Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Babel VS Symfony

Compare Babel VS Symfony and see what are their differences

Babel logo Babel

Babel is a compiler for writing next generation JavaScript.

Symfony logo Symfony

A PHP full-stack web framework
  • Babel Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-04-02
  • Symfony Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-21

Babel features and specs

  • JavaScript Version Compatibility
    Babel allows developers to write code using the latest JavaScript features and syntax, and transpile it into a version of JavaScript that can run on older browsers. This ensures greater compatibility across different environments.
  • Future-Proof Code
    With Babel, developers can start using upcoming JavaScript features today. This means that codebases can stay modern and developers can take advantage of new functionalities without waiting for full browser support.
  • Ecosystem and Plugins
    Babel has a rich ecosystem of plugins and presets that can extend its capabilities, making it highly adaptable to different project needs. This modularity allows for customization and enhancement of the build process.
  • Integration with Modern Development Tools
    Babel integrates well with various development tools such as Webpack, making it easier to include in existing build processes and workflows. This helps streamline development and maintain efficient workflows.
  • Community and Support
    Babel has a large and active community, which means extensive documentation, tutorials, and support forums. This can be particularly useful for troubleshooting and staying updated with best practices.

Possible disadvantages of Babel

  • Performance Overhead
    Transpiling code with Babel introduces a performance overhead during the build process. This can slow down development workflows, especially for large codebases with many files.
  • Configuration Complexity
    Setting up Babel can be complex, particularly for beginners. The numerous options and plugins available can sometimes be overwhelming and require significant time to configure correctly.
  • Source Map Issues
    Generating accurate source maps can sometimes be tricky with Babel, leading to difficulties in debugging. Misconfigured source maps can make it harder to track down issues within the original source code.
  • Dependency Bloat
    Including Babel in a project can add a significant number of dependencies. This dependency bloat can increase the size of the project and potentially introduce maintenance challenges or security vulnerabilities.
  • Learning Curve
    There is a learning curve associated with Babel, especially for developers who are new to modern JavaScript tooling. Understanding how Babel works and how to effectively use its features can take time and effort.

Symfony features and specs

  • Robust Framework
    Symfony is a comprehensive and robust PHP framework that provides a wide range of tools and features for web application development, making it suitable for projects of all sizes.
  • Modular Architecture
    Symfony's component-based architecture allows developers to use only the components they need, providing flexibility and reducing overhead.
  • Community Support
    With a large and active community, Symfony offers extensive documentation, tutorials, and third-party libraries, making it easier for developers to find help and resources.
  • Scalability
    Symphony is designed to scale easily, enabling developers to build large, complex applications that can handle high traffic and user loads.
  • Performance Optimization
    Optimized for performance, Symfony includes advanced features such as caching, Lazy Loading, and HTTP cache proxies to enhance application speed and efficiency.
  • Standardization
    Symfony adheres to PHP and web development standards, ensuring that the codebase is clean, maintainable, and compatible with other standards-compliant tools.

Possible disadvantages of Symfony

  • Steep Learning Curve
    For beginners, Symfony can be challenging to learn due to its extensive features and complexity, requiring a significant time investment to master.
  • Performance Overhead
    Although Symfony is optimized for performance, its rich feature set can create overhead, potentially impacting performance if not managed correctly.
  • Initial Setup
    Setting up a Symfony project can be daunting, especially for developers who are new to the framework, due to the amount of configuration and dependencies needed.
  • Documentation Overload
    While extensive documentation is beneficial, the sheer volume can be overwhelming for new developers trying to find specific information quickly.
  • Dependency Management
    Symfony requires careful management of dependencies, and keeping track of updates and compatibility can be burdensome, especially in large projects.
  • Cost
    Though Symfony itself is free, developing with Symfony can incur costs if advanced features and commercial bundles are required, adding financial overhead to the project.

Analysis of Babel

Overall verdict

  • Yes, Babel is widely considered a good tool for modern JavaScript development. It eases the use of cutting-edge JavaScript features and ensures broader compatibility, which is crucial for many projects. Its active community and continuous updates reflect its standing as a reliable and well-supported choice.

Why this product is good

  • Babel is a popular JavaScript compiler that allows developers to use the latest JavaScript features while maintaining compatibility with older environments that may not support these features natively. It transforms modern JavaScript code into a version that can run in current and older browsers or environments. Babel is highly configurable and has a rich ecosystem of plugins and presets that enable developers to tailor it to their specific needs, making development smoother and more efficient.

Recommended for

    Babel is recommended for web developers who want to write modern JavaScript but need to ensure that their code remains functional across different environments and older browsers. It is also valuable for projects where developers aspire to use the latest ECMAScript features without waiting for broad native support.

Analysis of Symfony

Overall verdict

  • Yes, Symfony is considered a good framework, particularly suitable for enterprise-level projects. Its focus on developer efficiency, maintainability, and quality work makes it a reliable option for many development needs.

Why this product is good

  • Symfony is known for its robustness, scalability, and flexibility, making it a popular choice among developers for building complex and high-performance web applications. It adheres to best practices and standards in PHP development, offers a comprehensive set of reusable components, and has strong community support which ensures continuous improvements and security updates.

