.
Number of Websites Using Laravel and WordPress
The number is constantly changing over time, so it’s not possible to share the exact number here. But we can give you a close picture as of August 2022.
As per Trends Built With, the total number of active websites built with Laravel is 685,858. On the other hand, as per W3techs, the total number of websites built on WordPress is 820+ million.
What Sorts of Users are Aimed At
WordPress is the most easy-to-use website builder and content management system. There is no strict role only for those who can use this platform. Anyone can use this platform, from just beginners to expert users.
But the scenario is different with Laravel. This platform isn’t for general web users. You must have expertise in web application programming. If you want to grow your web programming career, we recommend using this platform and building your skill set.
Laravel Vs WordPress: Key Differences
Laravel and WordPress offer a high degree of flexibility to web developers. They have some basic differences too that developers should be aware of. Let’s explore them below.
Easy of Use
If you are a general user looking to create a website from scratch, Laravel isn’t for you. It is an ideal platform only for those who believe coding is better than WordPress. So, now you know who its target users are.
You will find lots of resources and built-in tools that require minimum effort to keep your website running. But there is no way to deny the fact that Laravel is a complex platform for developing a website. Only experts can handle it.
Design and Customization
Laravel offers tons of customization in packages. Only a few of them are free. It means if you want to save time in advanced customization, you have to pay for the premium packages. But if you are a talented web designer, you don’t need to pay a single penny. You can do everything by coding.
WordPress also provides even more customization options through theme and plugin packages. It has 9,500+ free and premium themes available in its library. Also, you can use its page-building plugins and Gutenberg Block Editor to further customize the layout of your website.
Plugins and Extensions
Laravel has very few extensions and plugins as compared to WordPress. In fact, it only has a handful of them. So, if you are looking for a platform with more plugins and extensions, Laravel isn’t the best choice.
WordPress is way ahead of Laravel in this race. It has around 60,000+ plugins available on its official website. Also, you can find a lot of third-party plugins too. So, it offers an immense amount of flexibility to its users.
Blogging Features
Laravel isn’t a blogging system like WordPress in general. You can create a backend system through coding to manage and publish your articles. But it will be a time-consuming process.
Inversely, WordPress offers excellent blogging features. You can easily manage your blog posts, categories, tags, and media files. It provides a WYSIWYG editor to preview everything before you publish something on the front. Even newbie users can use the WordPress features like a pro from the very first day.
eCommerce Functionality
Laravel does not have an in-built eCommerce functionality. However, using its tools and extensions, you can create an efficient framework for an omnichannel eCommerce experience. But here again, it will be time-consuming and require your advanced coding knowledge.
On the other hand, WordPress has a dedicated plugin, i.e., WooCommerce, that allows you to turn your website into a complete online store. You can add an unlimited number of products, integrate payment gateways, set up different shipping methods, and more.
SEO Features
Laravel offers only some basic SEO functionalities. For example, it lets you create an SEO-friendly framework, URL, and excellent caching to speed up your site. But you have to depend on third-party tools and extensions to manage schema markup, meta tag, XML mapping, and more.
WordPress gives you more control over SEO through its plugins like Yoast and Rank Math SEO. You can easily add titles, meta descriptions, and alt tags to your images. Also, you can generate XML sitemaps and control crawling and indexing with a few clicks only.
Multilingual Feature
Laravel has some in-built multilingual functionalities. But they aren’t enough as you expect from a modern web development platform. If you want to create a multilingual website using Laravel, you have to depend on third-party plugins and extensions.
WordPress is a long way ahead of Laravel in this race. It has numerous dedicated plugins that you can use to create a multilingual website easily. You can manage different languages and translations with its user-friendly interface.
Maintenance and Security
Laravel offers you a multi-layer of built-in security protection features: route security, identity verification, encryption of passwords, and defense against common malware attacks.
WordPress suffered a lot in past years due to its lack of security layers. But today, you will find tons of security plugins in its library, which you can do more than Laravel. You can set multi-factor authentication protocols, stop spam comments, block unauthorized emails, monitor traffic zone-wise, and more.
Price
Laravel and WordPress both are open-source platforms. You don’t have to spend a single penny to use them. But you need to pay for a domain, hosting, theme, plugins, and other packages as per your requirements.
A domain may charge you $8-$11 per annum. The hosting package starts from 1GB. Besides, there are different types of web hostings in the market, like shared, virtual, cloud, managed WordPress hosting, and more. You have to choose the one that matches your requirements.
Usually, the hosting subscription fee starts from around $10. Next, you have to pay for themes, plugins, and other extensions. You may use the lite versions of those themes and plugins. But to make your site fully compatible, you have to upgrade to their pro versions sooner or later.
So, it may cost you anywhere between $50-$200+ to create a website with WordPress. And a Laravel website design may cost anywhere between $350-$3,000.
Laravel vs WordPress: A Sum Up Of Their Comparison
Here we will sum up the differences between Laravel and WordPress in a quick comparison table.
| Topic | Laravel | WordPress |
| Dashboard and Interface | Easy for tech-geek | Easy for general users |
| Themes and Customization | Yes (Exact figure not found) | 9,500+ free and 10,000+ premium themes |
| Plugins and Extensions | Limited | 50,000+ plugins |
| Blogging Features | No | Yes |
| eCommerce Functionality | No | Yes |
| SEO Features | Limited | Yes |
| Multilingual Features | Limited | Yes |
| Maintenance and Security | Yes | Yes |
| Pricing | $50-$200+ | $350-$3000+ |
So, Which One is The Winner here?
Actually, both of them are winners in their own domain. If you look from the static web development perspective, there is none to beat WordPress. But if you want to create a dynamic website, Laravel should be your first choice.
Being technically sound isn’t a must to build a website on WordPress, but it’s a must with Laravel. However, if you have expertise in HTML/CSS, you can customize the appearance of your website through WordPress as well.
FAQs on Laravel vs WordPress
Let’s have an answer to the most frequently asked questions on the topic of Laravel vs WordPress.
You can integrate Laravel with WordPress. It will enable you to enjoy better web development features from the backend and a more streamlined workflow.
You can do some basic SEO functionalities with Laravel. You can create SEO-friendly web applications, make them responsive to all devices, and enjoy excellent caching to boost site speed. For the rest, you have to depend on third-party plugins.
PHP and Laravel are backend frameworks you can use to build web applications from scratch.
Starting a brand new website with WordPress is very simple. You have to follow the below steps.
Step 01: Buy a domain
Step 02: Subscribe to a hosting plan
Step 03: Install WordPress into your hosting
Step 04: Select a suitable theme
Step 05: Install some must-have plugins
Step 06: Create necessary web pages
Step 07: Start adding content
Thus you can enjoy your new site with WordPress.
LARAVEL or WORDPRESS: Which One to Choose Finally for You?
Laravel and WordPress are two of the most popular web development frameworks. Both have their pros and cons, but which one is the better choice for your project?
Laravel is a newer framework, released in 2011. It is a PHP framework that is designed for web application development. WordPress is a content management system (CMS) that is built on PHP. It was first released in 2003.
Laravel is a more complex framework than WordPress. It is aimed at developers who are looking for a more robust and customizable framework. WordPress is more user-friendly and is a better choice for those who are not as technically savvy.
If you are looking for a framework that will give you more control over your project, then Laravel is the better choice. However, if you want a simpler framework that is easier to use, then WordPress is the better option.
