Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

PHP VS Elixir

Compare PHP VS Elixir and see what are their differences

PHP logo PHP

A popular general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited to web development

Elixir logo Elixir

Dynamic, functional language designed for building scalable and maintainable applications
  • PHP Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-07-21

We recommend LibHunt PHP for discovery and comparisons of trending PHP projects.

  • Elixir Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-07-20

We recommend LibHunt Elixir for discovery and comparisons of trending Elixir projects.

PHP features and specs

  • Cost-Effective
    PHP is an open-source language, meaning it is free to use. This helps reduce the overall cost of a project.
  • Large Community
    PHP has a large and active community. This means vast amounts of documentation, tutorials, and third-party resources are available.
  • Cross-Platform
    PHP is platform-independent and can run on various operating systems like Windows, Linux, and macOS.
  • Database Support
    PHP supports a wide range of databases including MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite, and more.
  • Speed
    PHP is generally fast, especially when used with built-in tools and extensions. It integrates easily with web servers like Apache.
  • Built-in Functions
    PHP comes with a vast range of built-in functions and libraries, which makes developing common functionalities easier and faster.
  • Server-Side Scripting
    PHP is designed specifically for server-side scripting, making it well-suited for web development.

Possible disadvantages of PHP

  • Security
    If not properly managed, PHP applications can be vulnerable to security threats like SQL injection, XSS, and others.
  • Inconsistency
    PHP's function naming and parameter ordering can be inconsistent, which can make the language difficult to learn and use efficiently.
  • Performance
    While fast for many tasks, PHP can struggle with performance for high-resource applications compared to other languages like Node.js or Python.
  • Error Handling
    Error handling in PHP is less efficient and more cumbersome compared to modern languages like Python or JavaScript.
  • Concurrency
    PHP lacks native support for multi-threading, which can be a limitation for applications requiring high concurrency.
  • Old Codebases
    Many older PHP applications use outdated coding practices, making maintaining and updating them more difficult and costly.
  • Type System
    PHP historically had a weak typing system, though recent versions have introduced better type support, it's still a drawback for older codebases.

Elixir features and specs

  • Concurrency
    Elixir leverages the Erlang VM (BEAM) for exceptional concurrency support, making it suitable for scalable and fault-tolerant applications.
  • Fault Tolerance
    Built-in supervision trees in Elixir allow for robust fault tolerance, enabling applications to recover gracefully from errors.
  • Performance
    Elixir boasts impressive performance characteristics, especially for I/O-bound operations, thanks to its efficient concurrency model.
  • Ecosystem
    Elixir’s ecosystem, including the Phoenix framework, provides a rich set of libraries and tools for web development and more.
  • Syntax
    Elixir’s syntax is clean and modern, making it more approachable for developers coming from Ruby or other high-level languages.
  • Metaprogramming
    Elixir supports powerful metaprogramming capabilities, enabling DSLs and macros to add custom functionalities in a seamless manner.
  • Scalability
    Elixir applications can scale vertically and horizontally with ease, making it a good choice for growing applications that need to handle increased load.

Possible disadvantages of Elixir

  • Learning Curve
    Despite its approachable syntax, Elixir’s concurrency and fault-tolerant models can be challenging for developers to master.
  • Ecosystem Maturity
    While growing, the Elixir ecosystem isn’t as mature or extensive as that of languages like Python or JavaScript, which might limit available libraries or community support.
  • Tooling
    The tooling around Elixir, while adequate, may not be as polished or feature-rich as in more established languages.
  • Performance
    Although strong in handling concurrent operations, Elixir may not outperform languages like C++ or Go in CPU-bound tasks.
  • Hiring
    Finding experienced Elixir developers can be difficult compared to more prevalent languages like JavaScript or Python, potentially limiting hiring pools.
  • Resource Usage
    Applications built with Elixir can consume more memory compared to applications written in more low-level languages.
  • Framework Dependency
    Reliance on the Phoenix framework means that projects are often tightly coupled to it, which might limit flexibility.

PHP videos

Is PHP a SCAM? Watch this VIDEO Before You Join!

More videos:

  • Review - For PHP Agents - Advice On Making The Most Of Your Insurance Sales Career

Elixir videos

Product Review: Elixir - Finally, something good?

