Laravel shipped v13.15.0 this week. While the tech press writes PHP obituaries, Laravel keeps releasing. Version 13 is the framework's most ambitious yet — and its ecosystem metrics tell a different story than the narrative.
The Numbers
PHP's Split Personality
PHP has a perception problem and a data problem — and they tell opposite stories. The perception: PHP is legacy, WordPress is its only user, the language is dying. The data: Laravel scores 92/100 on WebPulse, higher than React (78), Angular (68), and Rails (64).
The difference is WordPress. WordPress drags PHP's reputation down the same way Internet Explorer dragged JavaScript's. Laravel is to WordPress what React is to jQuery — a modern framework built on the same language, solving different problems.
What This Means
Teams evaluating server-side frameworks should evaluate Laravel on its own merits, not on WordPress's reputation. The framework's security posture, release velocity, and ecosystem health are comparable to the best frameworks WebPulse tracks.
