Laravel is a PHP framework for custom web application development requiring coding expertise, while WordPress is a content management system designed for non-technical users to build websites quickly without coding. Laravel offers complete control and scalability for complex projects, whereas WordPress excels at speed-to-launch for blogs, small business sites, and content-heavy platforms.
Laravel vs WordPress — Side-by-side comparison on A Versus B
Open-source PHP web application framework for building custom, scalable web applications.
Open-source content management system powering 43% of websites with visual editor and plugin ecosystem.
Development Approach. Time to Launch. Developer Skill Required. Customization Flexibility. Market Share (CMS platforms). Learning Curve (for beginners). Best for Complex Applications
Choose WordPress if you need to launch a website quickly, don't have coding skills, and want a low-cost solution with abundant third-party plugins and themes—ideal for blogs, small business sites, and content-driven platforms. Choose Laravel if you're building a custom web application, need complete control over functionality, have complex business logic requirements, or are developing a scalable SaaS product—ideal for developers and tech teams with specific architectural needs.
Laravel: No, third-party required | WordPress: N/A
Laravel: 95ms | WordPress: 2.5 (optimized)
Laravel: Full native (built-in queues) | WordPress: N/A
Laravel: Limited (minimal options) | WordPress: N/A
Laravel: ~50MB with dependencies | WordPress: N/A
Laravel: 2,500+ verified packages | WordPress: N/A
Laravel: Yes (Eloquent) | WordPress: N/A
Laravel: Yes (with 2FA, API tokens) | WordPress: N/A
Laravel: Yes (built-in with Artisan) | WordPress: N/A
Laravel: ~200,000 packages | WordPress: N/A
Laravel: 64% of PHP frameworks | WordPress: N/A
Laravel: 45-60 ms per request | WordPress: N/A
Laravel: Yes, with MFA scaffolding | WordPress: N/A
Laravel: Native (Redis, database, sync) | WordPress: N/A
Laravel: 4-12 weeks | WordPress: 1-2 days
Laravel: Senior/Intermediate (5+ years PHP/OOP) | WordPress: Beginner (0-6 months experience)
Reported Security Vulnerabilities (2024)
Laravel: 23 core CVEs | WordPress: 156 plugin/theme CVEs
Laravel: Composer packages (1M+) | WordPress: WordPress plugins
Laravel: Limited—requires PHP expertise | WordPress: Extensive—drag-drop, theme customizer, page builders
Laravel: 8-12 minutes (Laravel installer + composer) | WordPress: 20-40 hours (with learning)
Laravel: 800-1200ms (PHP cold starts) | WordPress: N/A
Laravel: 0.8-1.5s per page (Blade templating) | WordPress: N/A
Laravel: 2.5M (Packagist) | WordPress: N/A
Laravel: PHPStan/Psalm (third-party tools) | WordPress: N/A
Laravel: $24-60/year (shared PHP hosting) | WordPress: N/A
Laravel: 280K (Packagist registry) | WordPress: N/A
Laravel: 6.2 million | WordPress: 500,000+
Laravel: 1 day (php artisan new) | WordPress: N/A
Laravel: Framework-integrated | WordPress: N/A
Laravel: 3 years (standard support) | WordPress: N/A
Laravel: 45,000+ packages | WordPress: N/A
Laravel: Pest & PHPUnit | WordPress: N/A
Learning Curve (Time to Basic Proficiency)
Laravel: 20-30% slower under load | WordPress: N/A
Laravel: Emerging in enterprise | WordPress: N/A
Laravel: ORM, Auth, Caching, Queue, Mail, Broadcasting | WordPress: N/A
Average Page Load Time (no optimization)
Laravel: Basic (no SSG/SSR built-in) | WordPress: N/A
Learning Curve (for beginner developers)
Laravel: Manual (Blade templating) | WordPress: N/A
Laravel: 8/10 (Advanced PHP) | WordPress: 0/10 (None)
Laravel: 120-160 hours | WordPress: 2-4 hours
Laravel: Very Complex (SaaS, APIs, Enterprise) | WordPress: Simple to Medium (Blogs, Business Sites)
Laravel: N/A | WordPress: $100-200 (hosting only)
Laravel: N/A | WordPress: 6.9 (RC 7.0 March 2026)
Laravel: N/A | WordPress: Self-hosted (user managed)
Laravel: N/A | WordPress: $4 (WordPress.com) + $20-100 hosting
Laravel: N/A | WordPress: $260-2200+ (hosting, plugins, maintenance)
Laravel: N/A | WordPress: $4 (managed) / $0 (self-hosted)
Laravel: N/A | WordPress: Yes - requires plugins for advanced features
Laravel: N/A | WordPress: Yes - Yjs CRDT engine in WP 7.0
Laravel: N/A | WordPress: 2.5-4.0s (varies with plugins)
Laravel: N/A | WordPress: Partial - WordPress 7.0 adds core AI (plugin-dependent before)
Laravel: N/A | WordPress: Via plugins (WooCommerce, MemberPress)
Laravel: N/A | WordPress: 15+ top options
Laravel: N/A | WordPress: $60-300+ per year
Laravel: N/A | WordPress: 90,000+ themes
Laravel: N/A | WordPress: 43% of all websites (self-hosted instances)
Laravel: N/A | WordPress: 100% (you keep all)
Laravel: N/A | WordPress: Easy via XML export (9/10)
Laravel: N/A | WordPress: 2-5 hours (updates, security, backups)
Laravel: N/A | WordPress: 2-3% via Stripe/PayPal plugins
Laravel: N/A | WordPress: 10 (full code access)
Laravel: N/A | WordPress: You manage updates, SSL, backups
Laravel: N/A | WordPress: $240 + hosting ($10-50/month)
Laravel: N/A | WordPress: $5-15 (hosting only)
Laravel: N/A | WordPress: Intermediate to Advanced
Laravel: N/A | WordPress: Full export capability
Laravel: N/A | WordPress: Full (robots.txt, schema, redirects)
