Choosing the right technology stack for your web app is like selecting the perfect weapon in your coding arsenal. PHP, Python, and Ruby on Rails are strong contenders with unique strengths.
But which one should you pick?
It’s a question many entrepreneurs analyze. Like other decisions, it depends on the business’s requirements and the application’s nature. Many factors are considered, including scalability, development speed, security, popularity among developers, ease of learning, etc.
However, you can make an appropriate decision about the language of your app based on current trends and statistics.
So, Let’s compare PHP, Python, and Ruby on Rails to find the perfect fit for your next web app.
Table of Contents
Understanding PHP, Python, and Ruby
PHP
PHP has been around for over 20 years and dominates the market for dynamic websites. It has been the most popular web app development language for many years and is currently implemented on over 80 million websites. Powering some of the biggest sites on the internet, it is also an integral part of content management systems like Drupal, which powers 10s of millions of additional websites.
The PHP ecosystem is enormous. There are many open-source PHP frameworks to choose from, with Laravel being one of the most popular. Zend, Symfony, CakePHP, and CodeIgniter are other popular PHP web app development frameworks. To know more, connect with us to hire our PHP developers.
Python
Python has been around since the 1990s and is a modern programming language for general-purpose programming and web development. Reddit, Pinterest, Instagram, and YouTube currently use Python as the back-end framework for their websites.
The programming language has a small but significant community of developers developing excellent open-source frameworks for web app development in Python. Django, Flask, Pyramid, and Bottle are some of Python’s most popular web app frameworks. You can also hire Python developers for professional guidance.
Ruby
Ruby is a general-purpose, object-oriented programming language created in Japan in 1995. It was created as an alternative to Java and has gained popularity over the years. Hulu, Groupon, Slideshare, Scribd, and Github trust Ruby for their website.
Ruby on Rails is the most reliable, popular web app development framework for Ruby. It powers some of the most significant websites on the Internet. It’s a full-stack framework covering all web app development aspects, including HTML rendering, routing, testing, data modeling, etc.
Having covered the insights into the most popular web app development technologies (PHP, Python, Ruby).
Now it’s time to analyze PHP vs. Python vs. Ruby on factors like:
- Market Share
- Popular Websites Using These Languages
- Usability
- Learning Curve
- Popularity Comparison
- Performance Comparison
- Most Discussed Language
- Job Posting & Salary
Partner with PixelCrayons for expert guidance in selecting the ideal language.
Comparison of PHP vs. Python vs. Ruby
As each language has unique characteristics, here is a detailed comparison between PHP vs. Python vs. Ruby.
1. PHP vs Python vs Ruby: Total Market Share
Usage statistics & market share of any programming language give you an idea of the popularity of that language among the masses. It’s a good metric to gauge the acceptance of that language among users.
According to Statista, Python was the most popular software programming language worldwide in 2023, with a market share of 49.28%. PHP was ranked 18.58% in popularity.
According to W3 Techs, Ruby’s usage market share is anticipated at 5.8% of all websites in 2024.
Winner: Python
2. PHP vs. Python vs. Ruby: Website Built Using These
Many clients, such as Wikipedia, Facebook, and PixelCrayons, have chosen PHP web development. On the other hand, Ruby-on-Rails has reputed clients, including Twitter, Hulu, Groupon, etc. In addition, the kings of search engines, Google, YouTube, etc., are made using Python coding.
Winner: Tie
3. PHP vs. Python vs. Ruby: Usability
Programming Language usability is one of the essential factors you should consider before choosing it for your website development project. Almost all programming languages form an interface between computer and user, and a. language with high usability helps write short programs quickly. Selecting the right programming language requires comparing the language features with the project requirements.
The less complicated your programming language is, the easier it will be for users to learn & handle.
According to the W3 Techs 2024 report, PHP stands in 1st place, whereas Ruby is in 2nd place and Python is in 8th place among websites using server-side programming languages. The evolution of Ruby on Rails has led to significant advantages over other languages due to its simplicity.
