Overview

Laravel

Stacks28.7K

Followers23.7K

Votes3.9K

GitHub Stars82.6K

Forks24.6K

MEAN

Stacks337

Followers617

Votes594

GitHub Stars12.1K

Forks3.4K

Laravel vs MEAN: What are the differences?

Introduction

In web development, two popular frameworks to consider are Laravel and MEAN, which stand for MongoDB, Express.js, AngularJS, and Node.js. Both these frameworks have their advantages and key differences that make them unique in their own ways.

1. Architecture and Languages:

Laravel is a PHP-based framework that follows the MVC (Model-View-Controller) architectural pattern. It uses PHP as the primary language for server-side scripting and supports other languages like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript for front-end development.

On the other hand, MEAN is based on the JavaScript stack and consists of four components: MongoDB (NoSQL database), Express.js (web application framework), AngularJS (front-end JavaScript framework), and Node.js (JavaScript runtime). MEAN stack offers a unified JavaScript-based development environment for both server-side and client-side.

2. Scalability and Performance:

When it comes to scalability and performance, MEAN stack has an edge over Laravel. MEAN stack leverages the non-blocking I/O model of Node.js, making it highly scalable and capable of handling a large number of concurrent requests. Additionally, MongoDB, used in MEAN stack, has built-in sharding and replication features that facilitate horizontal scalability.

On the other hand, Laravel, being a PHP-based framework, may face scaling challenges due to its blocking I/O model. However, Laravel does provide features like caching, database query optimization, and support for horizontal scaling through load balancing to improve performance.

3. Community and Ecosystem:

Laravel boasts a large and active community that contributes to its growth and development. It provides extensive and well-documented official documentation, numerous tutorials, and a marketplace for reusable components and extensions called "Packagist". Laravel's ecosystem includes various packages and libraries that can be easily integrated into projects.

MEAN stack, being a collection of JavaScript technologies, also has a thriving community and ecosystem. It benefits from the popularity of JavaScript and offers a wide range of open-source libraries, frameworks, and plugins that enhance the development process.

4. Learning Curve and Ease of Development:

Laravel has a gentle learning curve, making it relatively easier for beginners to grasp. With its expressive syntax, elegant code structure, and rich set of features, Laravel simplifies the development process. It provides a clear separation between logic and presentation layers, enabling developers to build scalable and maintainable applications.

MEAN stack, on the other hand, might have a steeper learning curve for developers who are not familiar with JavaScript or its related frameworks. Learning and mastering the various components of MEAN stack, such as AngularJS, can be time-consuming initially. However, once proficient, developers can benefit from the versatility and flexibility offered by MEAN stack.

5. Database:

Laravel uses a relational database management system like MySQL, PostgreSQL, or SQLite as its default database system. It provides an ORM (Object-Relational Mapping) called Eloquent, which simplifies database query building and manipulation.

In contrast, MEAN stack leverages MongoDB, a NoSQL database, which stores data in a JSON-like document format. MongoDB's flexible data model allows for dynamic schema changes, making it suitable for agile development and handling unstructured data without complex migrations.

6. Client-Side Rendering:

Laravel, being a server-side framework, primarily focuses on server-side rendering. It generates the HTML templates on the server before sending them to the client's browser. This approach ensures progressive enhancement and better SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

MEAN stack, specifically AngularJS, excels in client-side rendering. With its powerful two-way data binding and component-based structure, AngularJS enables faster and more interactive client-side rendering. AngularJS also provides features like lazy loading and dynamic component rendering, enhancing the overall user experience.

In Summary, Laravel and MEAN stack differ in terms of architecture and languages, scalability and performance, community and ecosystem, learning curve and ease of development, database choice, and client-side rendering capabilities. Each framework caters to different development needs and preferences, providing unique features and advantages.

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Advice on Laravel, MEAN

Eva

Fullstack developer

Jul 28, 2020

Needs adviceon

Java

Spring Boot

JavaScript

Hello, I am a fullstack web developer. I have been working for a company with Java/ Spring Boot and client-side JavaScript(mainly jQuery, some AngularJS) for the past 4 years. As I wish to now work as a freelancer, I am faced with a dilemma: which stack to choose given my current knowledge and the state of the market?

I've heard PHP is very popular in the freelance world. I don't know PHP. However, I'm sure it wouldn't be difficult to learn since it has many similarities with Java (OOP). It seems to me that Laravel has similarities with Spring Boot (it's MVC and OOP). Also, people say Laravel works well with Vue.js, which is my favorite JS framework.

On the other hand, I already know the Javascript language, and I like Vue.js, so I figure I could go the fullstack Javascript route with ExpressJS. However, I am not sure if these techs are ripe for freelancing (with regards to RAD, stability, reliability, security, costs, etc.) Is it true that Express is almost always used with MongoDB? Because my experience is mostly with SQL databases.

