In recent years, we have seen a tremendous growth in web applications, APIs and frameworks. Now the growing trend is that instead of reinventing the wheel every time, developers are preferring third party libraries and frameworks to make sure that the projects are completed for live deployment in very less time than it used to take earlier.
When we talk about web development and backend development, PHP and Python are two most popular choices that businesses as well as developers have although choosing one among the two is not an easy decision as both of them have some benefits. Alth
ough about 80% of the websites are still programmed in PHP but the use of Python has been growing at an unprecedented pace for the past couple of years. If you too are contemplating upon to select Python over PHP as your language of choice then go through this article as it will clear many of your doubts so that you can take a confident decision of choosing Python over PHP.
Growth of Python in Last Few Years
Although the total number of websites developed in Jan 2019, PHP far exceeded those in Python but PHP is now certainly witnessing a downward trend as Python is projecting itself as a better alternative in the web development market. Python has already been accepted by many big names like YouTube, Instagram, Quora, Facebook, Pinterest, Reddit, Google, Netflix, Spotify and more. As per reports, the growth of Python in the US and UK market has been about 27% which is much higher than the rate at which PHP has been growing. Both the languages have their own advantages and disadvantages alongwith special features. However, in recent past, more number of people have switched to Python from PHP due to several benefits which Python offers like better design, robustness, readability and easy to learn and use among others.
It is not just growth rate but there are many other reasons why programmers have now started to choose Python over PHP. So let’s discuss these in this article.
Python is Better Designed than PHP
Using Python, you can easily write great code. In this context of easy to write code, Python wins over PHP although you can write good code in PHP also. Python has an architecture which makes it a well thought out, well designed and robust language. When compared, PHP is not so well thought out language. Also Python is more elegant language than PHP. Any developer who has little experience in creating software, can write good scripts in Python while developing software in PHP requires deep knowledge of the language. Python is highly robust programming language and easier to grasp and use.
Python is More Easy to Learn than PHP
Although initially you will think that it is easy to work with both PHP and Python as both are well documented and both have IDEs for all platform including Windows, Linux and MacOS but when you go more deep then you will find that it is much easier to work and learn in Python than PHP. If you are a developer than obviously you will choose a language which is easy to learn and use and gives you benefits in long term. Python exactly fits in this as it is much easy to write programs in Python and you can learn Python easily through so many tutorials available online.
Python has Superior Framework than PHP
Developers prefer to work in a programming language which has more number of high quality libraries and frameworks. Python again wins over PHP in this context. Python provides many good frameworks like Django, Pyramid, Pylons, and Flask. Django is generally considered the most popular web framework in Python. PHP has frameworks like Kohana, Symfony, CodeIgniter, and Zend. Python framework Django is extremely easy to use, secure and fast. It is also very stable and robust and renders itself usable for a number of applications. Most of the new developers today are preferring Django due to its shorter development time and ease of setup. In current time, the learning curve is more related to frameworks than languages. The richer and deeper the framework, the more you have to learn.
Python has a simpler Syntax than PHP
Python’s syntax is much simpler and the code is easier to understand and write in Python than in PHP. Python does not have curly braces like other programming languages and is incredibly easy to read and understand. When a programmer writes a code in Python, it is so elegant to look at that it can catch anyone’s attention. Simple syntax also means it is much easier to debug the Python code than PHP code. Hence clearly Python is clearly a winner in this space.
Easily Availability of Simpler to Use Debugging Tools for Python
Python has a big developer ecosystem and it has easily availability of debugging tools which are simple to use. Python developers has a Python Debugger (PDB) which is a powerful debugger. It is highly easy to use and so well documented that even beginners can learn how to use it quite easily. Although PHP also has a debugger called XDebug but Python requires fewer debugging tools than PHP.
Package Management is Better and Easier in Python
Package management is highly important for most of the projects. With its help, you can write, build and share packages in such a format which other developers can easily use them into other applications. Although Package management also exist in PHP but when compared, Python’s tool named PIP (a tool for installation and management of Python packages) is much better. It enables you to install, uninstall, upgrade and use a wide range of sources for internal and external libraries.
Vast Community and Support for Python
With time, Python has created its own space in the market and in the developer’s mind also. They found Python to be more versatile, modern, simple, elegant an easy to use. As Python has vast use cases like development, scientific applications, scripting and others, an enormous community has come up to develop around it. Hence Python developers will get massive support and they can learn a lot and resolve their issues on the way easily and quickly. So with Python expect a large community and better support.
Conclusion
Till now PHP was assumed to be easier to learn and easy to write code but slowly and steadily Python is taking this place as it is even more easier to learn and write code. Python helps you to create more robust code that can be used in numerous use cases. Although both Python and PHP have large communities, detailed documentation and support but due to the above discussed benefits Python is witnessing an upward trend and becoming the more popular choice. Python is simple to learn, write code, versatile, modular, has large number of libraries and easy to learn and use frameworks that’s why developers as well as businesses have now started to love Python more than anything else right now.