Winner: PHP
4. PHP vs. Python vs. Ruby: Learning Curve
Ease of learning or learning curve is essential when choosing a programming language for your career or next web app development project. A programming language with a high learning curve value is easy to understand and has pretty clean codes. Python has the best learning curve among these three languages, PHP comes second, and Ruby-on-rails is last.
Winner: Python
5. PHP vs. Python vs. Ruby: Popularity Comparison
While choosing a programming language for website development, it’s also essential to study the historical growth of that language over the years. This metric provides the idea of an evolving trend in that language, and you can get an overview of changes in user preference over time. According to PYPL graph below, you can get a clear idea about the growth of these languages over the years.
Looking at this data, it’s clear that Python is at the top, with 28.11% of developers preferring it as a programming language. Python’s immense benefits for emerging technologies have made it more popular in programming. For example, Python for cybersecurity has become a compelling choice for enterprises worldwide.
In contrast, PHP stands at 4.57%%, and Ruby has just 0.98% of respondents worldwide.
Winner: Python
- 18+ Years Exp
- 12500+ Successful Projects
- 5400+ Happy Clients
6. PHP vs. Python vs. Ruby: Performance Comparison
Performance comparison of any programming language is crucial. A high-performing language helps you to produce scalable, secure, and speedy software programs. In the image below, you can see the average run time and lines of code for all three languages. These two parameters help you understand and compare the performance of these three languages.
Winner: Ruby & PHP
Also Read: PHP Vs ASP.NET: How to Choose the Right One?
7. PHP vs. Python vs. Ruby: Most Discussed Language
The most discussed programming language helps in many ways. If any language is popular, it will have a big community that enables you to resolve your query in a minimum time. Furthermore, the most discussed language also has good support. The below image depicts the stats related to the most popular programming language. The image below depicts the stats related to the most popular programming language. In this round, Python takes the crown.
According to a recent survey, it was becoming more and more usable and popular with developers in 2021. Over 19% of respondents said they are interested but haven’t yet developed using Python.! Of those who have, over 60% said they would be hiring Python developers in the next 12 months.
Winner: Python
8. PHP vs. Python vs. Ruby: Job Posting & Salary
Analyzing high job postings in any programming language is quite important. If you are a job seeker, you can understand the ease of availability of any specific programming language job.
On the other hand, these stats are also crucial for those who want to develop their websites and choose an ideal programming language. A language with many jobs certainly has more programmers, job security, and bright career prospects. If you wish to choose your career in either of the two languages, you may check the following stats and decide.
According to the Stack Overflow Survey 2023, Python is in the top 3 highest-paid technologies race. In comparison, PHP is down the ladder, and Ruby is not on the list.
Winner: Ruby
PHP vs. Python vs. Ruby: Pros & Cons
To understand PHP, Python, or Ruby web development, you must understand the advantages and disadvantages of these three server-side programming languages.
PHP- Advantages
The pros of using PHP are numerous. Some of them are as follows:
The code written in PHP is easily readable even by non-technical persons: This feature makes it easy to manage the code without hiring any technical person. For example, you can easily change the file if you want to change some lines or add some features to your website.
It’s also widely used in web development: PHP is very popular among developers and companies because of its fast execution speed. It has a lot of readymade codes that are readily available online, which makes it easy for developers to develop any kind of website.
The PHP community is also huge: Many people in the PHP community share codes, scripts, and information free of cost with any developer. They help each other by sharing concepts and experiences, making learning easy.
Open-source language: Unlike JavaScript or Python, PHP is an open-source and free language that enables any programmer to download the complete PHP guide for free.
Let our specialists help you navigate the PHP vs Python vs Ruby dilemma.
Cons of using PHP
Security is an issue: Since PHP is a scripting language, it has some problems like security and speed. If you are not aware of this feature, it can be fatal to your web development process.
Lack of proper documentation: As an accessible language, PHP has a lot of unwritten rules and techniques, making it challenging to learn. The documentation is also not excellent, making it difficult to develop complex web applications.
Not a full-stack language: One of the disadvantages of using PHP is that you can’t master it entirely because many other technologies go along with PHP, like MySQL and HTML, etc.
