PHP Vs Python : Detailed Comparison By Our Proficient Developers in 2024

The ever-expansive IT industry has no shortage of programming languages to learn.. The two competing languages that deserve special mention are PHP and Python. Today, we will see a featured-based comparison of PHP vs Python. So, let’s start the show.

2019 onwards, there was a steady emphasis on web and mobile app development. Enterprises are now looking forward to creating a rich, interactive, and customer-friendly website. That’s where World-Class Python Development Services can be awesome.

Two coding languages perfectly fit into this genre that help developers to build a fluid and intuitive web or mobile application. Companies either opt for Python or PHP scripts to deliver the finest website solutions.

eSparkBiz always strive to guide clients with the perfect technology for their business requirement and therefore our developers have added their perspective on choosing the best one between Python and PHP.

The following discussion will compare PHP vs Python and how one can use the best features to make a website.

Overview of Programming Language – PHP vs Python

What Is Python?

We classify programming languages as low level, mid-level, and high-level language. Like Java, Python is a high level, object-oriented programming language.

This programming language has its own set of inherent data structures. Python also enables dynamic typing & binding, a productive feature for prompt application development.

If you hire python developers india they will reuse codes, separate, and recombine the systems with its set of packages and modules.

It is superb in terms of speed, agility, and simplicity, making it a favorite choice for beginners.

What Is PHP?

PHP or Personal Home Page tools are Hypertext Preprocessor. It is a scripting language and interpreter. It is available for free and coders use it to fabricate a dynamic website or web application. PHP is phenomenal and can easily club with major web servers across the major OS.

PHP is the biggest rival of Microsoft’s ASP. But between PHP vs Python, the former has widespread popularity. It is also a cheaper option for many people.

Beginners, as well as people from non-technical fields, can absorb this technology easily and build great modern-day applications.

Why Choose Python?

Python packs a cluster of benefits and that is why it is the technology of the present. Python Web Application Development Examples are proof of it.

• Coding and debugging in Python is simpler than any other languages. There is no hassle for programmers to maintain the source code in Python.
• Python is a versatile programming language not limited to a particular OS or platform.
• With an array of prebuilt libraries, development in Python is pretty easy.
• Python reduces the complexity of coding unlike Java and C. It manages memory addresses and garbage collection on itself.
• The interactive shell of python facilitates unit testing before deploying a product.
• Python grants an interface to store a large amount of data for major commercial DBMS systems.
• Graphic User Interface applications having a formation for Web are built utilizing Python. For example tkinter, WXPython, Django, etc.

Why Choose PHP?

PHP is very strong competition for Python.

• The scripting language PHP runs in Windows, Unix, Linux, Mac OS X, etc.
• It applies to most Apaches, IIS servers.
• PHP is fairly simple to work on and runs efficiently on the server-side.
• It is available for free from its official website www.php.net.

History Of Python

• Programming in python started late in December 1989 but it existed from the early 1980s.
• Guido van Rossum a dutch programmer was the pioneer of this program and he published the first version of Python in February 1991.
• He derived Python from the ABC programming language.
• A core improvement team of Python conducts the necessary development under the able guidance of Rossum.

History Of PHP

• Rasmus Lerdorf, a software specialist, began PHP in 1995.
• After a couple of years, PHP2.0 came into being with a new passer engine by Zeev Suraski and Gutmans, making it a server-side scripting language.
• PHP 3 arrived in 1998, featuring support for Open Database Connectivity, cross-platform support, and new email rules.
• PHP 4 in 2000 matured as an autonomous element of the web server.
• In 2004, PHP 5 appended Zend Engine II with object-oriented programming and XML provider.

Features Of Python

• Quick and resilient
• Allows test-driven advancements
• Rich standard library
• Support for Big Data & Data Science
• Highly scalable
• Maintains computerized garbage collection
• Underpins an interactive testing mode and debugging
• Grants high-level changing data types and dynamic type checking
• Python interpreter helps to work with low-level modules
• Runs in combination with Java, C, and C++ languages
• Operates on numerous appliances with the same interface

Features Of PHP

• Database Integration with Oracle, MySQL, etc
• Easier and quicker than other scripting language
• PHP is open-source with free downloads
• Presence of error reporting constant helps to produce an error notification
• Creates a report of the latest user logins and allows access logging

Pros Of Python

• Object-oriented and cross-platform programming language
• Portable in nature due to WORA functionality
• Highlygraphic, making amateur suitable
• It is open-source, a characteristic which makes it easily accessible
• Itis a uniformly unfolding language

Pros Of PHP

• Has a gigantic ecosystem
• Object-oriented and open-source language with an active society
• Interoperability- has copious pluggable frameworks
• Sustains first-class debugging

Cons Of Python

• Less useful in Smartphone computing and browsers
• Duck-typing leads to run-time errors
• Delayed testing of web applications
• A little too simple for certain tasks

Cons Of PHP

• Wiredand impeded performance
• NoIOT alliance
• Limitedperceptibility and direction
• Externally dependent

When To Select Python?

• While working in areas like data science and robotics
• When you’re looking for deep data analytics
• Creating websites using Django framework

When To Select PHP?

• While creating websites, web apps, or blogs
• To work efficiently on the server-side
• Less investment

Apps Made With Python

Popular apps made with python are

• Dropbox
• Instagram
• Spotify
• IBM app
• Netflix

Apps Made With PHP

Some popular apps made with PHP are

• Facebook
• Yahoo
• Wikipedia

Python vs PHP Table Comparison

Difference Between PHP and Python

Criterion #1: Ease of Use

Python

Python is a robust, portable, open-source, and a fairly easy programming language which is not difficult to master. It has some unique features.