Laravel: N/A | WordPress: $180-360 (hosting only)
Laravel: N/A | WordPress: 10,000+ free & premium
Laravel: N/A | WordPress: 60,000+ plugins
Laravel: N/A | WordPress: Unlimited (WooCommerce)
Laravel: N/A | WordPress: 1.5-2.5 seconds (optimized)
Laravel: N/A | WordPress: $0 (self-hosted, domain only)
Laravel: N/A | WordPress: $25-50/month (WP Engine, Kinsta managed hosting)
Laravel: N/A | WordPress: 58,000+ plugins
Laravel: N/A | WordPress: 2-4 hours (theme selection, plugin setup)
Laravel: N/A | WordPress: 38% (WooCommerce dominates)
Laravel: N/A | WordPress: 99% (varies by host)
Laravel: N/A | WordPress: 60,000+ available themes
Laravel: N/A | WordPress: $100-200 (domain + basic hosting)
Laravel: N/A | WordPress: 9/10 (full control + advanced plugins)
Laravel: N/A | WordPress: 10/10 (complete ownership & backup)
Laravel: N/A | WordPress: 2.9% + $0.30 (Stripe)
Laravel: N/A | WordPress: Depends on host (typically 99.9%)
Laravel: N/A | WordPress: Community forums + paid support
Laravel: N/A | WordPress: Complete control via robots.txt, .htaccess, code injection
Laravel: N/A | WordPress: $3-10/month + free software
Laravel: N/A | WordPress: 58,000+ plugins + 10,000+ themes
Laravel: N/A | WordPress: 60-120 minutes
Laravel: N/A | WordPress: No, separate purchase
Laravel: N/A | WordPress: Yes, completely free
Laravel: N/A | WordPress: Requires plugins (WooCommerce, MemberPress)
How to choose between Laravel and WordPress
Laravel vs WordPress — Structured Comparison Data
Machine-readable comparison dataset for Laravel vs WordPress. Contains 159 attribute comparisons, 5 FAQ pairs.
Laravel vs WordPress — Attribute Category Vocabulary
Taxonomy of attribute categories used to classify comparison data for Laravel vs WordPress.
Can I use WordPress to build a complex web application like WordPress.com or a SaaS product?
Not effectively. While WordPress can be extended with plugins, it's architecturally designed for content management. Building complex applications with custom workflows, user roles, and business logic is inefficient and fragile with WordPress. Laravel is purpose-built for these scenarios with proper MVC architecture, job queuing, API routing, and scalability. Companies like Netflix, Facebook, and Slack use frameworks like Laravel-style PHP architectures for their backend services.
Is WordPress secure enough for e-commerce with payment processing?
WordPress can handle e-commerce (WooCommerce handles 38% of e-commerce sites), but security depends entirely on plugin updates and maintenance. Each plugin is an attack surface—studies show 70% of WordPress vulnerabilities come from outdated plugins. Laravel provides more granular security control through its framework, but requires active maintenance either way. For high-volume e-commerce, dedicated e-commerce platforms or Laravel-based solutions are generally more secure.
How much does it cost to build a website with each platform?
WordPress: $100-1,000 for a small business site (hosting $3-15/month + theme $0-100 + plugins $0-500/year). Laravel: $5,000-50,000+ because you're paying developers ($80-150/hour for 4-12 weeks). For simple sites, WordPress is 50-100x cheaper. For complex applications, Laravel's upfront cost saves money long-term through proper architecture avoiding technical debt.
Can non-technical people maintain a Laravel site?
Not easily. Laravel requires a developer for updates, custom features, and troubleshooting. WordPress can be maintained by non-technical users through the admin dashboard—hosting providers handle security updates automatically. If you're non-technical, you'll need to hire developers for Laravel maintenance, making it expensive for ongoing support.
Which performs better—WordPress or Laravel?
Laravel typically outperforms WordPress on high-traffic sites because it's optimized for application performance with proper caching, queuing, and database optimization. WordPress slows down with many plugins (each adds overhead). A well-optimized Laravel app handles 10,000+ concurrent users efficiently; WordPress with plugins typically maxes out at 1,000-5,000 concurrent users before requiring expensive optimization.
How to Choose Between Laravel and WordPress
Development Approach: Laravel has Code-first framework requiring PHP programming, while WordPress has Visual CMS with drag-and-drop interface.
Time to Launch: Laravel has 4-12 weeks for typical project, while WordPress has 1-3 days for typical project.
Developer Skill Required: Laravel has Advanced PHP and web development knowledge, while WordPress has Minimal to no coding knowledge.
Customization Flexibility: Laravel has Unlimited custom functionality possible, while WordPress has Limited to plugins and themes (20,000+ plugins available).
Market Share (CMS platforms): Laravel has ~2% of all websites, while WordPress has ~43% of all websites.
Consider: Learning Curve (for beginners)
Learning Curve (for beginners): Laravel has 8-16 weeks to basic proficiency, while WordPress has 2-4 hours to basic proficiency.
Best for Complex Applications: Laravel has E-commerce platforms, SaaS products, APIs, while WordPress has Blogs, business sites, content portals.