A huge list of PHP open-source libraries to build your awesome PHP applications

In a previous blog article about RAD (Rapid Application Development), I have explained quite a few benefits about the reason of RAD. Since the article was published, I was being asked with a lot questions about how to quickly develop a prototype PHP web applications with minimal development. Well, here comes the short list of ready-to-use PHP libraries that will definitely speed up your PHP application development. And those are the classes, frameworks, libraries that I've used in the PHP applications that I've developed for my clients.

• blueimp/jQuery-File-Upload - File Upload widget with multiple file selection, drag&drop support, progress bar, validation and preview images, audio and video for jQuery. Supports cross-domain, chunked and resumable file uploads. Works with any server-side platform (Google App Engine, PHP, Python, Ruby on Rails, Java, etc.) that supports standard HTML form file uploads.
• PHPMailer/PHPMailer - The classic email sending library for PHP
• matomo-org/matomo - Liberating Web Analytics. Star us on Github? +1. Matomo is the leading open alternative to Google Analytics that gives you full control over your data. Matomo lets you easily collect data from websites, apps & the IoT and visualise this data and extract insights. Privacy is built-in. We love Pull Requests! (Previously Piwik).
• getgrav/grav - Modern, Crazy Fast, Ridiculously Easy and Amazingly Powerful Flat-File CMS
• walkor/Workerman - An asynchronous event driven PHP framework for easily building fast, scalable network applications. Supports HTTP, Websocket, SSL and other custom protocols. Supports libevent, HHVM, ReactPHP.
• egulias/EmailValidator - PHP Email address validator library inspired in @dominicsayers isemail function https://github.com/dominicsayers/isemail
• FriendsOfPHP/Goutte - Goutte, a simple PHP Web Scraper
• php-ai/php-ml - PHP-ML - Machine Learning library for PHP
• reactphp/react - Event-driven, non-blocking I/O with PHP.
• botman/botman - A framework agnostic PHP library to build chat bots
• mgp25/Chat-API - The php WhatsApp library
• dodgepudding/wechat-php-sdk - 微信公众平台php开发包, weixin developer SDK.
• overtrue/wechat - 📦 It is probably the best SDK in the world for developing WeChat App.
• mgp25/Instagram-API - Instagram's private API
• vrana/adminer - Database management in a single PHP file (200% better than PHPMyAdmin)
• defuse/php-encryption - Simple Encryption in PHP.
• box/spout - Read and write spreadsheet files (CSV, XLSX and ODS), in a fast and scalable way
• klein/klein.php - A fast & flexible router

• php-curl-class/php-curl-class - PHP Curl Class makes it easy to send HTTP requests and integrate with web APIs
• mevdschee/php-crud-api - Single file PHP script that adds a REST API to a SQL database
• panique/huge - Simple user-authentication solution, embedded into a small framework.
• ruflin/Elastica - Elastica is a PHP client for elasticsearch
• phpmetrics/PhpMetrics - Static analysis tool for PHP
• spatie/crawler - An easy to use, powerful crawler implemented in PHP. Can execute Javascript.
• mongodb/mongo-php-library - MongoDB PHP library
• phpsysinfo/phpsysinfo - phpSysInfo: a customizable PHP script that displays information about your system nicely
• sendgrid/sendgrid-php - The Official Twilio SendGrid Led, Community Driven PHP API Library
• JayBizzle/Crawler-Detect - 🕷 CrawlerDetect is a PHP class for detecting bots/crawlers/spiders via the user agent
• ovr/phpsa - Smart/Static Analyzer(sis) for PHP 

As you can probably see from the above list, I have not listed any PHP frameworks simply because I do not use any PHP frameworks or micro-frameworks for my RAD projects. Why? Because frameworks usually have bugs and traps that can really get you into deep sh*t and you will not have a clue on how to get yourself out. So, very often, I would build my own framework that was specifically designed for the RAD project. One major advantage over that is you have full control over the performance and stability of the framework.

The full list of PHP libraries can also be viewed from the Awesome-PHP Project:

About Konijn Design Studio:

KDS is a consulting firm that specializes in software development, business and marketing strategies, digital marketing and SEO. We have helped clients globally in a wide range of industries from business services, consulting services, IoT service, software and hi-tech, to traditional manufacturing companies.