Key takeaways
- Laravel is a free, open-source PHP framework for building web applications, APIs and SaaS products.
- It provides ready-made building blocks for logins, payments, emails, queues and more, so budgets go on what makes your product different.
- A large community and a yearly release cycle make it easy to find developers and keep software current.
- It is a strong choice for most business applications, though not always the right one for simple brochure websites.
If you have been talking to developers about a new web application, there is a good chance someone has mentioned Laravel. This guide explains what it is, why it is so popular and what it means for your business if your software is built on it.
Laravel in one paragraph
Laravel is a free, open-source framework for building web applications with PHP, one of the most widely used programming languages on the web. It was created by Taylor Otwell in 2011 and is now maintained by a company, Laravel, alongside a very large community of contributors. A framework is a set of ready-made building blocks and conventions that developers use, so they do not have to solve the same common problems from scratch on every project.
What Laravel is used for
Laravel is used to build almost any kind of web software:
- SaaS products, such as subscription software for businesses or consumers.
- Customer portals and member areas.
- Marketplaces and booking platforms.
- Internal tools, CRMs and admin systems.
- APIs that power mobile apps and connect systems together.
- Ecommerce with custom rules that standard shop platforms cannot handle.
Our case studies include a security operations platform, a travel review app for airline crew, a digital credentials platform and a self-updating film and TV database, all built on Laravel.
Why businesses choose Laravel
It is quicker to build with. Laravel includes well-tested building blocks for logins, password resets, email, file storage, scheduled tasks, background jobs and subscription billing. That means more of your budget goes on the features that make your product different.
It is secure by default. Laravel protects against many common attacks out of the box, such as cross-site request forgery and SQL injection, and the team releases security fixes for each version for two years.
It is easy to find developers. Laravel is among the most popular frameworks in the world, so you are never stuck looking for rare skills, and you are never tied to a single supplier.
It has a complete ecosystem. First-party tools cover hosting and deployment (Laravel Forge and Laravel Cloud), admin panels, testing, real-time features and more, all designed to work together.
It keeps moving. A new major version is released every year, with a predictable support policy. Laravel 13, released in March 2026, added first-party tools for building AI features.
What to consider
No technology is perfect for everything. Before choosing Laravel, consider:
- Upgrades. Each major version is supported for two years, so plan to upgrade regularly. It is cheap when done routinely, and expensive when left for years. See our version support tracker.
- Simple websites. For a brochure site or blog that marketing staff edit, a content management system or a static site may be simpler. Our comparison of Laravel and WordPress covers this.
- Quality varies. Laravel makes good software easier to build, but it does not guarantee it. The experience of the team matters more than the framework.
Laravel and AI
AI coding tools work particularly well with Laravel. Its strong conventions and excellent documentation mean AI agents can produce consistent code, as long as experienced engineers set the structure and review the results. That combination is how we build: see our AI-driven development service.
Next steps
If you are deciding whether Laravel is right for your project, or you have inherited a Laravel application and want to know what state it is in, we are happy to help. See our Laravel development services or book a free call.