The syntax of python programming is simple. The code is easier to grasp as opposed to other programming languages like PHP, C and C++.

PHP

PHP is simply not a regular programming language. It is only used for designing dynamic web pages with HTML making it less productive than python. The predominant reason to rely on PHP is its ease of use.

Criterion #2: Framework

Python

The noteworthy frameworks are Django, Flask, Pylons, and Pyramid.

PHP

The noteworthy frameworks are Codeigniter, Zend, Laravel, Symfony.

Criterion #3: Syntax

Python

Python has an easy to understand syntax that developers can relate to human language.

PHP

On the other hand, PHP is a little uncommon compared to Python. However, it has a vast naming convention.

Criterion #4: Language Type

Python

Python is an all-purpose, object-oriented programming language. It is similar to Java, C++, etc.

PHP

PHP is a programming language that modern web developers use to build web pages using PHP script.

Criterion #5: Popular Field

Python

In the popularity index, Python rapidly soared after 2016.

PHP

As per stack overflow, between PHP and Python, PHP is losing popularity.

Criterion #6: Community Support

Python

Python programming language is widely popular and is sharing the same support from programmers as PHP.

PHP

Between PHP and Python, PHP offers exceptional community support. It is more popular as it had made a name for itself being in the market for quite some time.

Criterion #7: Ease of Installation

Python

Installing Python is a complicated process for users with OS other than Windows. Most python versions refuse to run on these platforms.

However, users can install Python on Windows with ease.

They should first download a Windows package manager like Chocolatey.

PHP

Developing a meager application using PHP is always advantageous. Not only is the installation process simple, but it also runs smoothly on other OSs like Windows and Linux. Quick installation also happens as it is shared in many hosting sites at a small fee.

Criterion #8: Library Management

Python

Python has a heavy claim over PHP on Library Management.

Python uses Pip to handle packages. Pip ensures that developing an app using Python is easy, speedy, and the prerequisites of development are met.

PHP

PHP’s library management isn’t as strong as Python.

PHP 7 comes with a great tool called Composer, which is enriched with features. It is paired with another tool called Packagist that is closely similar to Python’s library manager, but not equally strong.

Criterion #9: Environment Management

Python

Python maintains its position as the best programming language to manage environments.

The Virtualenv system in Python helps to install multiple versions of the language parallelly and shift between them instantly.

Virtualenv is the pioneer environment manager in Python which developers have used for over a decade.

PHP

PHP is not able to compete with python here. An analogue for PHP called virtPHP is present but it is archived and not quite maintained anymore. That is why developers prefer using containers with PHP.

One more point goes to Python.

Criterion #10: Learning Curve

Python

Developers always seek growth in the language they work on. Python provides myriad built-in data types that they use in every project.

With Python, it is important to learn to use the right tool for a specific job. It is still challenging for some but it’s usually for most people to have a positive growth learning python.

PHP

PHP enjoys the best of both worlds in this comparison. It has an array theory, which is a combination of Python’s file and dictionary data types.

Developers working with PHP can understand how to work with array functions in PHP. This has a negative impact as well because PHP requires the implementation of other more focused data types.

Criterion #11: Speed

Python

Speed and agility is an issue when it comes to Python. When a project is made using python, many things run slow. However, there a lot of Python Performance Tips that you can utilize to overcome this issue.

Slacking database queries delay the performance of the application. Python relies on numerous network queries and reading disk information which ultimately bogs up the process.

PHP

PHP 7 is very fast compared to its predecessors. However, PHP restarts the entire application whenever there is a new web request. It is troublesome when developers operate an application sharing resources and across requests.

Criterion #12: Debugging

Python

PHP and Python possess tremendous debuggers that integrate directly with IDEs like Visual Studio Code or PyCharm. If you’re writing Python, all you have to do is push the “debug” button and you’re off to the races.

PHP

In PHP, debugging PHP requires an initial setup at work. It’s not a daunting task and any PHP debugger could manage it with ease.

Winner

Python for sure.

Criterion #13: Documentation

Python

Python does not have that problem where an old comment persists. To ease this problem, Python does not allow documentation. Their documentation is free from technical jargon, making it easier for people to comprehend.

PHP

PHP has a unique feature called documentation. It is a collection of the innate features of PHP. The comments of the developer community explain complex concepts properly.

These comments, however, do not delete and stay forever. Even if the PHP version changes, the comments remain the same which makes it difficult for a newbie to understand the solution.

Read also: Analyzing The Various Django Features In Detail

Criterion #14: Performance

Python

Python, as we mentioned, is fast and powerful. Python’s Just-In-Time compiler beats PHP with its speed.

Once we compile the files in JIT, there is no further need to recompile them again. If you’re using the Django framework, analyze the Django Performance Tips in detail

PHP

Older versions of PHP such as PHP 5 were very slow. However, PHP 7 brought a sea change with sped up speeds. Following PHP 7, the release of Zend Engine 3.0 took place that made PHP 7 twice as fast as its predecessor.

Criterion #15: Versatility

Python

Modern Web applications are not simple portals or websites for learning. Involvement of AI is essential in these applications. Businesses use AI and machine learning algorithms to identify their users accurately, in specific domains of their business.

Uber’s ML platform called Michelangelo PyML is used with Python. Developers validate models with it for full performance and scalability.

PHP

PHP has much less powerful libraries compared to python and is not equally versatile.

Harikrishna Kundariya

CEO, eSparkBiz

Harikrishna Kundariya, a marketer, developer, IoT, chatbot and blockchain savvy, designer, co-founder, Director of eSparkBiz @Software Development Company where you can Hire Software Developers. His 14+ experience enables him to provide digital solutions to new start-ups based on Web app development.