Open Source · Server-Side · Since 1994
PHP LanguagePHP is the world's most widely used open-source server-side scripting language, designed for web development and embedded directly into HTML.
PHP (recursive acronym for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor) is a widely-used open-source general-purpose scripting language especially suited for web development. Originally created by Rasmus Lerdorf in 1994, PHP has evolved into one of the most powerful and flexible backend technologies available today.
Unlike client-side languages like JavaScript, PHP runs entirely on the server. When a visitor requests a page, the server processes the PHP code and sends only the resulting HTML to the browser — keeping your logic secure and invisible to the end user.
PHP 8.x delivers exceptional performance with JIT compilation, significantly reducing execution time for complex applications.
Modern PHP includes built-in security features — password hashing, prepared statements, input filtering and more — to protect your applications.
PHP runs on virtually every web hosting platform, making it the most accessible backend language in the world.
From simple contact forms to complex enterprise APIs, PHP adapts to any project size thanks to its rich ecosystem and Composer.
PHP is at the heart of the modern web. It powers platforms used by billions of people daily, from social networks to e-commerce giants. The versatility of PHP means it can handle everything from a simple website to a high-traffic API serving millions of requests.
With PHP you can build dynamic websites, RESTful APIs, content management systems, e-commerce platforms, SaaS applications, and command-line tools. Combined with a modern framework, PHP development becomes structured, maintainable and scalable for any team size.
WooCommerce (built on WordPress/PHP) powers over 28% of all online stores worldwide. Magento and PrestaShop are other major PHP e-commerce solutions.
WordPress, Drupal and Joomla — all PHP — collectively power over 60% of all CMS-driven websites on the internet.
Modern PHP frameworks make it trivial to build robust, authenticated REST or GraphQL APIs consumed by mobile apps, SPAs and third-party services.
Symfony is used by companies like Spotify, BlaBlaCar and many Fortune 500 businesses for mission-critical applications.
The PHP ecosystem is one of the richest in the development world. Whether you need a full-stack MVC framework, a micro-framework for APIs, or a headless CMS backend, there is a mature, well-documented PHP solution available.
Composer, the PHP dependency manager, gives access to over 350,000 packages on packagist.org, making it easy to integrate any functionality into your project without reinventing the wheel.
PHP 8 represents a major leap forward for the language. JIT compilation, named arguments, union types, match expressions, fibers for async programming and a vastly improved type system make PHP 8 a genuinely modern, expressive language.
PHP is no longer the loosely-typed scripting language of the early 2000s. Today it supports strict typing, interfaces, traits, enums, readonly properties and first-class callable syntax — making large-scale PHP codebases as maintainable as those written in Java or C#.