I'm curious, how relevant is PHP still for modern web development? Is it still preferred in new projects, or is it just left for maintaining old systems? What should we pay attention to for compatibility with MVC architecture and performance optimization? How do you make your choice?
How is PHP as a tool for modern development?
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I've been using PHP for the past 20 years on projects of virtually every size—both on scrappy startups and in the core systems of Fortune 500 companies. It's still one of the pillars of modern web development, but the perception that PHP is “just for blogs and forums” has shifted dramatically.
PHP underwent a serious transformation with PHP 8.x: type safety (JIT, union types), performance (OPcache optimizations, preloading), and integration with modern tooling (Laravel’s DI container, Symfony’s components). It’s now a go‑to choice for new projects—especially fast MVPs, APIs (Lumen, Slim), and microservices. MVC compliance has become standard thanks to the frameworks; Symfony and Laravel have taken it all the way to the enterprise level.
When it comes to performance tuning, three things are critical: the right opcode cache (OPcache + JIT), library choices (only lazy‑loaded dependencies), and profiling tools (Blackfire, XHProf). For legacy systems, upgrading from PHP 5.6+ to PHP 8.x, cleaning up the codebase, and running static analysis (Psalm, PHPStan) are usually lifesavers. My take? Aside from the few spots that demand extreme performance, PHP remains a simple, scalable, and cost‑effective option.