Just Fucking Use Laravel
Stop gluing mass NPM packages together like a desperate collage. Stop reinventing authentication for the 47th time. Our framework gives you everything so you can ship software instead of configuring it.
Oh, You Built Your Own Framework?
That's adorable. Really. You spent six weeks architecting your "lightweight, modular microservice-ready application skeleton" and you're very proud of it.
Meanwhile, some absolute legend ran laravel new project and has been shipping features since Tuesday. They have authentication, database migrations, queues, caching, and an API—all before you finished debating whether to use a service container.
You have a service container debate Slack channel. Laravel has had one for over a decade. It's called "the framework."
The "PHP is Dead" Crowd
Listen, I get it. You read a Medium article in 2015 that said PHP was dying. Very compelling stuff. Truly groundbreaking journalism from someone whose entire backend is 47 microservices in Node.js that crash when you look at them funny.
Meanwhile, PHP powers 77% of websites with a known server-side language. WordPress, Facebook, Wikipedia, Slack—all running PHP. Laravel is the most starred PHP framework on GitHub by a landslide.
But sure, keep rewriting your authentication flow in whatever framework had the prettiest landing page this month. I'm sure that's fine.
More packages than your node_modules folder
While you're busy writing your 47th custom authentication middleware, Laravel already solved every problem you'll ever have. First-party packages that actually work together. Revolutionary, we know.
Scout Free
Search that doesn't suck
Octane Free
Speed that makes Node jealous
Reverb Free
WebSockets without the tears
Telescope Free
See why your code is broken
Cashier Free
Take money. Buy Lambos.
Sail Free
Docker without the PhD
Pulse Free
Watch your app not crash
Sanctum Free
API auth in 5 minutes flat
"BuT iT's A mOnOLiTh"
"I prefer microservices. Monoliths don't scale. I need to be able to deploy my user-avatar-resizing service independently."
Your app has 12 users and three of them are your mom testing it on different browsers. You don't need microservices. You need therapy and a composer install.
Shopify handles billions in transactions with a monolith. GitHub was a monolith for over a decade. But yeah, your todo app definitely needs Kubernetes.
"I'll Just Use Express/Fastify/Hono"
"I like having control. I'll just build what I need with Express and some middleware."
Fantastic. Here's your journey:
- Day 1: "This is so lightweight and flexible!"
- Week 2: "I'll just add Passport.js for auth"
- Week 4: "Okay I need an ORM, Prisma or Drizzle or TypeORM or Sequelize or..."
- Week 8: "Why are there 1,847 packages in node_modules"
- Week 12: "I've mass-produced Laravel but worse and it took me three months"
Congratulations. You've rebuilt a wheel. It's slightly more oval than the original and occasionally catches fire. Meanwhile, Laravel devs are on their second Lambo.
"PHP Has Weird Syntax"
You write JavaScript, a language where [] == ![] is true, typeof NaN is "number", and adding arrays produces strings.
Please. Sit down. The $ in front of variables isn't going to hurt you. It's been there for 30 years. It pays its rent on time.
// Your "elegant" JavaScript
const user = await prisma.user.findUnique({
where: { id: userId },
include: { posts: { include: { comments: true } } }
});
// Laravel being a normal framework
$user = User::with('posts.comments')->find($userId);
// Cry about it"I Don't Want Vendor Lock-In"
"What if I need to switch frameworks later? I want to keep my options open."
You won't switch frameworks. Nobody switches frameworks. You'll either finish the project or abandon it for a shinier one like the rest of us.
The last person who successfully "migrated frameworks" on a production app is now a cautionary tale told at conferences. Their hair went white. They speak only in abstract interfaces now.
Stop optimizing for a future that will never come and ship the damn thing.
For The Love of God
Look. I'm not saying Laravel is perfect. Nothing is perfect. Except maybe a fresh php artisan serve on a Monday morning. That's pretty close.
What I'm saying is: you have finite hours on this earth. Do you want to spend them configuring Webpack, debugging authentication race conditions, and writing your own database query builder?
Or do you want to build things and buy Lamborghinis?
Taylor Otwell and thousands of contributors have already solved these problems. Better than you will. Sorry. I don't make the rules.
Ready to Stop Suffering?
It takes 30 seconds. Your Lambo awaits.
Get StartedTL;DR
Just fucking use Laravel.
Your startup doesn't need a custom framework. Your side project doesn't need microservices. Your blog doesn't need GraphQL.
You need to ship. Laravel helps you ship. It's been helping people ship for over a decade while you were still arguing about tabs vs spaces.
composer create-project laravel/laravel your-excuses-are-over