Laravel vs Spring: Which Framework Should You Choose

by Tech Addict Writer, Blogger

Web apps have become one of the leading digital tools of our times — this much has been for everyone to see. As a result, there is no dearth in demand for such solutions, as businesses undertake digital transformation journeys and stay ahead of the curve. The next question is, then, what tools does one use for creating top-notch offerings? Well, one of the key factors here is the choice of framework.

The market today is brimming with options when it comes to choosing a framework with which one can develop solid web apps for their business. However, this pursuit often leads people to the conundrum of deciding between Laravel and Spring. You see, both of them are highly sought-after back-end frameworks that can drive the development of high-quality web apps for businesses across the broad spectrum of industries. If you are stuck with this decision as well and are struggling to make a choice, here is a quick guide that will, first, familiarise you with both frameworks and then some of the key points of comparison to help you make an informed decision.

Laravel: It is an open-sourced web framework celebrated globally for HTML authentication, templating, and countless other such features and provisions. Written in PHP, Laravel enables the development of apps with tailored back-end logic, web portals, full-stack apps, etc.

Pros:

Makes use of Blade to enable data formatting, the creation of intricate layouts with simple navigation, etc.
Includes expressive testing systems with PHPUnit to simulate user behavior
The reverse routing feature helps automatically makes channel changes in routes to appropriate links

Cons:

Poor quality of third-party libraries
It can be challenging to identify reliable libraries in Laravel’s extensive community and collection

Spring: An open-source, lightweight framework, it enables the development of Java-based enterprise applications and offers infrastructural support specializing in app-level business logic.

Pros:

Modularity
Agility for setting up Database integrations, Java Beans, etc.
Ease of integrating test data

Cons:

Necessitates extensive experience with XML
Misses out on security provisions, such as against XSS attacks, etc.

Now, let’s compare the two based on some key factors.

Performance: Though Laravel is known to be slow at times, experts suggest this can be improved via proper optimization, use of cache tags, etc. On the other hand, Spring promises ace performance, thanks to functionalities such as loading classes as features used in the app, thus boosting the app’s performance.
Scalability: There are countless Laravel apps in the market that have been able to scale without a hitch over the years. This scalability is chalked up to PHP. This can be further improved with the support of a robust database and load balancer. Spring, on the other hand, gets parallel processing capabilities that empower apps to execute requests much more quickly.
Testing: A PHP framework, Laravel comes loaded with an abundance of testing tools. Plus, it also tests code in two different levels: Unit tests and Feature tests. As for Spring, it offers in-depth support for all manners of testing, be it integration or unit testing.

We understand that choosing between the two can be a slightly challenging process. However, if you keep the aforementioned factors in mind and approach the decision with a strategic mindset, deciding between Laravel website development and Spring-based development will become much easier.