PHP
PHP runs more of the web than any other server-side language. Modern PHP with JIT compilation, strict typing, and Laravel has matured into a real enterprise platform.
ClearView
The language that runs the web
Most PHP work arrives as an existing system: an e-commerce platform, a content estate on WordPress or Drupal, a line-of-business application built years ago and still in service. The ecosystem divides along a version line. Legacy 5.x and 7.x codebases sit on one side, modern PHP 8 on the other, and the distance between them is larger than the version numbers suggest.
Modern PHP is a typed, tooled language. Strict types, enums and readonly properties carry the modelling, PHPStan checks it statically in CI, and Composer manages and audits dependencies. The deployment model is request-scoped and shared-nothing: each request starts clean, which keeps operations simple.
PHP is the right base for web applications, e-commerce, content platforms and the APIs behind them. It is the wrong base for long-lived connections and sustained computation: WebSocket servers, streaming, heavy concurrent processing. Node.js or Go carry those workloads better, and PHP sits comfortably beside either.
PHP was used by 18.9% of respondents to the 2025 Stack Overflow Developer Survey.
PHP ships one minor release each year, and each release receives two years of active support followed by two years of security fixes.
- Web Applications
- E-Commerce
- CMS Platforms
- REST APIs
Our PHP capabilities
PHP 8.x & strict typing
We write new PHP with declare(strict_types=1) as the baseline and hold codebases at PHPStan level 9 in CI, with union types, enums and readonly properties doing the modelling work. On legacy code the analysis level rises incrementally: a recorded baseline lets new code meet the full standard while existing findings are worked down file by file.
- PHP 8.3
- PHPStan
- strict_types
Laravel & Symfony ecosystems
Product builds run on Laravel, with Eloquent for data access, Horizon managing queues, and broadcasting pushing real-time updates to the browser. Where an architecture will not follow Laravel's conventions, Symfony components provide the same capabilities with finer control.
- Laravel 11
- Symfony
- Composer
API & headless architectures
PHP serves well as the back end behind a React or Vue front end, exposed through Laravel API Resources or Symfony's API Platform. The contract is an OpenAPI specification generated from the code, so front-end and back-end teams build against the same definition.
- API Platform
- OpenAPI
- JSON:API
Why Adaca for PHP?
Legacy PHP modernisation
Upgrade PHP 5.x and 7.x codebases to PHP 8.x incrementally, adding strict types and PHPStan analysis.
Laravel at enterprise scale
Laravel with Horizon, Octane for persistent workers, and horizontal scaling for millions of requests daily.
Security-first PHP
OWASP Top 10 protections with parameterised queries, CSRF tokens, CSP headers, and Composer audit.
Observability for PHP
OpenTelemetry tracing, structured JSON logging, and APM integration for request-level visibility.
CMS platform expertise
Custom WordPress and Drupal installations with multisite, custom plugins, and headless API integration.
PHP migration paths
When PHP is not the long-term choice, we plan incremental migrations behind API gateways.
Common Questions
Should we modernise our PHP 5 or 7 system or migrate off PHP altogether?
Modernise, in most cases. The upgrade path to PHP 8 is well trodden: Rector automates most of the deprecated patterns, a compatibility pass covers the rest, and the application keeps shipping throughout. The performance and type-system gains arrive without discarding years of accumulated behaviour.
Migration earns its cost in two cases: an architecture with no seams left to work within, or a workload the request model cannot serve. Even then the move runs incrementally behind the live application, one capability at a time, with no big-bang rewrite.
Would you choose PHP for a new build today?
For a web product whose shape Laravel fits, yes. The conventions and the type system make a maintainable base, hosting is inexpensive, and the operational model is among the simplest of any stack. The language's reputation lags the language: PHP written today under strict types and static analysis behaves far closer to a statically typed stack than to the PHP of a decade ago.
How well does AI-assisted development work on a PHP codebase?
The public PHP corpus is one of the largest of any language and one of the most uneven. Decades of PHP 5 tutorials sit alongside modern PHP 8, so an unguided model will reproduce superseded idioms: raw superglobals, string-built SQL, logic inside templates.
What decides the outcome is the correctness signal the codebase gives the tooling. Under strict types, a high PHPStan level and a test suite in CI, generated code is checked mechanically and the era problem largely disappears. On an unanalysed legacy codebase, those guardrails have to be added first.
How is PHP work priced?
Either as a fixed cost for an initial outcome, such as a first release or a defined migration, or as a monthly rate for the team once later phases are under way. We do not publish a figure for a build, because the scale is set by the number of features, platforms, user groups and users, and projects have run from four weeks to several months. The How We Charge page sets out both models, milestone billing and the notice period.
What does the team for PHP work look like?
Typically one full-time engineer on the build, with two part-time roles alongside: one running the project and one working with you on priorities and technical decisions. Teams are shaped around the system rather than around one technology, so PHP work draws in the neighbouring stack when it needs to. Delivery starts under Australian leadership, with the engineering in our Manila delivery centre.
How quickly can PHP work start?
Discovery establishes the scope, systems involved and delivery requirements. We agree the implementation plan and timing after that work, before implementation begins.