When we talk about web development and backend development, PHP and Python are two most popular choices that businesses as well as developers have although choosing one among the two is not an easy decision as both of them have some benefits. Alth
ough about 80% of the websites are still programmed in PHP but the use of Python has been growing at an unprecedented pace for the past couple of years. If you too are contemplating upon to select Python over PHP as your language of choice then go through this article as it will clear many of your doubts so that you can take a confident decision of choosing Python over PHP.
Growth of Python in Last Few Years
Although the total number of websites developed in Jan 2019, PHP far exceeded those in Python but PHP is now certainly witnessing a downward trend as Python is projecting itself as a better alternative in the web development market. Python has already been accepted by many big names like YouTube, Instagram, Quora, Facebook, Pinterest, Reddit, Google, Netflix, Spotify and more. As per reports, the growth of Python in the US and UK market has been about 27% which is much higher than the rate at which PHP has been growing. Both the languages have their own advantages and disadvantages alongwith special features. However, in recent past, more number of people have switched to Python from PHP due to several benefits which Python offers like better design, robustness, readability and easy to learn and use among others.
It is not just growth rate but there are many other reasons why programmers have now started to choose Python over PHP. So let’s discuss these in this article.
Python is Better Designed than PHP

Using Python, you can easily write great code. In this context of easy to write code, Python wins over PHP although you can write good code in PHP also. Python has an architecture which makes it a well thought out, well designed and robust language. When compared, PHP is not so well thought out language. Also Python is more elegant language than PHP. Any developer who has little experience in creating software, can write good scripts in Python while developing software in PHP requires deep knowledge of the language. Python is highly robust programming language and easier to grasp and use.
Python is More Easy to Learn than PHP
Although initially you will think that it is easy to work with both PHP and Python as both are well documented and both have IDEs for all platform including Windows, Linux and MacOS but when you go more deep then you will find that it is much easier to work and learn in Python than PHP. If you are a developer than obviously you will choose a language which is easy to learn and use and gives you benefits in long term. Python exactly fits in this as it is much easy to write programs in Python and you can learn Python easily through so many tutorials available online.
Python has Superior Framework than PHP
Developers prefer to work in a programming language which has more number of high quality libraries and frameworks. Python again wins over PHP in this context. Python provides many good frameworks like Django, Pyramid, Pylons, and Flask. Django is generally considered the most popular web framework in Python. PHP has frameworks like Kohana, Symfony, CodeIgniter, and Zend. Python framework Django is extremely easy to use, secure and fast. It is also very stable and robust and renders itself usable for a number of applications. Most of the new developers today are preferring Django due to its shorter development time and ease of setup. In current time, the learning curve is more related to frameworks than languages. The richer and deeper the framework, the more you have to learn.
Python has a simpler Syntax than PHP
Python’s syntax is much simpler and the code is easier to understand and write in Python than in PHP. Python does not have curly braces like other programming languages and is incredibly easy to read and understand. When a programmer writes a code in Python, it is so elegant to look at that it can catch anyone’s attention. Simple syntax also means it is much easier to debug the Python code than PHP code. Hence clearly Python is clearly a winner in this space.
Easily Availability of Simpler to Use Debugging Tools for Python
Python has a big developer ecosystem and it has easily availability of debugging tools which are simple to use. Python developers has a Python Debugger (PDB) which is a powerful debugger. It is highly easy to use and so well documented that even beginners can learn how to use it quite easily. Although PHP also has a debugger called XDebug but Python requires fewer debugging tools than PHP.
Package Management is Better and Easier in Python
Package management is highly important for most of the projects. With its help, you can write, build and share packages in such a format which other developers can easily use them into other applications. Although Package management also exist in PHP but when compared, Python’s tool named PIP (a tool for installation and management of Python packages) is much better. It enables you to install, uninstall, upgrade and use a wide range of sources for internal and external libraries.
Vast Community and Support for Python
With time, Python has created its own space in the market and in the developer’s mind also. They found Python to be more versatile, modern, simple, elegant an easy to use. As Python has vast use cases like development, scientific applications, scripting and others, an enormous community has come up to develop around it. Hence Python developers will get massive support and they can learn a lot and resolve their issues on the way easily and quickly. So with Python expect a large community and better support.
Conclusion
Till now PHP was assumed to be easier to learn and easy to write code but slowly and steadily Python is taking this place as it is even more easier to learn and write code. Python helps you to create more robust code that can be used in numerous use cases. Although both Python and PHP have large communities, detailed documentation and support but due to the above discussed benefits Python is witnessing an upward trend and becoming the more popular choice. Python is simple to learn, write code, versatile, modular, has large number of libraries and easy to learn and use frameworks that’s why developers as well as businesses have now started to love Python more than anything else right now.
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