A lot of debate has been going on PHP vs. ASP.NET of late. While many claim PHP to be the future of web development, there is equally huge number of supporters for ASP.NET as well. If you are a top web development company looking to outsource your next big web development project, chances are that you are still confused what to go with- PHP or ASP.NET. Both of these programming languages are widely used to create highly dynamic web pages, web services and internet applications and are equally popular among the leading web developers around the globe.

Since both these web programming languages are similar in a lot of aspects, especially their usage and purpose, it often creates confusion among many web developers who find it hard to choose between them. However we are providing here the major differences between these two so that you become clear what you want, what suits your requirements and what is the most feasible option for you given your available resources.

Ease

If we talk about ease, then .NET is considered way better. Programming dynamic web pages using .NET is way simpler than doing it using PHP. .NET provides a lot of inbuilt tools which make the process of creation of dynamic web pages seem almost like a cake walk. Even though when it comes to learning, most agree that PHP is easier and quicker to learn and implement.

Performance

If we talk about performance, it depends on the size of your project and the application(s) it entails. While both PHP and ASP.NET give equally desirably fast performance for small and medium-sized projects, PHP fails to impress in terms of performance when it comes to bigger projects. ASP.NET, on the other hand, continues to perform fast even when bigger applications are created using it. So if you are looking to outsourcing a huge project, then you would definitely like to consider hiring .NET developers.

Cost

PHP is the clear winner when it comes to cost of web development. PHP can be installed on both Windows (significantly expensive) as well as Linux (which is free) operating systems and any web server while .NET can only be used on Windows and IIS web server (it is the most recommended web server for .NET), both of which are not available free of cost. Hence if cost is the most detrimental factor for you, then PHP should be your choice.

Portability

PHP is again the right choice if you’re looking for higher degree of code portability. PHP code developed on any OS will work on any other OS or web server as well while you will have to make some slight changes in the .NET code if it has been developed on IIS and wish to run it on some other web server. Again it depends on you. If code portability is crucial to your project and you wish to run your project on multiple web servers then PHP will definitely be more suitable for you otherwise .NET.

As a top web development company, we believe that your major preference should be performance. Rest everything can be worked out. All the best!