Open source enterprise framework with the best support available
March 11, 2020

Open source enterprise framework with the best support available

Leonel Quinteros | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Zend Framework

Zend Framework is used in two systems at my former company. One system has been designed and implemented as a Zend Framework MVC application with version 1.x. It has been live and running for over 10 years, and it still runs Zend Framework version 1.x as is still supported and working well. The other system uses Zend Framework as a vendor library, to consume several utility classes as PDF management or some cryptographic implementation.

Pros

  • Long term support not matched by any other framework.
  • Well designed architecture, very natural for any PHP developer.
  • "Enterprise" spirit, it's OOP patterns will be very familiar to any Java, C# or C++ developer.
  • Good support, services and ecosystem offered by the Zend company

Cons

  • For some reason it has never been too popular.
  • Quick prototyping may not be super fast and easy like with other RAD frameworks available.
  • It doesn't exist anymore! It has transitioned into a community-driven project called Laminas.
  • It has had zero cost of maintenance over the last 10 years and counting.
  • No version upgrade has introduced a single issue in 10 years.
  • Systems didn't have to be re-implemented and they aren't in debt either.
Zend Framework is great to be used a library on any PHP project architected with any of those frameworks. When the project started, Zend Framework was the most advanced PHP framework around, and it stuck with us. Today there are multiple high-quality options and Zend Framework is one of them, maintaining a clean record of good longterm support, high-quality architecture, and constant innovation.
Zend Framework has the best (paid) support and ecosystem I've ever seen in a PHP framework. The company has developed many products, including Zend Server, Zend Debugger, and an Eclipse-based IDE that extends the framework to create an entire development platform that can improve developer productivity and software quality while maintaining the clean architecture that characterizes the framework.

Do you think Laminas Project delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Laminas Project's feature set?

Yes

Did Laminas Project live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Laminas Project go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Laminas Project again?

Yes

Zend Framework is great, and one of the best, to be used as an external library to benefit from its multiple classes for everything without having to create the entire application on top of the framework. That makes it super easy to plug into any existing PHP project and start using it. It offers two different ways to architect new applications, which may suit most developers around. One is based on the MVC pattern, and the other is based in composition and middleware, which has a more functional approach that's becoming more popular.

It may not be the best tool for a simple app or a quick prototype, but it has improved on that side lately. Tooling can also improve, there are other frameworks that have developed their tooling ecosystem to increase developer productivity.

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