Is CodeIgniter Still Relevant in 2025? Pros & Cons
If you’ve been building web applications for a while, you probably know CodeIgniter. It’s one of PHP’s longest-standing frameworks, known for its simplicity and small footprint. But fast-forward to 2025—a landscape dominated by Laravel, Symfony, and full-stack JavaScript. Is CodeIgniter still relevant? And if so, for whom? This is not a question of trends alone. It’s about understanding where CodeIgniter fits into today’s development needs and whether it’s the right choice for your next project. Let’s take a closer look—practically, not nostalgically. The Case for CodeIgniter: Why It Still Matters 1. Lightweight and Fast In a world where frameworks are getting heavier, CodeIgniter remains lean. It has no steep server requirements, no bloated dependencies, and doesn’t force you into an opinionated architecture. For many small to mid-size applications, this is a real advantage. You don’t always need an elaborate stack—sometimes you need something that runs fast and gets the job done...