Do I need Laravel for an HTTP API project? If so, why?

This page summarizes the projects mentioned and recommended in the original post on /r/PHPhelp

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  • Tutorial-First-Application

    Tutorial application code for the First Application Walkthrough

  • Both. Build business logic with PHP, then use a framework for the common functionality (routing, auth, validation, etc). Look at Slim's First Application to show a very simple example of this - https://github.com/slimphp/Tutorial-First-Application

  • no-framework-tutorial

    A small tutorial to show how to create a PHP application without a framework.

  • Use libraries or a micro framework if you are hesitant on using a full framework. Nothing wrong with Slim and some other libraries. Or bundle some libraries together to make your own slim (pun intended) framework - like this or this.

  • InfluxDB

    Power Real-Time Data Analytics at Scale. Get real-time insights from all types of time series data with InfluxDB. Ingest, query, and analyze billions of data points in real-time with unbounded cardinality.

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  • Slim

    Slim Framework 4 Skeleton Application

  • There are many micro-frameworks available like Slim, Mezzio(with Swoole may be), or if you are into async then you can also try Framework X(from core maintainer of ReactPHP). This frameworks have small footprints compare to Laravel, Symfony, etc. Yes, you can't get things like authentication, routing and other out of the box but they can easily be installed and configured to be used.

  • React

    Event-driven, non-blocking I/O with PHP.

  • There are many micro-frameworks available like Slim, Mezzio(with Swoole may be), or if you are into async then you can also try Framework X(from core maintainer of ReactPHP). This frameworks have small footprints compare to Laravel, Symfony, etc. Yes, you can't get things like authentication, routing and other out of the box but they can easily be installed and configured to be used.

  • framework-x

    Framework X – the simple and fast micro framework for building reactive web applications that run anywhere.

  • There are many micro-frameworks available like Slim, Mezzio(with Swoole may be), or if you are into async then you can also try Framework X(from core maintainer of ReactPHP). This frameworks have small footprints compare to Laravel, Symfony, etc. Yes, you can't get things like authentication, routing and other out of the box but they can easily be installed and configured to be used.

  • WorkOS

    The modern identity platform for B2B SaaS. The APIs are flexible and easy-to-use, supporting authentication, user identity, and complex enterprise features like SSO and SCIM provisioning.

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NOTE: The number of mentions on this list indicates mentions on common posts plus user suggested alternatives. Hence, a higher number means a more popular project.

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