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Symfony VS Apache Tomcat

Compare Symfony VS Apache Tomcat and see what are their differences

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Symfony logo Symfony

A PHP full-stack web framework

Apache Tomcat logo Apache Tomcat

An open source software implementation of the Java Servlet and JavaServer Pages technologies
  • Symfony Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-21
  • Apache Tomcat Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-01-24

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.

Apache Tomcat features and specs

  • Open Source
    Apache Tomcat is an open-source software, which means it is freely available for use and modifications. This can significantly reduce the cost of ownership and allows for customization.
  • Community Support
    Being a widely-used open-source server, Tomcat has a large and active community of developers and users who contribute to its documentation, plugins, and forums, providing extensive support.
  • Lightweight
    Tomcat is designed to be a lightweight servlet container, making it faster and less resource-intensive compared to full-blown Java EE application servers.
  • Integration with Popular Frameworks
    Tomcat integrates well with popular Java frameworks such as Spring and Hibernate, making it easier for developers to deploy and manage web applications.
  • Easy to Set Up and Configure
    Tomcat is relatively easy to set up and configure, making it suitable for both development and production environments.
  • Frequent Updates
    Regular updates and patches are released to improve performance, security, and compatibility, ensuring the server is up-to-date with the latest web technologies.

Possible disadvantages of Apache Tomcat

  • Limited Functionality
    While Tomcat is a powerful servlet container, it lacks some of the advanced features found in full-fledged Java EE application servers, which might be necessary for complex enterprise applications.
  • Resource Management
    Tomcat's default configuration might not be suitable for high traffic web applications, requiring significant tweaking and tuning to handle heavy loads effectively.
  • Documentation Quality
    The documentation, while extensive, can sometimes be hard to navigate and understand, especially for beginners. This can slow down the learning curve.
  • Limited Built-in Tools
    Compared to other full-stack application servers, Tomcat comes with limited built-in tooling for monitoring, load balancing, and clustering, often requiring third-party solutions.
  • Security Concerns
    As with any open-source project, security vulnerabilities may emerge. It requires constant monitoring and timely updates to ensure security.
  • Lack of EJB Support
    Tomcat does not support Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB), limiting its use in scenarios where EJB is a crucial component of the architecture.

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

Apache Tomcat videos

Introducing Apache Tomcat 8.5

More videos:

  • Review - Webinar: Introduction to Apache Tomcat 8
  • Review - Tcat - The Leading Enterprise Apache Tomcat Application Server

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Symfony and Apache Tomcat)
Development Tools
100 100%
0% 0
Web And Application Servers
Javascript UI Libraries
100 100%
0% 0
Application Server
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

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

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...

Apache Tomcat Reviews

FOSS | Top 15 Web Servers 2021
Java programs are run using Apache Tomcat. To be more precise, it is a Java servlet – a Java software component that expands the functionality of a web server. Apache Tomcat, released under the Apache License version 2, is used by 0.1% of websites worldwide.
Source: www.zentao.pm
4 Open Source Application Servers (Comparison and Review)
Apache Tomcat is an open-source implementation of several Java technologies. It is the result of a collaboration of the finest developers worldwide. You can get involved with the development in a number of ways.
Source: shadow-soft.com
Top 5 open source web servers
Apache Tomcat is an open source Java servlet container that functions as a web server. A Java servlet is a Java program that extends the capabilities of a server. Although servlets can respond to any types of requests, they most commonly implement applications hosted on Web servers. Such web servlets are the Java counterpart to other dynamic web content technologies such as...
Source: opensource.com
Top 10 Open Source Java and JavaEE Application Servers
It is built upon a modular kernel powered by OSGi, and runs straight on top of the Apache Felix implementation. It is also capable of running with Equinox OSGi or Knopflerfish OSGi runtimes. HK2 abstracts the OSGi module system to provide components, which can also be viewed as services and injected into the run time and uses a derivative of Apache Tomcat as the servlet...

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Apache Tomcat seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 17 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.

Symfony mentions (0)

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

Apache Tomcat mentions (17)

  • Java News: WildFly 36, Spring Milestones, and Open Liberty Updates
    Versions 11.0.6 and 9.0.104 of Apache Tomcat deliver new features and improvements. The release notes can be found for both versions. - Source: dev.to / 26 days ago
  • Artifactory: Centralizing Artifact Management for DevOps Success
    Download and Install Tomcat Before downloading, confirm the latest Tomcat build package from the official website. - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
  • How to Deploy Applications Using Tomcat on a Web Server
    First, download the latest version of Tomcat from the official Apache Tomcat website. Choose the version that suits your needs, typically the latest stable release. - Source: dev.to / 11 months ago
  • Spring Boot Monitoring with Open-Source Tools
    Manual instrumentation allows you to define your Spans within the code itself rather than relying on automatic instrumentation finding the entry point for a trace. Manual instrumentation is especially helpful for applications that don’t use an application server such as Tomcat, JBoss, or Jetty. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • Issue with chatgpy
    99% is a huge exaggeration. Two essential deployment tools off the top of my head: Https://tomcat.apache.org/ Https://docs.jboss.org/author/display/AS71/Developer%20Guide.html. Source: about 2 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

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

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

LiteSpeed Web Server - LiteSpeed Web Server (LSWS) is a high-performance Apache drop-in replacement.

React Native - A framework for building native apps with React

Microsoft IIS - Internet Information Services is a web server for Microsoft Windows

Babel - Babel is a compiler for writing next generation JavaScript.

Apache HTTP Server - Apache httpd has been the most popular web server on the Internet since April 1996