Laravel vs Sails.js: What are the differences?

Introduction

This Markdown code provides a comparison between Laravel and Sails.js, highlighting key differences between the two frameworks.

1. Architecture: Laravel is a PHP-based framework that follows the MVC (Model-View-Controller) architectural pattern. It provides a structured approach to develop web applications. On the other hand, Sails.js is a Node.js framework that uses the MVC pattern as well, but it follows a more event-driven architecture with a focus on real-time apps using WebSockets.

2. Language: Laravel is written in PHP, a server-side scripting language widely used for web development. Sails.js, on the other hand, is written in JavaScript, which is a versatile and widely adopted programming language both in front-end and back-end development.

3. Database Connectivity: Laravel has built-in support for multiple databases, including MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite, and SQL Server. It provides an expressive query builder and ORM (Object-Relational Mapping) called Eloquent. Sails.js also supports multiple databases, but it leverages the Waterline ORM, which provides a consistent API for working with different databases and data sources, including MongoDB, MySQL, PostgreSQL, and Redis.

4. Community and Ecosystem: Laravel has a large and active community with extensive documentation, tutorials, and a marketplace for third-party packages. It has a plethora of pre-built functionalities and an extensive ecosystem that makes it easy to find solutions for various requirements. Sails.js, while also having an active community, may have a smaller ecosystem compared to Laravel due to its relatively younger age.

5. Real-time functionality: Sails.js has a strong focus on real-time functionality, making it ideal for building chat applications, collaborative tools, and other real-time systems. It provides a powerful WebSocket integration and supports real-time data synchronization out of the box. Laravel, while not specifically designed for real-time applications, can also handle real-time functionality using third-party packages like Pusher.

6. Performance: Laravel provides excellent performance with optimizations like route caching, opcode caching, and query indexing. It is known for its speed and efficiency in processing web requests. Sails.js, being built on top of Node.js, benefits from the event-driven, non-blocking I/O architecture, which makes it highly scalable and able to handle a large number of concurrent connections efficiently.

In summary, Laravel and Sails.js differ in architectural patterns, programming languages, database connectivity, community size, real-time capabilities, and performance, making each framework suitable for specific use cases and development requirements.