Laravel is a modern, feature-rich PHP framework with built-in ORM, routing, and testing tools, while CodeIgniter is a lightweight, faster-loading framework ideal for simpler applications. Laravel dominates current market share with 30% of PHP frameworks used by developers, compared to CodeIgniter's 5-8%.
Laravel vs CodeIgniter — Side-by-side comparison on A Versus B
Modern full-featured PHP framework with Eloquent ORM, built-in testing, and extensive ecosystem.
Lightweight, fast PHP framework with minimal dependencies and simple configuration.
Learning Curve. Built-in ORM. Performance (Page Load Time). Package Ecosystem. Job Market Demand (2024). Built-in Testing Framework. Minimum PHP Version Required
Choose Laravel if you're building modern, complex applications with teams of developers, need extensive packages, or require an advanced ORM and testing framework. Choose CodeIgniter if you need rapid development of simple-to-medium projects, prefer lightweight footprint, prioritize raw performance, or are working in legacy environments with older PHP versions.
Laravel: No, third-party required | CodeIgniter: N/A
Laravel: 250-350ms | CodeIgniter: 150-220ms
Laravel: Full native (built-in queues) | CodeIgniter: N/A
Laravel: Limited (minimal options) | CodeIgniter: N/A
Laravel: ~50MB with dependencies | CodeIgniter: ~3MB
Laravel: 2,500+ verified packages | CodeIgniter: 300+ community packages
Laravel: Yes (with 2FA, API tokens) | CodeIgniter: Manual implementation
Laravel: ~15 minutes | CodeIgniter: ~5 minutes
Laravel: Yes (built-in with Artisan) | CodeIgniter: Yes (via migrations library)
Laravel: 2-4 hours | CodeIgniter: 0.5-1 hour
Laravel: ~86,000 (Packagist) | CodeIgniter: ~15,000 packages
Laravel: 64% of PHP frameworks | CodeIgniter: 5% of PHP frameworks
Laravel: 45-60 ms per request | CodeIgniter: 20-30 ms per request
Laravel: Yes, built-in (Laravel Auth) | CodeIgniter: No, requires custom build
Laravel: Native (Redis, database, sync) | CodeIgniter: None included
Laravel: Senior/Intermediate (5+ years PHP/OOP) | CodeIgniter: N/A
Reported Security Vulnerabilities (2024)
Laravel: 23 core CVEs | CodeIgniter: N/A
Laravel: Composer packages (1M+) | CodeIgniter: N/A
Laravel: Limited—requires PHP expertise | CodeIgniter: N/A
Laravel: 8-12 minutes (Laravel installer + composer) | CodeIgniter: N/A
Laravel: 800-1200ms (PHP cold starts) | CodeIgniter: N/A
Laravel: 0.8-1.5s per page (Blade templating) | CodeIgniter: N/A
Laravel: 2.5M (Packagist) | CodeIgniter: N/A
Laravel: PHPStan/Psalm (third-party tools) | CodeIgniter: N/A
Laravel: $24-60/year (shared PHP hosting) | CodeIgniter: N/A
Laravel: 280K (Packagist registry) | CodeIgniter: N/A
Laravel: 1 day (php artisan new) | CodeIgniter: N/A
Laravel: Framework-integrated | CodeIgniter: N/A
Laravel: 3 years (standard support) | CodeIgniter: N/A
Laravel: 45,000+ packages | CodeIgniter: N/A
Laravel: 77,500 stars | CodeIgniter: N/A
Laravel: ~800,000 packages | CodeIgniter: ~20,000 packages
Laravel: Laravel 11.x | CodeIgniter: N/A
Laravel: Yes (PHPUnit) | CodeIgniter: No (external setup)
Learning Curve (Time to Basic Proficiency)
Laravel: 20-30% slower under load | CodeIgniter: N/A
Laravel: Emerging in enterprise | CodeIgniter: N/A
Laravel: ORM, Auth, Caching, Queue, Mail, Broadcasting | CodeIgniter: N/A
Laravel: 2,800+ pages | CodeIgniter: N/A
Average Page Load Time (no optimization)
Laravel: Yes (Eloquent) | CodeIgniter: N/A
Laravel: Basic (no SSG/SSR built-in) | CodeIgniter: N/A
Learning Curve (for beginner developers)
Laravel: Manual (Blade templating) | CodeIgniter: N/A
Laravel: 8/10 (Advanced PHP) | CodeIgniter: N/A
Laravel: 120-160 hours | CodeIgniter: N/A
Laravel: 120,000+ stars | CodeIgniter: 18,000+ stars
Laravel: Very Complex (SaaS, APIs, Enterprise) | CodeIgniter: N/A
Laravel: 14,000 req/sec | CodeIgniter: N/A
Laravel: 380,000+ packages | CodeIgniter: N/A
Laravel: 12,400 postings | CodeIgniter: N/A
