What Are the Benefits of PHP?

Alex Paul

PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP) is one of the most popular programming languages for dynamic websites and Internet-based applications. Some of the benefits of PHP include that it’s free, doesn’t put a lot of strain on servers and has been developed over a long period of time. It also is relatively easy to learn how to use PHP compared to other programming languages.

Woman doing a handstand with a computer
Woman doing a handstand with a computer

One of the main benefits of PHP is that it’s a free, open source language that can be used by anyone. This means there are no costs for downloading, distributing or using the language. It also is royalty free, which means a programmer who creates a program and then wishes to sell it will not have to pay additional costs. This often makes it a popular choice among small businesses that can’t afford the high price of licensing other languages.

Another of the many benefits of PHP is that it doesn’t put a lot of strain on Internet servers. Large websites can potentially service thousands of users each hour, so it’s essential for an application to comfortably handle this level of traffic without placing undue load on the server. PHP has an inbuilt memory that reduces sever load and is optimized to run as efficiently as possible.

PHP is not a new language; it has been used and developed for many years. It has seen a large amount of development in this time, which means most of the features have been thoroughly tested on a huge variety of servers and environments. The result is a reliable programming language that’s been shown to work with a number of different professional applications.

Aside from these benefits of PHP, one of the main reasons for its continued growth is how easy it is to learn. As with any programming language, it’s important for a new user to spend some time learning the basics, but the amount of time required to learn PHP is considerably less than that of many alternatives. It also has a very active support community and an extensive website detailing nearly every function, including how to use it, examples and common problems.

Other benefits of PHP include that it runs on most servers and supports object-orientated programming. This increases the flexibility of the language, depending on the programmer’s requirements. The language also can easily access a number of different types of database, such as MySQL, which is essential for many web applications.

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Discussion Comments


@allenJo - Why make it an either/or proposition? I would learn both.

Trust me, you can pick up PHP in a weekend, which is a lot more than I can say about ASP.NET, and I’ve worked with both.

Learn PHP for simple scripting of websites and learn ASP.NET for some of the ecommerce applications that some of the larger corporations need. You can build these applications in PHP too, but you are correct in your assessment of the marketplace.

Most companies are looking for ASP.NET programmers right now because they’ve invested a lot in the Microsoft technologies. PHP will always win out for simplicity and ease in my book, however.


@everetra - I’ve heard about PHP but wonder if I should pursue it or stick with the Microsoft technologies?

I certainly agree that PHP is easier from what I’ve heard, but I am more concerned about marketability. What is the demand for PHP programmers as opposed to Microsoft programmers?

If I put Microsoft ASP.NET on my resume, I feel that I’ll have better pull with prospective employers, most of whom are in a mad dash to embrace the Microsoft technologies.

I would appreciate any insight that you could provide me.


@NathanG - Yeah, PHP has a lot going for it. It doesn’t have Microsoft’s commercial muscle, perhaps, but it does have a worldwide community of developers.

It also works with a wide variety of databases. I’ve used PHP with MySql, SQL Lite, SQL Server and Oracle, to name a few. Also, if you are looking for an inexpensive commercial web hosting provider, most of them will be running PHP and Linux, at the lower end of the cost spectrum.

You could certainly find a hosting provider that runs Windows and ASP.NET but in most cases you are going to pay more for that service.


I am a programmer and I love PHP. I am not really a web developer by trade, but I have done some light scripting and PHP is a great language to use.

It might surprise you to learn that my background is with Microsoft technologies like Visual BASIC and ASP. ASP was used for website development and it was as easy to use as PHP is today.

Unfortunately, Microsoft abandoned classic ASP when it moved into the .NET platform, and so now you have to use ASP.NET, which is a lot harder to use.

I love PHP because it reminds me of what ASP used to be, back when Microsoft chose to be simple with their programming products. It’s easy to learn and is modeled after very basic programming languages. Also PHP comes with a huge library of functions that allow you to access databases and run queries with ease.

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