Objection Handlers
Professional responses to common PHP concerns. Use these evidence-based rebuttals when stakeholders raise objections.
"PHP is dead / dying"
Your Response
"Actually, PHP powers 72.9% of all websites with a known server-side programming language (W3Techs Dec 2025). More importantly, PHP has the PHP Foundation -a funded organization with multiple paid developers working on the language core. Unlike Go (Google-controlled) or Ruby (BDFL model), PHP has transparent RFC voting where ecosystem representatives decide language evolution. 'PHP is dying' has been said since 2010, yet its market share remains dominant."
Supporting Evidence:
- W3Techs reports PHP at 72.9% market share as of December 2025
- PHP 8.4 was released in November 2024, continuing the annual release cycle
- Packagist (PHP package repository) processes over 2 billion downloads monthly
- PHP Foundation funds multiple core developers to work on PHP internals
- Sovereign Tech Fund (backed by German government) invests in PHP as critical infrastructure
"PHP doesn't scale"
Your Response
"Wikipedia handles 16+ billion page views monthly on PHP. Slack processes millions of messages daily. Etsy processes $12.6 billion in annual GMV. The scaling 'problem' isn't PHP -it's architecture. Any language can fail to scale with poor architecture, and any language can scale with proper design. PHP's shared-nothing architecture actually makes horizontal scaling straightforward."
Supporting Evidence:
- Wikipedia, Slack, Etsy, Mailchimp: billions of users served on PHP infrastructure
- Etsy: $12.6 billion annual GMV processed on PHP infrastructure
- PHP's stateless request model makes load balancing trivial compared to long-running processes
"PHP is insecure"
Your Response
"Security is about implementation, not language. Modern PHP frameworks like Symfony and Laravel have built-in protection against SQL injection, XSS, CSRF, and other OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities. Symfony has been certified by security auditors and is used by organizations with strict compliance requirements. The 'PHP is insecure' reputation comes from legacy code and beginner mistakes -the same vulnerabilities possible in any language."
Supporting Evidence:
- Symfony provides automatic CSRF protection, password hashing, and security voters out of the box
- Doctrine ORM uses prepared statements, eliminating SQL injection when used correctly
- PHP 8.x includes strict typing, eliminating entire classes of type-related bugs
- Government agencies and financial institutions run PHP in production with full compliance
- PHP Foundation commissioned independent security audit in 2024, funded by Sovereign Tech Fund
"PHP is slow"
Your Response
"That was true in 2014. PHP 8.x with JIT compilation shows up to 3x improvement on synthetic benchmarks, with measurable real-world gains of 3-5% for typical web applications. In benchmarks, PHP competes with Node.js and Python. For most web applications, PHP is more than fast enough -and often faster than alternatives. The bottleneck is almost always the database or network, not the language."
Supporting Evidence:
- PHP 7.0 was already 100% faster than PHP 5.6 in most benchmarks
- PHP 8.0 JIT compiler provides 1.5-3x performance improvement for CPU-intensive tasks
- OPcache provides opcode caching, eliminating parsing overhead on every request
- FrankenPHP and Swoole enable long-running PHP processes for even higher throughput
"PHP isn't modern"
Your Response
"PHP 8.x is a completely different language from PHP 5. It now has attributes, enums, named arguments, union/intersection types, match expressions, readonly properties, fibers for async, and much more. Modern PHP follows PSR standards, uses Composer for dependency management, and supports proper OOP with interfaces, traits, and type safety. The language you remember from 2010 doesn't exist anymore."
Modern PHP Features:
PHP 8.0/8.1
- • JIT Compilation
- • Named Arguments
- •
Attributes - • Enums
- • Fibers (async)
- • Readonly Properties
PHP 8.2/8.3
- • Readonly Classes
- • DNF Types
- • Typed Class Constants
- • #[\Override] Attribute
- •
json_validate() - • Constants in Traits
PHP 8.4/8.5
- • Property Hooks
- • Asymmetric Visibility
- • Lazy Objects
- • Pipe Operator
- • Clone with
- • #[\Deprecated]
"We can't hire good PHP developers"
Your Response
"Actually, PHP has one of the largest talent pools of any server-side language. With 5+ million developers worldwide, the hiring pool is massive. The challenge isn't finding PHP developers -it's finding skilled developers in any language. Focus on hiring for Symfony or Laravel specifically, and you'll find experienced professionals. PHP developers also tend to command lower salaries than Node.js or Go engineers, reducing your hiring costs."
Supporting Evidence:
- 5+ million PHP developers globally vs ~3M Node.js, ~1.5M Go developers
- Average PHP developer salary ~€55K vs Node.js ~€70K, Go ~€80K (Stack Overflow 2024)
- Strong agency ecosystem: SensioLabs, Spryker, and hundreds of Symfony/Laravel shops worldwide
"PHP isn't enterprise-ready"
Your Response
"Symfony is used by government agencies, banks, and Fortune 500 companies worldwide. It follows enterprise patterns like Domain-Driven Design, CQRS, and Event Sourcing. The framework has LTS (Long-Term Support) releases, professional support contracts, and backwards compatibility guarantees. Major companies like BlaBlaCar, Spotify, and Trivago run critical systems on Symfony. 'Enterprise-ready' is about architecture and process, not language."
Enterprise Features:
Symfony Enterprise
- • LTS releases (3 years support)
- • Professional support contracts
- • Backwards compatibility promise
- • Security advisories & patches
- • Certified training & developers
Architecture Support
- • Domain-Driven Design
- • CQRS & Event Sourcing
- • Microservices (Symfony Messenger)
- • API Platform for REST/GraphQL
- • Comprehensive testing tools
"PHP is just for WordPress"
Your Response
"WordPress is built on PHP, but PHP isn't just WordPress. Symfony and Laravel are enterprise-grade frameworks used for complex applications -not CMS sites. Magento handles $155B+ in e-commerce. Drupal runs government sites. Custom PHP applications power Slack, Mailchimp, and Etsy. Saying 'PHP is just WordPress' is like saying 'JavaScript is just jQuery.' The ecosystem has evolved far beyond any single tool."
PHP Ecosystem Beyond WordPress:
Frameworks
- • Symfony
- • Laravel
- • Laminas (Zend)
- • Slim
- • CakePHP
E-commerce
- • Magento/Adobe Commerce
- • Shopware
- • Sylius
- • PrestaShop
- • WooCommerce
CMS Options
- • Drupal
- • TYPO3
- • Craft CMS
- • Statamic
- • October CMS
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