Laravel: 67% of new projects | CodeIgniter: N/A
Laravel: 18% of legacy systems | CodeIgniter: N/A
Laravel: Reverb WebSockets (built-in) | CodeIgniter: N/A
Laravel: ~900 req/sec | CodeIgniter: N/A
Laravel: ~1,200 contributors | CodeIgniter: N/A
Laravel: ~2.5M (Composer) | CodeIgniter: N/A
Laravel: 10-15 minutes | CodeIgniter: N/A
Laravel: Eloquent ORM (native) | CodeIgniter: N/A
Laravel: Laravel Breeze included | CodeIgniter: N/A
Laravel: Limited (Vapor, custom solutions) | CodeIgniter: N/A
Laravel: ~35 MB (with dependencies) | CodeIgniter: N/A
Laravel: PHP 8.1+ | CodeIgniter: PHP 5.6+
Laravel: Yes (Eloquent) | CodeIgniter: No
Learning Curve (estimated hours to productivity)
Laravel: 60-100 hours | CodeIgniter: 20-40 hours
How to choose between Laravel and CodeIgniter
Laravel vs CodeIgniter — Structured Comparison Data
Machine-readable comparison dataset for Laravel vs CodeIgniter. Contains 103 attribute comparisons, 5 FAQ pairs.
Laravel vs CodeIgniter — Attribute Category Vocabulary
Taxonomy of attribute categories used to classify comparison data for Laravel vs CodeIgniter.
Which framework is better for beginners?
CodeIgniter is significantly better for beginners. It has simpler syntax, fewer concepts to learn initially, and can achieve basic functionality in 20-40 hours of study. Laravel requires 60-100+ hours to reach the same productivity level due to its advanced patterns like dependency injection, service providers, and middleware concepts.
Why is Laravel more popular in job listings?
Laravel accounts for 30% of PHP framework job postings compared to CodeIgniter's 6%, primarily because enterprise companies and startups prefer its comprehensive features, ORM system, and built-in testing. Companies building complex, scalable applications choose Laravel, while CodeIgniter is typically used for legacy maintenance or simple internal tools.
Can CodeIgniter match Laravel's performance?
Yes, CodeIgniter is inherently faster with 150-220ms page loads vs Laravel's 250-350ms on identical hardware. However, Laravel's performance gap is typically acceptable for most modern applications. The choice should prioritize your project's complexity and team expertise rather than optimizing for milliseconds, unless you're building extremely high-traffic applications.
Does CodeIgniter have an ORM like Laravel's Eloquent?
No, CodeIgniter does not include a built-in ORM. You must use its Query Builder for manual SQL or install external ORMs via Composer. Laravel's Eloquent ORM provides intuitive relationship handling, lazy/eager loading, and migrations - major productivity advantages for database-heavy applications.
Which framework should I learn in 2025 for career growth?
Laravel is the strategic choice for career growth. It dominates 30% of PHP job postings and is used by tech companies, startups, and enterprises. Learning Laravel opens significantly more employment opportunities. CodeIgniter is best learned only if you're specifically hired to maintain legacy systems, as new projects rarely choose it over Laravel.
How to Choose Between Laravel and CodeIgniter
Learning Curve: Laravel has Steep - requires understanding of advanced patterns, while CodeIgniter has Gentle - intuitive for beginners.
Built-in ORM: Laravel has Yes - Eloquent ORM with relationships, while CodeIgniter has No - requires manual query building or external libraries.
Performance (Page Load Time): Laravel has 250-350ms average, while CodeIgniter has 150-220ms average.
Package Ecosystem: Laravel has ~800,000+ packages via Composer, while CodeIgniter has ~20,000 packages via Composer.
Job Market Demand (2024): Laravel has 30% of PHP developer job postings, while CodeIgniter has 5-8% of PHP developer job postings.
Built-in Testing Framework: Laravel has Yes - PHPUnit integration with helpers, while CodeIgniter has No - requires external setup.
Minimum PHP Version Required: Laravel has PHP 8.1+, while CodeIgniter has PHP 5.6+.