I’m going to lie.
Laravel is a FOSS (Free and open-source) web design and app-building framework.
The lie? That’s just not true anymore. Today, Laravel is more of a full-scale PHP development ecosystem, and calling it anything less would be a downright insult.
One of the most popular development toolkits on the planet, it is the go-to tool for both budding and veteran developers alike.
Couple that with the recent software development boom, and you have the recipe for a love child of unmatched popularity.
Based on the MVC (Model View Controller) system, Laravel has been open source since its creation a decade ago in 2011.
Tailor-made for routing, caching, and authentication, it is one of the most versatile tools in any developer’s arsenal.
As with all other things though, Laravel has trends that shift like the tides — we’ll be looking at the most popular of these, and which ones will dominate the market in the coming year.
So what exactly can you expect in the Laravel development industry? Let’s take a look.
PHP outsourcing
Lots of people and publications predicted that Laravel would be the most used PHP framework in 2020 and 2021, and it was.
With around 650,000 websites (active) using Laravel right now, it is fair to say that the framework is hugely popular.
Keeping in mind the development boom I mentioned earlier, this translates to increased hiring costs for dedicated Laravel developers.
Unfortunately, the median salary for in-house Laravel developers is close to $95,0000 per annum, according to Glassdoor, with the top quartile charging north of $200,000.
The simplest solution, for now, is to hire Laravel developers remotely, while they are still available.
This “outsourcing” of development teams not only cuts costs but also gives teams access to a global talent pool.
This outsourcing results in a high engagement, globalized, low-cost workforce — and lower costs equals a higher profit.
TLDR: “In matters of style, go with the flow”, which is what every single businessperson seems to be doing — hiring remote Laravel developers like there’s no tomorrow.
Long story short, outsourcing is a rapidly increasing trend in terms of the Laravel industry and seems to be here to stay.
Enterprise-grade applications
Because Laravel is based largely on a microservices architecture, it has a multitude of features that benefit apps and webpages that require heavy-duty data processing.
If your website is going to have to handle heavy traffic, Laravel is a boss-level tool.
The Laravel arsenal includes tools like Event Broadcasting, Services Centre, Active Record Implementation, an excellent ORM (Object Relational Mapper), and good security.
Anyways, what does all this have to do with the microservices architecture that I talked about earlier?
Well, Laravel’s microservices architecture is made up of several smaller “modules” that combine and work in conjunction with each other to output a sexy web application.
In addition to this, every enterprise has different needs, but Laravel offers scalability on a level unrivaled by any other framework.
This means that with Laravel, you can start small, and keep adding on things and features as and when you need them.
In essence, with Laravel, your website grows (proportionately) with you.
TLDR: Laravel is a multispecialty application that is best suited for data-intensive applications, but also offers unmatched scalability.
This has been a rising trend as of late, with many Laravel apps starting small to reduce the initial development costs, and then expanding over time.
Importing libraries
Easily, the most popular library in Laravel is the authentication library, indeed, it is one of the most enriched libraries in the Laravel composer package.
60% of the time, Laravel’s libraries are enough to keep devs chuffing along nicely, but this is not always the case.
If you do feel the need to install an external library (such as ReactJS, jQuery, or D3), here’s a little checklist to follow:
- Check how old your version of the library is because updates to it can often miss out on certain packages that your project needs.
- While we’re on that topic, also make a note of how often your prospective library is updated (in order to ensure that it complies with new standards — nobody wants to use libraries that haven’t been updated since 2016).
- Choose a library that has good community support (the official library website doesn’t count), because you’ll be surprised at how often you’ll be needing it.
Probably the most practical aspect of using a Laravel library is that it is a free database and that the libraries offer secure login systems without any extra hassle.
These libraries are most often utilized by companies that engage in backend data management (like CRM platforms or content-oriented apps).
TLDR: This has been a rising trend in the Laravel development industry: adding external libraries to enhance Laravel’s functionality as an all-in-one development package.
The combo of Laravel + JS library has produced amazing websites like Pfizer, BBC, CrowdCube, and TourRadar.
Integration with the IoT
Developers have long since realized the tea-and-biscuits combination that PHP and the IoT (the Internet of Things) make up.
Aside from being great at processing huge volumes of data (such as those that IoT sensors transmit), Laravel is a pretty secure package, all things considered.
It allows devs to deal with any vulnerability quicker than most other languages — once it’s been spotted, that is.
Aside from that, Laravel is great when it comes to cybersecurity profiling.
These are some of the cybersecurity tools in the Laravel toolbox:
- Passwords are not left in the system as easily accessible data, making it harder to phish user data.
- Laravel leverages SQL articulations, making the entire app more secure by providing tools ranging from authentication to a god-tier level of encryption.
- Laravel utilized Bcrypt’s hash calculation and also uses hashed secret words to store user passwords.
- In addition to Bcrypt, Laravel also used Argon2, making an already hard hacking process absolutely excruciating.
- This way, even if a hacker gains access to your user data, all they’ll get is a load of gibberish, useless without the decryption key.
TLDR: Laravel makes for an excellent language if you need to run your app on a device that is a part of the IoT, seeing as how it is extremely secure, that too without compromising on data transfer speeds.
The number of Laravel developers who have been utilizing the benefits of being a part of the IoT has been growing steadily and seems to be an unstoppable trend.
Serverless deployment solutions
Powered by AWS, Laravel Vapor is the serverless deployment solution for Laravel developers.
All developers have to do is launch their Laravel applications on Laravel vapor, and then upscale as and when needed (another point for the scalability side of Laravel).
A super interesting thing is that when combined with a tool like Lambda (that can execute tasks based on other AWS services events), like S3 uploads, you can build applications that are entirely event-driven.
Translation: you can run function calls per HTTP request — no server needed!
A long story short
Laravel has seen a boom in popularity in the past half-decade and seems to be here to stay.
With it is a proportionate rise in the number of developers who specialize in Laravel, and who charge proportionately.
Outsourcing your Laravel development team seems to be a hand fix for the exorbitant rates charged by in-house developers, but these remote devs are only available “while stocks last”.
With that, Laravel has seen a rapid foray into the world of the IoT and may possibly become the norm for IoT deployment in the future.
Aside from all that, Laravel has proved itself to be a boon for people for whom security is the main concern, having utilized both Bcrypt and Argon2 hash decryption services.
All in all, Laravel is growing in popularity and it certainly doesn’t seem like that trend is going to subside anytime soon.