More videos:

  • Review - REVIEW SENAR GITAR AKUSTIK TERMAHAL (ELIXIR NANOWEB PHOSPOR BRONZE) ORIGINAL
  • Review - As Seen on IG | Episode 1 | KO Elixir Cream | One Month Update | Product Review

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to PHP and Elixir)
Programming Language
38 38%
62% 62
OOP
42 42%
58% 58
Generic Programming Language
Languages
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

Share your experience with using PHP and Elixir. 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 PHP and Elixir

PHP Reviews

Top 10 Rust Alternatives
PHP is another general purpose-based computing language. This language is mostly found in HTML. It is usually used for the management of content that is based on dynamic information.
Top 20 Javascript Libraries
As the name suggests, JsPHP is a Javascript library for PHP API to be available in the JS environment. It is open-source and provides a compelling interface for JS developers who work in PHP. JsPHP can work in tandem with other libraries in an application. JsPHP supports PHP functions, including regular expressions, date-time evaluations, JSON, error handling, object...
Source: hackr.io
The 10 Best Programming Languages to Learn Today
What kind of development projects do you want to work on? If career flexibility is a priority, learning Python or C++ will allow you to work across different types of programming. If your passion is web development, learning JavaScript or PHP is a smart choice.
Source: ict.gov.ge

Elixir Reviews

Top 10 Rust Alternatives
Elixir is a functional and all-purpose programming language. It is believed to operate on BEAM and uses the imposition of a programming language known as Erlang. This language is typed dynamically and strongly.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Elixir should be more popular than PHP. It has been mentiond 82 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.

PHP mentions (54)

  • The Lost Art of Reading Documentation
    I remember being 15 (18 years ago 🥲) and learning PHP. Stack Overflow wasn’t as big yet, and finding answers often meant digging through forums filled with half-baked solutions, each dependent on specific hosting configurations. There was no universal standard, some hosts supported certain php.ini settings while others didn’t. The only reliable resource? The official PHP documentation: php.net. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • Using named arguments in php8 and up
    That's the first I've heard of it, and I like it! I can't tell you the number of trips to php.net to look at argument order for a function. Is it haystack/needle, or needle/haystack? Of course it could turn into the same thing w/ argument names (is it whole_name or full_name?), but I'm going to use it. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • How to display results from multiple SQL queries in the same table cell?
    Prepare to spend a fair bit of time reading and going back to phptherightway.com and php.net. I've also found this Tutorial from Envato Tuts+ to be quite good. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Beginner searching for set up resources
    All I want to do with php is to have a recurring navbar on a website. I don't know what to do next. So far I've tried php.net's manual, w3scchool's tutorial and the set up part of first five recommended php tutorials on youtube. I have also spent hours on stackoverflow, which got me even more confused. The more I read, the less nothing makes sense to me and I don't know where the problem is. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • date_format crashing on NULL values after upgrade to PHP 8.x
    I tried looking at the upgrade from 7.4 to 8.0 docs on php.net but I don't see anything regarding any changes to this function. Any ideas? Source: almost 2 years ago
View more

Elixir mentions (82)

  • Exploring elixir processes using merge sort
    Elixir runs on the Erlang VM, known for creating low latency, distributed, and fault-tolerant systems. Elixir Docs. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • Building a Simple REST API with Elixir
    This guide will walk you through creating a basic REST API using Elixir and Phoenix Framework with thorough comments explaining each piece of code. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • An overview of Elixir from C# developer
    Recently, I discovered a programming language called Elixir. Elixir is described as a dynamic, functional language for building scalable and maintainable applications. - Source: dev.to / 2 months ago
  • ABEND dump #15
    The first time I saw and used something similar was using doctests in Elixir 3 years ago, but cram tests are much more versatile. In dune, you can use whichever executable binary. You can make your documentation executable. How cool is that!? - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • How to use queue data structure in programming
    Knowing this information, we can start writing our implementation of this data structure. The easiest way to implement this will be through another data structure, an array. To implement this, I will use Elixir, a dynamic, functional programming language that has absorbed the best programming patterns, and I like it a lot. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing PHP and Elixir, you can also consider the following products

Python - Python is a clear and powerful object-oriented programming language, comparable to Perl, Ruby, Scheme, or Java.

Rust - A safe, concurrent, practical language

JavaScript - Lightweight, interpreted, object-oriented language with first-class functions

Java - A concurrent, class-based, object-oriented, language specifically designed to have as few implementation dependencies as possible

Clojure - Clojure is a dynamic, general-purpose programming language, combining the approachability and interactive development of a scripting language with an efficient and robust infrastructure for multithreaded programming.

Ruby - A dynamic, interpreted, open source programming language with a focus on simplicity and productivity