Laravel vs CMS
Laravel enables developers to create bespoke admin user areas, online payments, user authentication, full text searches… the options available to developers using Laravel are vast.
Ever since we were founded in 2003, Adido has always built websites to meet the exact needs of our clients. Building a bespoke website is in our DNA. Over the years of working with PHP, things have changed considerably, with bespoke development projects getting faster and easier to manage thanks to the huge advances in tools available.
Laravel has been around for nearly a decade now and gives our web development team a brilliant base to start building websites from. What used to take a week of time from our web developers can now be added and ready to go in a matter of hours.
Whilst we advocate the use of off the shelf CMS’ like MODX, Craft or Silverstripe, sometimes taking something pre-built and reworking it to meet a client’s needs creates more problems than it solves.
Unfortunately we see this far too often where a website is developed with little thought for the future because it is ‘cheaper’ only to then become redundant in the future. A cheap Wordpress site might work well for a year or two but once the business evolves and user needs change, you can often end up with layers of complexity which make even making a small development change potentially hazardous!
Psst ...
Over 115,000 domains are powered by Laravel (SimilarTech)
Laravel web developers
For us, we always take a lot of time to understand the strategic goals of our clients but also the user needs and experience in order to create a website that meets both needs.
And to do that, often a CMS will not meet those needs out of the box. This is where Laravel comes in. And these are the right guys for the job! Mark is also a Laravel certified developer, so you're in safe hands.
Meet some of the team that make it all happen
When a CMS is not enough. The benefits of Laravel
Widely used PHP framework
Laravel makes website development easy as there are so many easy to use and understand pieces of PHP code available without the need to develop them yourself! Most web developers who understand PHP will have used Laravel at some point in their career as it is the most widely used framework available. This means that should you wish to take your website in-house in the future, you won’t be stuck finding an expert to help.
The ability to do it all
We’ve built many large and complex websites using Laravel to meet the specific needs of our clients. Previously all websites were individually built, which led to them becoming hard to manage, insecure and unsafe, Laravel, however, gives us the ability to create websites that are far more robust, secure and easy to update. By using the most common web development framework on the internet, you’re benefiting from years of web development effort without any of the cost.
Our Laravel web development team can handle all of the development as well as the web hosting set up to ensure that the code runs as fast as possible, helping to boost conversion rates and Google rankings.
No licensing fees
The other great thing about using Laravel for your website development project is that it carries no licensing fees which allows you to run your own website with no additional costs, unlike many CMS systems, which often come with hefty annual user licences. Once your website is built with Laravel, there are no ongoing charges, except to your web development agency when changes are needed of course.
Easier to pass the baton
If your website or CMS does need to change, it can all be done using standard PHP, meaning you can rest easy knowing that almost any web developer can make changes with minimal fuss.
What our clients say ...
"The Adido team are very personable. Working with them you get the expertise of a large agency, but benefit from the rapport of a smaller agency"
"Adido were great to work with, from design through to build they were hardworking, supportive and enthusiastic. They delivered both websites on time, within budget and we look forward to working with them on an ongoing basis!"
Your Laravel web development agency
We have been developing websites using Laravel for over seven years and have worked on a wide range of websites in this time. Some of the websites we’ve developed were built previously by other developers and as such our job was to take them over, update and improve them to meet changes to our client needs. Other long term Laravel projects were designed from scratch in our web development studio and are still running just as well now as the day they were launched.
If you are looking for a web development team with experience working in a variety of Laravel versions from Laravel 5 up to Laravel 9 (and shortly Laravel 10) and want to understand how to move from one version to another (and why you should do so) then get in contact with us and one of our web developers will be happy to have a chat with you.
Laravel Maintenance and Support
Website maintenance is crucial in order to continue to provide consistent user experience. If you are looking for a Laravel web development team to maintain and support your existing project, get in touch with us. Our Laravel support services include:
- Version upgrades
- Bug fixes
- Software Patching
- Website backups
- Security reviews
Websites powered by Laravel
Laravel Development Frequently Asked Questions
What is Laravel?
Laravel is an open source PHP framework often favoured by web developers when creating web applications due to its vast set of functionalities. It’s been around for over a decade now and has emerged to be the leading web development framework in use today. It’s grown in popularity due to its security, speed and simplicity, and is our go-to whenever we build bespoke web projects.
Should I use an off the shelf CMS or Laravel for my website?
Ask almost any good web Laravel developer and they will often say ‘it depends!’ Whilst this might be a frustrating answer, it is nearly always the right one. Making the choice between an off the shelf CMS and a bespoke Laravel project can only really be made once the full website requirements are understood. We approach every project by understanding the goals of our client and explore the benefits of using something off the shelf against a bespoke Laravel build. We think about the functionality needed, the initial investment and ongoing maintenance costs over time and try to propose the best solution possible, even if it’s not what is asked for in the website project brief. Often a Laravel project is best undertaken when a project is complex, requires many third-party integrations or has to meet specific performance requirements or functionality. The best way to find out though is to speak to a Laravel expert (like one of our team!) to get the answer you need.
Will Laravel improve my website user experience?
Creating a great user experience online is the priority for every website project, but using Laravel isn’t a guarantee that this will happen. To maximise your user experience, a full UX development process should be followed, and the front end code should be optimised to ensure pages load as fast as possible. However, using Laravel allows your web project to offer enhanced functionality, remove any restrictions that you might get with off the shelf systems and design a website that is user-first, rather than developer-first.
Can you use Laravel to build apps?
The short answer is no. Laravel is a web development framework used to build bespoke website projects. It is often referred to as a back end development framework which is separate to the front end code that is typically built in HTML using modern web coding practises to present the code and content separately. Therefore, it’s not possible to build apps with Laravel, however the logic and functionality used in your website and built in Laravel can be linked to a front end language used in apps (such as React). We did just this in our work for Dine Club and this flexibility has helped us evolve and grow their business online over many years.
