2025 Best PHP Micro Frameworks: Slim, Flight, Fat-Free, Lumen, and More!

1. Slim Framework

   1 10 12,075 5.3 PHP

   Slim is a PHP micro framework that helps you quickly write simple yet powerful web applications and APIs. (by slimphp)

   

   Slim PHP is like that reliable friend who always shows up on time—minimalist, focused, and ready to handle your HTTP requests with finesse. It’s a micro framework kingpin, loved for its simplicity and flexibility, especially when crafting RESTful APIs. Slim 4 (the latest as of 2025) keeps things lean with no third-party dependencies out of the box, but it’s extensible enough to grow with your project.

2. CodeRabbit

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3. core

   2 3 2,708 8.7 PHP

   An extensible micro-framework for PHP (by flightphp)

   

   Let’s talk about Flight PHP—the micro framework that’s been flapping its wings and stealing the spotlight in 2025! Flight 3 (the latest version) is fast, extensible, and so beginner-friendly it practically hands you a welcome mat. With zero dependencies and a focus on simplicity and power, it’s the framework you didn’t know you needed until now. It can handle tiny one-off projects or complex projects with many requirements. New features like route groups, middleware, dependency injection handlers, and aliases added in 2024 have sent it rocketing past competitors in popularity. It also helps that the framework is 100% unit tested unlike some other competitors!

4. FrameworkBenchmarks

   3 396 7,824 9.9 C++

   Source for the TechEmpower Framework Benchmarks project

   

   Lumen sneaks into our top four as Laravel’s little sibling, designed for microservices and APIs. It’s got a minimalist vibe, but here’s the tea: it’s basically Laravel Lite, carrying some of the same heft under the hood. While it’s fast for a Laravel offshoot, its performance lags behind true micro frameworks like Flight or Slim—check the TechEmpower benchmarks for proof.

5. fatfree

   4 5 2,677 2.4 HTML

   A powerful yet easy-to-use PHP micro-framework designed to help you build dynamic and robust Web applications - fast!

   

   Popularity: With 2.6k GitHub stars, F3 has a loyal following, though its 2024 growth was steady rather than meteoric. It’s a mature choice with a tight-knit community that’s always tinkering.

6. Lumen

   5 19 7,639 0.0 PHP

   Discontinued The Laravel Lumen Framework.

   

   Popularity: Lumen’s got 7.6k GitHub stars and a decent following, but its 2024 buzz was quieter than Flight’s meteoric rise. It leans hard on Laravel’s ecosystem, which is great if you’re already in that world, less so if you want something standalone.

7. Slim

   6 50 1,600 0.0 PHP

   Slim Framework 4 Skeleton Application

   

   Hey PHP fans! Welcome to 2025—a year where PHP continues to shine as the backbone of the web (sorry, haters, it’s not going anywhere!). If you’re building a slick API, a lightweight app, or just want to ditch the bloat of full-stack frameworks, micro frameworks are your ticket to coding bliss. Today, we’re diving into the top four PHP micro frameworks: Slim PHP, Flight PHP, Fat-Free Framework (F3), and Lumen—plus a few honorable mentions to keep things spicy.

8. PHPT

   7 308 38,928 10.0 C

   The PHP Interpreter

   

   Hey PHP fans! Welcome to 2025—a year where PHP continues to shine as the backbone of the web (sorry, haters, it’s not going anywhere!). If you’re building a slick API, a lightweight app, or just want to ditch the bloat of full-stack frameworks, micro frameworks are your ticket to coding bliss. Today, we’re diving into the top four PHP micro frameworks: Slim PHP, Flight PHP, Fat-Free Framework (F3), and Lumen—plus a few honorable mentions to keep things spicy.

9. InfluxDB

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10. Twig

    8 62 8,270 9.7 PHP

    Twig, the flexible, fast, and secure template language for PHP

    

    Simplicity: Getting started is a breeze—install via Composer, define some routes, and you’re off. Scaling up? Add middleware or libs like Twig or Eloquent as needed.

11. Symfony

    9 176 30,323 10.0 PHP

    The Symfony PHP framework

    

    Silex: A Symfony-backed micro framework that's sadly deprecated and no longer support. You gave it your all Silex!

12. lumen-framework

    10 2 1,497 5.7 PHP

    The Laravel Lumen Framework.

    

    Hey PHP fans! Welcome to 2025—a year where PHP continues to shine as the backbone of the web (sorry, haters, it’s not going anywhere!). If you’re building a slick API, a lightweight app, or just want to ditch the bloat of full-stack frameworks, micro frameworks are your ticket to coding bliss. Today, we’re diving into the top four PHP micro frameworks: Slim PHP, Flight PHP, Fat-Free Framework (F3), and Lumen—plus a few honorable mentions to keep things spicy.

13. Laravel

    11 418 80,722 8.8 Blade

    Laravel is a web application framework with expressive, elegant syntax. We’ve already laid the foundation for your next big idea — freeing you to create without sweating the small things.

    

    Lumen sneaks into our top four as Laravel’s little sibling, designed for microservices and APIs. It’s got a minimalist vibe, but here’s the tea: it’s basically Laravel Lite, carrying some of the same heft under the hood. While it’s fast for a Laravel offshoot, its performance lags behind true micro frameworks like Flight or Slim—check the TechEmpower benchmarks for proof.

14. Composer

    12 225 28,939 9.5 PHP

    Dependency Manager for PHP

    

    Simplicity: Getting started is a breeze—install via Composer, define some routes, and you’re off. Scaling up? Add middleware or libs like Twig or Eloquent as needed.

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