Zend Framework or Symfony2 [closed]

Question

I know this question has been asked several times, but I would like to explain my position and would love if someone who has expertise with both can give me a good answer for that.

I am currently working on 2 big projects, which are dedicated and run on their own debian server. I am very experienced with PHP3+, means I always did the hardcode PHP way since around 10 years now, had my own file structure, libraries etc. Now for those 2 projects I need to have a) security, b) liabilty and c) an easy implemention (which is for me time saving).

As I understood so far, both are good frameworks. Zend Framework is very modular, so I can basically choose what functions I wanna have, please correct me if I am wrong - and it's more "original"-PHP oriented, which would give a good base to start with. Symfony - on the other hand - is very community oriented and comes with a lot of stuff. I signed up for the symfony google group and get questions and answers all day. So in terms of getting support, I think symfony would be the choice.

Now: The framework basically is needed for a project with a very secure area for clients, a registration and intelligent functions that correspond with the database. I also need to migrate old data from an existing mysql database. I'd need a couple of self-written php functions, jquery and the paypal api. (both projects are actually heavily payment and calculation oriented)

Answer 1

Since you are starting a new project, the only objective argument in favor of Symfony I can give you is that their next-generation (PHP 5.3 oriented) framework is out and stable. Zend Framework 2 on the other hands is still in the works and from what I learned not close to being ready for production. So in that regard Symfony2 could be a better decision for the long term right now.

On the other hand, you might have a bit harder time learning Symfony2 coming from PHP in the old days, as it will not only introduce you to PHP5 OO programming, but also some new concepts of PHP 5.3. You probably should familiarize yourself with PHP5.3 first. Also the new version is still in it's infancy stages, community support is good already, but arguably it doesn't have the same plugin/bundle support yet as you would find for a more established framework.

In the end it will boil down to personal preference though, as I do believe that symfony1, Symfony2 or Zend Framework 1 are all valid choices for a new project on this day.

Answer 2

I think it's very much based on personal taste. Both frameworks are perfect for creating professional web applications.

I had to make the same decision about two years ago, and chose for Symfony. Mainly because it's easy to create new projects, and you can create your first prototype really quickly and advance/improve from there on. I tried to do the same with Zend Framework, but to me, ZF is more about "configuration", and that configuration part was not immediately clear to me (but probably that got improved a bunch). And indeed, I also like the community behind Symfony, there are a lot of great plugins available, and it has well written documentation (at least 1.4). And it's also possible to use ZF components in Symfony. (For instance the Zend_Search_Lucene).

But again: it's about personal taste. Create a blog in both Symfony and ZF and choose what works best for you. :-)