When it comes to web app development, choosing the correct technology stack can be difficult. Although certain programming languages or frameworks may have been a fantastic fit for past projects, the ultimate choice should correspond to the current project needs. Because of the variety of technologies accessible, you must conduct a comprehensive study before making a final selection.

The ASP.NET vs PHP debate has been going on for a long time now. We are sure you must be feeling the heat of this confusion too. Therefore, we have written this article where we compare PHP and ASP.NET to rescue you from this predicament.

Difference Between PHP and ASP.NET

Speed & Performance

There is little difference in speed between a PHP-run site and an ASP.NET one. However, there still is a major misconception that site performance and speed are dependent on the platform. The truth is that the speed is determined by elements such as the database server, the end user's computer, and bandwidth.

Both ASP.NET and PHP are capable of running basic procedures and producing the appropriate outcomes such as

• Accessing file systems
• Locating pictures
• Displaying pages

There is another assumption that ASP.NET development is more advanced than PHP. Although PHP is not an easy language to learn, the fact that it runs massive websites like Facebook, MailChimp, WordPress, Etsy, etc puts the myth to rest. 

Scalability

There is almost no difference between the scalability aspect of PHP and ASP.NET. Therefore, the choice depends on the nature of your project and the expertise of the developers. 

PHP is a good choice for small and medium-sized businesses or startups with limited resources since it has a low learning curve and allows for the creation of highly scalable PHP-based web programs. If you already have an existing company and want to employ experts to create a highly scalable web app, you have the option to hire PHP developers or ASP.NET developers.

ASP.NET is a language that requires a high degree of skill. That makes finding a qualified ASP.NET developer a bit more difficult. But finding an experienced PHP developer isn't that hard.

Cost

PHP web development services are absolutely free to use, while ASP.NET, as a Microsoft product, has certain development costs.  You may need to purchase Windows OS, but if you use Mac or Linux, you can install ASP.NET using the Mono project.

There is a misconception that Windows hosting is costly. However, Microsoft currently offers free services and Windows servers cost approximately the same as Linux servers. Windows has supported open-source and cross-platform initiatives for some time now.

Security

Another significant distinction between ASP.NET and PHP is the security solutions available. Both technologies offer security features to developers.

ASP.NET contains pre-installed security features like SQL injection so it handles all the work for the developers. On the other hand, PHP web application development provides tools that developers can use to secure the app. 

So, as far as security is concerned, both ASP.NET and PHP have enough safety measures to make the app safe.

Tools

There are many wonderful and free IDEs available, such as Eclipse for PHP. But any PHP web development company will tell you that its developers prefer text editors like Notepad++ and VIM. For ASP.NET, there are a variety of IDEs that it supports. But they might not be free and are only compatible with Microsoft Visual Studio.

The good news is that ASP.NET IDEs come with a wide range of features and functions that may make programming a breeze. In terms of learning, ASP.NET is difficult to understand because it is written in C#, whereas PHP is simple.

Market Share

The biggest difference between PHP and ASP.NET is in the market share. As of 2022, around 77.3% of websites use PHP whereas only 7.6% of websites use ASP.NET. This shows that PHP enjoys huge popularity over ASP.NET. 

But if we compare the usage, we will notice that ASP.NET development is mostly used for websites that experience huge amounts of traffic.

Community Support

In comparison to ASP.NET, PHP is open-source and has far more active developers. But both have a large development community with thousands of developers who routinely post to forums. If you ever face a problem with PHP web development services or ASP.NET, both communities will actively help you out with it.

Given that the ASP.NET community is largely made up of devoted developers, the number of support contributors available to post at any given moment may be slightly smaller than that of PHP. On the PHP forums and communities, you could get a faster answer.

ASP.NET vs PHP: Which is Better?

Both PHP and ASP.NET are incredibly good at what they do, and developers may freely select between them depending on the needs of the development process. PHP has a large user base and is a free framework to use. ASP.NET, on the other hand, is expected to grow in popularity in the future since it is backed by Microsoft.

If you are still confused about which technology to use, you can contact us. Narola Infotech is a PHP development company with over 16 years of experience. Our developers have worked on enough projects to figure out which programming language will be suitable for a project. Feel free to contact our experts at any time to discuss your requirements.