Zend Framework vs. CakePHP, Symfony, Seagull, WACT, Prado, TRAX, eZ and CodeIgniter
In contraversal with what it might seem, I won’t compare features of the mentioned projects. For that purpose you may just read this nice article by Dennis Pallett.
Instead, I will share you what I learned with help of [in]famous Ohloh project – the codebase, activity and participants dynamics comparison of the mentioned projects.
Well, I’ll not make any conclusions – just observe the facts.
Codebase:
(lines of code)
Zend Framework CakePHP Symfony
Zend Framework Seagull WACT
Zend Framework PRADO TRAX
Zend Framework eZ CodeIgniter
Activity:
(commits)
Zend Framework CakePHP Symfony
Zend Framework Seagull WACT
Zend Framework PRADO TRAX
Zend Framework eZ CodeIgniter
Participants:
(active committers)
Zend Framework CakePHP Symfony
Zend Framework Seagull WACT
Zend Framework PRADO TRAX
Zend Framework eZ CodeIgniter
Enjoy.
Seva's notes 
pix worth many words. thanks!
Colleen
2008-04-21 (April 21) at 10:15:10
WOW, That was great… I noticed a downfall in CakePHP commits since beginning of 2008.
Abhimanyu Grover
2008-05-18 (May 18) at 04:34:38
very useful post. I have been trying to research what is the best PHP framework to learn.
more power.
james
2008-06-30 (June 30) at 11:14:58
Zend V/S Symfony is a good debate. Kwiqq a social networking agency based in Brighton, UK. working with clients like Oxford University Press, Thomsons Holiday, Hansard society etc have decided to not use Symfony for future client projects: http://blog.kwiqq.com/2008/08/12/announcement-bye-bye-symfony-hello-zend/
Raj Anand
2008-08-12 (August 12) at 04:54:29
Thanks for the great post. I was using Symfony for a while now. it really did a great job. but now i am changing to Zend, even though it was a bit tough to set it up.
Anush Prem
2008-08-31 (August 31) at 08:19:51
I don’t see anything useful here. Just some useless graphics. It can’t be a true comparison.
Seva:If you would read the preface of the useless graphics you would understand possibly.
antalika
2008-09-13 (September 13) at 03:53:59
[…] https://sevalapsha.wordpress.com/2007/11/13/zend-framework-vs-cakephp-symfony-seagull-wact-prado-trax… […]
Frameworkler ve incelemeleri | Oğuzhan YALÇIN
2008-09-24 (September 24) at 01:11:10
still we are in confusion
vishakha
2008-10-03 (October 3) at 10:36:41
Nice information, the graphs were useful but we still need more information.
Thanks for this information!!!
Device Developer
2009-01-27 (January 27) at 01:58:00
This is definitely not a real comparison of what most developers would want to see.
Seva: Probably this unreal comparison is for least of developers then 🙂
A comparison based on lines of codes, number of participants doesn’t tell me squat about a framework. I can infer from this data that it’s either very feature full or very bloated, or both. Did the lines of code include comments in the code? The number of participants tells me what, more cooks in the kitchen, or more resources being used to develop the software?
Seva: I mostly agree with you. Except I believe all these parameters represent amount of work applied to the projects and allow to see projects dynamics, which may help to predict the future of the project. And this kind of prediction is extremely important when evaluating the frameworks for long term solutions or planning development strategies.
Christopher
2009-03-12 (March 12) at 03:28:53
[…] a comment » About 2.5 years passed since I posted the development activity comparison of major PHP frameworks. Since then I’ve got about 4.5k hits from search engines, which IMHO is not such a bad sample […]
PHP Frameworks popularity estimation « Seva Lapsha at Work
2009-05-15 (May 15) at 01:39:00
What i do need for a framework?
a) Stability.
b) Compatibility.
c) Clear code (not bloated).
And under those graphics, Zend looks anything but usable.
d) Features.
(not showed in the graphics, more lines is not equal to more features).
magallanes
2009-08-05 (August 5) at 04:08:45
omg. does anybody think zend is a substitution for like symfony or cake? this is just ridiculous. zend is a nice google api and maybe a bit pear substitute… but in no way a framework…
robert
2009-09-25 (September 25) at 06:50:17
I’m confused… :S
so what? I’d use Ruby on Rails for the rest of my life..but there are still too many deploy issues..that’s why I was thinking to change.. before reading robert comments I was quite confident using Zend..and the graphics shows, compared to Cake and Symphony, it’s still on the wave.. so what?
(maybe Django? 😀 )
adedip
2009-10-08 (October 8) at 10:54:03
Hi You can use Cakephp with zend framework.
Please go to http://www.docterweb.info/2009/11/cakephp-zend-framework-fusion.html to make it working
martin
2009-11-15 (November 15) at 11:01:03
I think this debate “zend is not a true framework” is ridiculous.
of course it is ! with MVC, big logic, and a a lot of modules in back
it’s not because you are free to do what you want with it’s not a true framework ! don’t be afraid of freedom ^^
dave
2009-12-01 (December 1) at 12:54:39
Nice discussion. I prefer codeignitor
Rijas PA
2009-12-16 (December 16) at 10:56:29
Thank you for this type of comparison, it reveals some interesting trends. Looks like Symfony and ZF are still being developed more actively, and that’s a good point.
Alex
2011-01-22 (January 22) at 10:51:16
nice post, already using CodeIgniter but now going with Zend
Irfan Suleman
2011-03-14 (March 14) at 12:32:16