Python- Advantages
Easy to learn: One of the most significant advantages of using Python is that it is effortless to learn and understand. Besides, it can be your ideal coding language if you are a beginner.
Large community: The best part about learning Python is its vast community support, making it easy for developers to find answers to their questions within minutes on various forums on the web.
Supports functional and object-oriented programming: This makes it easier for programmers to use various programming concepts in python-based projects if they have some prior coding experience.
Portable: With the help of this language, you can efficiently run scripts on any platform without any additional configurations or setups, which makes it the most accessible language to learn and code.
Also Read: Node.js vs Python
Cons of using Python
Due to its easy learning, there are many developers in this field, making it challenging to find a stable job compared to other languages like PHP or Ruby.
The language documentation is not up-to-date, making it challenging to find the most recent features.
No proper syntactic sugar: This feature makes writing specific codes in Python complicated compared to other languages like PHP, HTML, etc.
Ruby on Rails- Advantages
Productive: Compared with other web development tools, Ruby is considered the most effective language, making it ideal for startups.
Lesser time to market: With this language, you can quickly develop web applications within the shortest possible time limit because of its efficient syntax and coding style.
Clean code: The developers write clean codes with Ruby on Rails, which saves development time in future revisions or bug corrections.
Community support: Being a dynamic language, it has the best community support, which helps developers quickly explore other resources about this programming language.
Cons of using Ruby
Event-driven architecture: This feature makes RoR slower than other languages like PHP or Python because they lack the optimization necessary for dynamic web development.
Difficult to learn: One of the biggest cons of using Ruby on Rails is that it is not easy to understand and implement. The syntaxes are also sometimes complex, making it difficult for even senior developers to develop applications faster.
Strict validation: Since this tool runs on an MVC pattern, it has a very complex validation scheme that makes it difficult to understand and work. It also slows down the process of development as compared with other languages.
Connect with our experts to streamline your development journey for maximum efficiency.
PHP vs Python vs Ruby: Pros or Advantages
PHP vs Python vs Ruby: Cons or Disadvantages
Wrapping Up
We hope that your doubts about the three popular programming languages are clear.
However, if you are stuck on any other queries related to these languages or want to develop your website, feel free to contact PixelCrayons, a leading web app development company in India. Our business consultants will help you in all possible ways and help you decide which technology platform would be best for your web development project.
Great stats!! Thanks for sharing this information… This post has cleared my many doubts…
I like Python most
I like the comparison.. Thanks for clearing many doubts… 🙂
Nice post… but, here I like to add that PHP is CallByValue, AFAIK and I know PHP quite well PHP is no different than Javascript or Java in this behavior. PHP has call time pass-by-value for scalars but pass-by-reference for objects – and this should be definitely considered as pros.
Ruby latest release is 2.4 🙂 Comparison between Python, PHP and RoR?
Hi Maxim, Ruby latest stable release is 5.0.1. Please refer Ruby official page…
Avg Article, python can do lot more that what you know about it
I really appreciate these stats/info and your efforts…. I work on scala, python, ruby projects and others I like to dabble in. To engineers, evaluate your need and desires and pick a language based on the *your* requirements, consider some of the above pitfalls, but realize millions have overcome some if not all of what is above for each. Consider them as they are part in parcel a piece of the language. All languages have MVCs or similar that are *very* popular. If you are concerned about language specifics, that is a language issue, which is solved elsewhere. I find most of this slighted and we don’t even talk about static languages. Look at your requirements, and not a comparison blog. Perhaps that even pertains to my post 🙂
Popular != Good. If popularity is some kind of measure of goodness then Justin Bieber makes the best music on earth 😀
PHP is a junk language but it’s everywhere. If you want to make a living from coding on junk, it’s your best bet. If you prefer craftsmanship you’ll pick a better language.
great comparison man…your article really help me to find out the difference among php python and ruby
The information on ruby is quite beneficial
Nice stats!!! but I like PHP more than other language due to its scalability and large community…
Great article! Very nice and interactive post…