PHP VS ASP.NET: Which Platform to Choose for Web Development?

With all the programming languages available for a web developer, the market of languages is dominated by two famous and competing languages: PHP vs ASP.NET.

Though any of these two platforms is suitable to complete any project, both have their own sets of advantages and disadvantages. The real struggle lies in deciding which suits better for the web developing needs of a company.

Here’s a little snippet describing PHP:

Acronym for “Hypertext Preprocessor,” PHP is an open-source programming language which can be embedded into HTML for developing better web-based projects.

Since PHP allows simple and easy techniques, it is easy to learn and great for beginners.

PHP is also great for programming expert or professional programmers as it offers many advanced features too. Many renowned internet giants have used PHP as a programming language.

Now, let us explore ASP. NET a bit:

ASP.NET is a framework, written in either language – VB script or C#. It is also a server-side scripting language., ASP.NET is backed by Microsoft and provides web development tools to create dynamic web pages, web solutions, and web applications.

The frameworks of ASP.NET are written in the .NET language and support Visual Basic.NET, JavaScript.NET, and programming languages such as  Pearl and Python.

In this article, we will talk about both the programming languages and breakdown the terms for better understanding and discuss which is better ASP.NET or PHP.

Here’s the tabular differentiation to give you some idea of the differences based on certain aspects:

Both PHP and ASP.NET provide multiple advantages and at the same time have some disadvantages. So, if we ask straight away that which is better then, it would be hard to answer because both PHP and ASP.NET offers certain advantages and drawbacks too.

In order to decide which one suits your project needs better,  you need to compare them carefully.

Below, we are going to discuss some aspects which will describe in detail ASP.NET VS PHP and which is better.

1. Performance

What do you understand by the performance of a web tool?

Well, often, it is determined by how effectively the scripts and the server are interacting between the databases.

In case, you picked PHP for your web application then it will require LAMP as technology stack which means Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP.

The LAMP stack ensures high performance which you are looking for!

Well, a fact here is that Linux Operating System and ext4 file system provides a higher I/O performance as opposed to Windows and NTFS file system.

Hence here, it can be concluded that a PHP application running on Linux OS has greater chances of performing better than the ASP.Net application being hosted on a Windows OS.

Also, with PHP you can enjoy two advantages i.e. speed and performance, ASP.Net, on the other hand, exhibits ‘ok’ performance.

2. Market Share

The major difference between PHP vs ASP.NET is its popularity and its market share.

If we consider BuiltWith‘s trends then, PHP has a clear edge in terms of popularity. Till mid-2019, PHP has 67% shares among the TOP MILLION WEBSITES whereas ASP.NET has shares less than 50%.

Similarly, in the TOP 100K WEBSITES, once again PHP wins by 57% and ASP.NET with 37%.

Even with TOP 10K WEBSITES, PHP won by acquiring 53% of market share and 37% for ASP.NET.

Clearly, PHP is a winner in regard to popularity, one reason being “ease of learning”

3. Security

Another big difference between PHP and ASP.NET is security features that they offer. While both the platforms proffer security options, it is important to know which ones are better.

ASP.NET has some robust and built-in security features like SQL injection, which means ASP.NET is capable of doing the work automatically for you. PHP, on the other hand, provides you with just the tools.

So, in this huge feature battle, ASP.NET defeats PHP.

4. Websites Built With PHP & ASP.NET

As discussed in the earlier section of Popularity that websites built with PHP are ranked on top.  But to provide you with a wider to have a better judgment of which platform helps in the production of great web products.

Websites built using PHP

• Facebook
• WordPress.com
• Wikipedia
• Flickr
• iStockPhoto
• Yahoo!
• Tumblr
• MailChimp

Websites built using ASP.NET

• Microsoft
• DELL
• GoDaddy
• Visual Studio
• Diply.com
• Wild Tangent
• TacoBell.com

5. Speed:

Undoubtedly, ASP.NET can never beat PHP speed. This is because PHP doesn’t take many resources of your computer system on which it is installed.

Also, if it comes to hosting then, PHP doesn’t create much of a mess. It is really easy and simple to host PHP and even several hosts are all-time ready to host PHP.

Besides, when you plan to use PHP with other software then, don’t worry!

Yes, because it will never slow down other processes. PHP will maintain the speed instead.

6. Tools and Editors

It is observed that many PHP developers rather than implementing an IDE (Integrated Development Environment) like to use text editors e.g. the VIM and Notepad++.

In case, you prefer to work with an IDE while working with PHP then, you can get great help from the free editors like “Eclipse”

ASP.NET, on the other hand, is backed by various IDEs but here the limitation is that you can only use with Microsoft Visual Studio. It doesn’t come free but offers an ample amount of features and is undeniably one of the most flexible IDEs.

Is it easy to learn?

Well, beginners might find it difficult because it is written in C#, which is an extension to C language. And, as known the syntax of C is a bit complicated to interpret.

Whereas PHP is easy and simple to learn for there are just a few lines of code.

7. Customizations:

All the developers enjoy the freedom of creation and why not…innovation has no limits.

PHP offers you the freedom and of customization and develop a web product your way.

PHP is open-source and developers would agree that there shouldn’t be restrictions. PHP gives you the freedom to code using text editors like- the Emacs, Bluefish, Notebook++,  jEdit, or even the Notepad that you use.

But, there is such freedom with ASP.NET rather you are only allowed to use Microsoft Visual Studio.

There’s one more exciting feature about using PHP and that it is not inclined on any OS.

It can be run on any platform like-

• Unix
• Linux
• Windows
  
• Mac OS
  

8.Frameworks

If you even a little about PHP then, you might know that PHP is popular than ASP.NET and its community is also larger than ASP.NET.

This fact becomes more prominent with the number of frameworks PHP has. And, these frameworks are only making the PHP community even larger.

Therefore, whenever in doubt, or when trying to solve things like session management, code reuse or the access libraries of the database, various PHP frameworks can be of great help.

The popular PHP Frameworks and this includes:

• Laravel
• CodeIgniter
• Zend
• Symphony
• Phalcon
• Yii

For ASP.NET, it is a framework in itself!

9. Cost-wise which is better, ASP.NET or PHP?

Well, in the recent web development aspect PHP and ASP.NET are both freely available but ASP.NET might require some hosting fee.

But, we have already mentioned all the points which is better and why so now, it is up to you to choose the language that suits your needs.

Conclusion:

Both PHP and ASP.NET provide multiple advantages and at the same time has some disadvantages. 

In order to decide which one suits your project needs better,  you need to compare them carefully.

The article above is the complete contrast which might help you in knowing PHP VS ASP.NET: Which Programming Language to Choose for Web Development?

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