PHP vs. Node.js: Which Environment To Choose For Your Project?

Web development is constantly evolving and puts demands on the technical stack. It is necessary to choose different technologies and solutions with different expiration dates.

Most often, developers are faced with a choice between PHP and Node.js. And if earlier they had different purposes: Javascript was used for front-end applications, and PHP for server applications. Today, they allow you to overlap and create high-performing, high-quality sites. In this article, we will look at the main features and differences of PHP and Node.js, as well as their application in different types of projects.

What is Node.js?

Node.js is a runtime that runs on the Chrome V8 JavaScript engine. The technology was first presented in 2009 at the JSConf forum. The Node.js project was originally sponsored by Joyent, a former LinkedIn company that used Node.js as the basis for writing a mobile application. Titans like Uber, eBay, Walmart and Netflix are also among Node.js users.

The development environment causes a lot of controversy, due to the fact that it is a cross-platform environment that is significantly lightweight and is used for developing server-side web applications. Node.js uses an event-driven, non-blocking I / O model, which improves its efficiency and ability to handle heavy loads. It is a great solution for large scale applications and streaming websites.

What is PHP?

PHP is considered one of the most popular web development languages. It is suitable for developing a wide variety of sites and applications, and even browser games.

Among its main advantages are closed source code and broad capabilities.

PHP is great for server side scripting and it works great on most operating systems (Linux, Windows, macOS, RISC OS, etc.). It is compatible with various web servers and can act as a module or function as a CGI processor. It is a simple and straightforward language that supports a wide variety of databases.

Pros and Cons of Node.js in Backend Development

Let's take a look at the main advantages and disadvantages of Node.js that should be considered in development.

Pros

1. Fast server solution

By using the JavaScript event loop, you can create and serve multiple concurrent events. In addition, JavaScript asynchronous processing allows for highly scalable server-side solutions that run even faster than multithreaded solutions. All of the above makes Node.js the best choice for RTA or SPA that require high performance.

2. One language in the whole stack

Most of the popular client-side frameworks (for example, Angular and React) are written in JavaScript. Using benefits of Javascript frameworks you avoid the stacking problem and get all the benefits of JavaScript language conventions. Support for the front-end and front-end within the same language simplifies team communication and speeds up the development process

3. Flexibility

Node.js has only a few hard-coded dependencies and rules, so the developer is free to act. The developer can choose templates, modules and functions through the NPM repository.

Cons

1. Low processing efficiency of applications using CPU

Since Node.js is a single threaded environment, if you need to process large files or perform complex graphics operations, such applications may become slow or not ping well. Thus, Node.js is not the best choice for graphical applications.

2. Youth of the language

The Node repository provides access not only to stable libraries like Crypto and HTTP, but also to third-party modules written by the community. Since all of them have existed not so long ago, it is simply impossible to guarantee the stable operation of the application before launch. When choosing a particular module, be sure to check all the changes made in it.

Pros and Cons of PHP in Web App Development

Let's take a look at PHP and its advantages and disadvantages that affect the application development process.

Pros

1. Rich code base

PHP has a huge codebase with support for all popular frameworks (Symfony, Laravel, etc.) and platforms (WordPress, Joomla, etc.), this greatly speeds up the development and subsequent customization process.

PHP has a huge community and many open source solutions, which guarantees that any problem can be solved quickly enough.

2. Portable solution

PHP works on any platform and server, so you only need to write the code once and you can use it without restrictions. This makes PHP the perfect solution for small teams with low budgets and businesses that don't want to involve developers.

3. Designed specifically for the Internet

Unlike most programming languages, PHP was designed specifically for web development. This explains the built-in functions for managing HTML, servers, and databases (MySQL in particular). This way, you avoid problems with loading, displaying items, and overloading the client side. As well as it gives reduced costs of development.

Cons

1. Ineffective separation of concerns (SoC)

PHP is not the best solution for the MVC approach, which is considered the best choice for web development. MVC is responsible for scalability and readability, while PHP tends to mix HTML and language syntax within HTML files, so business logic and views are inseparable, which reduces maintainability and extensibility.

2. Legacy client-server model

In PHP, every page request starts an application that is connected to configuration options, HTML rendering, and databases. This is a legacy client-server architecture model, so PHP is slightly slower than Node.js. It brings some limitations in PHP technology but can be solved with the Memcached solution, which requires additional connections.

Read also: Top 7 Mobile App Development Trends to Follow in 2021

The Differences Between Backend Technologies

Since there are a lot of nuances in these two languages, we’ve decided to divide the comparison between PHP and Node.js into thematic categories.

PHP vs Node.js: Execution Speed

The program code can be synchronous and asynchronous, this characteristic affects the speed of processing requests and loading. PHP is considered as synchronous, although some of its APIs are still asynchronous.

At the same time, Node.js is asynchronous and faster. Asynchronous codes can slow down when a callback is needed, but in the case of Node.js you can use the async / await function to adapt the code to the synchronous format and speed it up.

PHP vs Node.js: Database

In most cases, PHP works with relational databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL), much less often NoSQL is used.

At that time, Node.js was leaning towards using CouchDB and MongoDB. This allows you to guarantee protection against vulnerabilities and reliable operation. NoSQL is generally much better adapted to newer attack patterns and responses.

PHP vs Node.js: Hosting

PHP is more versatile when it comes to hosting service providers, as it is supported by a large number of services. Node. js supports fewer services, and this may hinder deployment and integration a little, as it requires a virtual server with SSH access to run applications.

PHP vs Node.js: Ecosystem

PHP is constantly evolving and updating to improve performance. Developers are interested in improving the work and adding new features, having a strong ecosystem.

Node.js developers community is also constantly evolving, and its advantage lies in being modern. All the functions necessary for work are collected in one distribution kit, it also lacks fragmentation, which speeds up the work of developers, who do not need to completely rework the code.

PHP vs Node.js: Practical Application

PHP is most commonly used to build web applications, while Node.js is widely used. Node.js is used to write game servers, multi-threaded applications, web applications, and much more. Versatility adds relevance to the language.

So, How to Choose the Right Backend Technology?

When choosing a backend part, you need to use a number of factors: budgets, deadlines, business goals, and much more. It is also important to take advantage of the main advantages and characteristics of these programming languages.

When to Use Node.js?

Node.js does a great job with these types of tasks:

• Software stacks like MEAN (Angular, MongoDB, etc.)
• SPA applications;
• Front-end technologies (Angular, JQuery, React, etc.).

So, Node.js allows you to create, for example, a great chat application. It is also great for Node.js apps that require heavy interaction between client and server.

When to Use PHP?

You can choose PHP for tasks like this:

• Building online store or blog;
• Mobile app development;
• CRM, CMS and ERP development;
• Working with projects with LAMP stack (Linux Apache, MySQL, PHP).

With fast deployment and integration, you can scale your project at any time with little effort. PHP applications are great where the client does not need to interact with the server indefinitely.

Conclusions 

Node.js and PHP can be great development solutions, depending on your wishes for the project. Both languages ​​are designed to make applications reliable and efficient.

It is important to understand the logic of the project and its business logic, and then, based on this, select the stack and platform for the project.

Another important nuance is the skill level of the developers with whom you interact. Node.js and PHP have many features and huge potential, but not all developers have this knowledge. Study the developers’ portfolio carefully and make the right decision.