Recommended for

  • Enterprise applications
  • Developers who prefer PHP
  • Projects requiring long-term support and maintenance
  • Teams looking for modular and reusable components
  • Applications that need to scale over time

Babel videos

Babel - Movie Review

More videos:

  • Review - Day 16 | Babel Review | 365 Films
  • Review - Worth The Hype? - BABEL Review
  • Review - Book CommuniTEA: Is BABEL a rac1st mani!fest0? [you should know the answer]
  • Review - Babel is a Masterpiece, And Here's Why

Symfony videos

Symfony IOL Video Review

More videos:

  • Review - Symfony vs Panoptix. Which is the BEST Lens for Cataract and Laser Lens Replacement Surgery?
  • Tutorial - [1/9] - Beginners Symfony 4 Tutorial - Getting Started With Symfony 4

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Babel and Symfony)
Development Tools
65 65%
35% 35
Javascript UI Libraries
65 65%
35% 35
Libraries And Widgets
55 55%
45% 45
JavaScript Framework
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

Share your experience with using Babel and Symfony. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
Log in or Post with

Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Babel and Symfony

Babel Reviews

We have no reviews of Babel yet.
Be the first one to post

Symfony Reviews

Laravel vs. Symfony: A Comprehensive Comparison of PHP Frameworks
Symfony, introduced by Fabien Potencier in 2005, is a mature and highly configurable PHP framework that is also based on the MVC pattern. Symfony emphasizes reusability and flexibility, offering a set of decoupled and reusable PHP components that can be used independently or together as part of a full-stack framework. It’s designed to be highly scalable and is favored for...
Top 5 Laravel Alternatives
Due to its C-based framework extension, Phalcon is among the most efficient and rapid PHP frameworks available. However, Laravel is a slower framework since it relies heavily on PHP and Symfony. The performance and speed of Phalcon are superior to those of Laravel Alternatives.
10 Ruby on Rails Alternatives For Web Development in 2022
Unlike Laravel, Symfony provides developers with full control over the configuration. With Symfony, programmers have to customize everything from the directory structure to the foreign libraries by themselves. For MVP projects a necessity to set up everything from the scratch is a disadvantage; for the enterprise application, absolute control is a benefit. Extra time spent...
The Most Popular PHP Frameworks to Use in 2021
The best way to interact with your databases is via the Doctrine ORM. Symfony uses data mappers to map objects to the database. This keeps your object model and the database schema separate, meaning that if you change a database column you don’t need to make many changes in your codebase.
Source: kinsta.com
Top 9 PHP Frameworks For Web Development In 2021
PHP Benchmarks rank Symfony at number 3 in the list of PHP frameworks for web development. With 24.5k+ GitHub stars, Symfony is not just a PHP web development framework but also provides a set of 50 stand-alone reusable PHP components for faster web app development. Using Symfony, you can develop web applications, microservices, and APIs too. With commercial support from...

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Babel seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 147 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Babel mentions (147)

  • Valentine’s Day Breakup: React Dumps Create React App
    Create React App (CRA) is a command-line interface tool that allows developers to set up a React project easily. It primarily serves as a project scaffolding tool, allowing you to create a new project with a single command: npx create-react-app . CRA comes with tools like Webpack and Babel, which handle the bundling and transpiling of code. The tools are pre-configured. It comes with a development server that... - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • #wecode Landing Page - WeCoded Challenge March 2025
    @vitejs/plugin-react uses Babel for Fast Refresh. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • You Don’t Know JS Yet: My Weekly Journey Through JavaScript Mastery
    For new and incompatible syntax, the solution is transpiling—converting newer JS syntax to older syntax that can run on older engines. The most popular transpiler? Babel. This process ensures modern JS code can still reach a wide audience, even on legacy systems. - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • Desktop apps for Windows XP in 2025
    Fortunately we have tools like PostCSS and Babel, that let you target your specific Browser version, and they'll do their best to transpile and polyfill your code to work with that version. This alone will do a lot of the heavy lifting for you if you are working with a lot of code. However, if you are just writing out a few HTML, CSS, and JS files, then that would be overkill and you can just figure out what code... - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • The Tools and APIs That Made My GeoGuessr 🌍 Project Possible
    Cross-Browser Compatibility: Some features worked differently across browsers. I used Babel to transpile my JavaScript code, ensuring it worked consistently everywhere. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
View more

Symfony mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of Symfony yet. Tracking of Symfony recommendations started around Mar 2021.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Babel and Symfony, you can also consider the following products

jQuery - The Write Less, Do More, JavaScript Library.

React Native - A framework for building native apps with React

Composer - Composer is a tool for dependency management in PHP.

OpenSSL - OpenSSL is a free and open source software cryptography library that implements both the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and the Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocols, which are primarily used to provide secure communications between web browsers and …

Raven.js - Raven.js is a standalone JavaScript client for Sentry.

jQuery UI - Curated set of user interface interactions, effects, widgets, and themes built on top of the jQuery JavaScript Library