The projects I would like to work on are custom web applications/websites for small businesses. I have developed custom ERPs before and found that Java was a good fit, except for it taking a long time to develop. I cannot make a choice, and I am constantly switching between trying PHP and Node.js/Express. Any real-world advice would be welcome! I would love to find a stack that I enjoy while doing meaningful freelance coding.

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Comments

washie

Developer at Bytecom

Jun 14, 2020

Decided

i find python quite resourceful. given the bulk of libraries that python has and the trends of the tech i find django which runs on python to be the framework of choice to the upcoming web services and application. Laravel on the other hand which is powered by PHP is also quite resourceful and great for startups and common web applications.

758k views758k

Comments

Mohammad

Oct 28, 2019

Needs adviceon

Node.js

Laravel

PHP

I want to create a video sharing service like Youtube, which users can use to upload and watch videos. I prefer to use Vue.js for front-end. What do you suggest for the back-end? @{Node.js}|tool:1011| or @{Laravel}|tool:992| ( @{PHP}|tool:991| ) I need a good performance with high speed, and the most important thing is the ability to handle user's requests if the site's traffic increases. I want to create an algorithm that users who watch others videos earn points (randomly but in clear context) If you have anything else to improve, please let me know. For eg: If you prefer React to Vue.js. Thanks in advance

309k views309k

Comments

Detailed Comparison

Laravel	MEAN
It is a web application framework with expressive, elegant syntax. It attempts to take the pain out of development by easing common tasks used in the majority of web projects, such as authentication, routing, sessions, and caching.	MEAN (Mongo, Express, Angular, Node) is a boilerplate that provides a nice starting point for MongoDB, Node.js, Express, and AngularJS based applications. It is designed to give you a quick and organized way to start developing MEAN based web apps with useful modules like Mongoose and Passport pre-bundled and configured.
Template Engine; MVC Architecture Support; Eloquent ORM (Object Relational Mapping); Security; Artisan; Libraries & Modular; Database Migration System; Unit-Testing	-
Statistics
GitHub Stars 82.6K	GitHub Stars 12.1K
GitHub Forks 24.6K	GitHub Forks 3.4K
Stacks 28.7K	Stacks 337
Followers 23.7K	Followers 617
Votes 3.9K	Votes 594
Pros & Cons
Pros 555 Clean architecture 392 Growing community 370 Composer friendly 344 Open source 325 The only framework to consider for php Cons 54 PHP 33 Too many dependency 23 Slower than the other two 17 A lot of static method calls for convenience 15 Too many include	Pros 86 Javascript 62 Easy 58 Nosql 52 Great community 50 Modularity
Integrations
PHP Django CodeIgniter CakePHP	MongoDB Node.js ExpressJS AngularJS

What are some alternatives to Laravel, MEAN?

Node.js

Node.js uses an event-driven, non-blocking I/O model that makes it lightweight and efficient, perfect for data-intensive real-time applications that run across distributed devices.

Rails

Rails is a web-application framework that includes everything needed to create database-backed web applications according to the Model-View-Controller (MVC) pattern.

Django

Django is a high-level Python Web framework that encourages rapid development and clean, pragmatic design.

.NET

.NET is a general purpose development platform. With .NET, you can use multiple languages, editors, and libraries to build native applications for web, mobile, desktop, gaming, and IoT for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and more.

ASP.NET Core

A free and open-source web framework, and higher performance than ASP.NET, developed by Microsoft and the community. It is a modular framework that runs on both the full .NET Framework, on Windows, and the cross-platform .NET Core.

Symfony

It is written with speed and flexibility in mind. It allows developers to build better and easy to maintain websites with PHP..

Spring

A key element of Spring is infrastructural support at the application level: Spring focuses on the "plumbing" of enterprise applications so that teams can focus on application-level business logic, without unnecessary ties to specific deployment environments.

Spring Boot

Spring Boot makes it easy to create stand-alone, production-grade Spring based Applications that you can "just run". We take an opinionated view of the Spring platform and third-party libraries so you can get started with minimum fuss. Most Spring Boot applications need very little Spring configuration.

Android SDK

Android provides a rich application framework that allows you to build innovative apps and games for mobile devices in a Java language environment.

Phoenix Framework

Phoenix is a framework for building HTML5 apps, API backends and distributed systems. Written in Elixir, you get beautiful syntax, productive tooling and a fast runtime.

Related Comparisons

Laravel vs MEAN

Overview

Laravel vs MEAN: What are the differences?

Introduction

1. Architecture and Languages:

2. Scalability and Performance:

3. Community and Ecosystem:

4. Learning Curve and Ease of Development:

5. Database:

6. Client-Side Rendering:

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Advice on Laravel, MEAN

Detailed Comparison

What are some alternatives to Laravel, MEAN?

Node.js

Rails

Django

.NET

ASP.NET Core

Symfony

Spring

Spring Boot

Android SDK

Phoenix Framework

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