Laravel is one of the most powerful PHP frameworks that has taken the world by storm since it was launched in 2011. Because of that, there are hundreds of providers out there. With all of them promising to take care of your project, how can you possibly tell which Laravel development company would be the best for your business? We did the research, so you don’t have to. Read on to find an unbiased list of world-class firms, an explanation of our evaluation methodology, and helpful tips on how to choose the right Laravel partner for your project.
Our goal is to provide you with the right information for your search for your next business partner. That is why our research methodology includes a meticulous examination of company portfolios, reputation, and track record, along with any relevant certifications, knowledge of the Laravel ecosystem and additional tools. We further ensure their project management, communication, internal culture, and pricing models are up to our standards.
Read on for more detailed information on our evaluation criteria.
One of the first things we check in Laravel development companies is the website of each provider we consider listing, not just for the range of services offered, but also for their past work. We assess how much of the work included the specialty we focus on, its quality, its client and industry diversity, as well as any reviews.
We expect all these companies to be certified Laravel service providers, which goes a long way for proving their skills with this particular framework. Having some sort of certification is important because it involves passing strict and highly-demanding tests and continuing with improving the knowledge base. Aside from Laravel, we take into account any other certifications in technologies and languages compatible with the platform.
We also pay a lot of attention to the public image of the companies providing Laravel development services. We don’t consider just the testimonials left by satisfied customers on the company website but also look for peer referrals, reviews in relevant directories and social media. We further consider each company’s experience, as well as any reported issues and how the provider solved them, whether they were a one-time thing or tend to repeat.
Whether a company possesses the skills in the entire Laravel PHP framework may not mean anything to you until there is a problem. You may have requirements that the outsourcing company cannot meet because they don’t have the knowledge of a particular Laravel tool, so while you may not need to know all the technical details, this is something you need to discuss before closing the deal.
To give you an idea, there are nearly 20 deployment platforms (with the number set to increase) every company that offers Laravel web services must be skilled at. We take this into account when looking into the developers’ past work and use it to determine the subsequent ranking.
Even though the names of these Laravel tools might not mean much to you, depending on your background, the development company you hire must be an expert in any number of them.
Lavarel Vapor is a serverless platform for creating, deploying, managing, scaling, and restoring applications, databases, and ElastiCache Redis clusters.
Lavarel Forge is a server management tool that allows quick and seamless deployment and effortless management on Amazon, DigitalOcean, Linode, Vultr, and more.
Lavarel Envoyer is a zero-downtime deployment platform for Laravel 5 and later versions that supports integration with GitHub, BitBucket, GitLab, and Slack for any PHP project.
Lavarel Horizon allows complete Redis queue monitoring via a clean Web UI and a single, simple configuration file.
Lavarel Nova is the administration panel with a full CRUD interface for all your Eloquent models and relationships.
Lavarel Echo is a JavaScript library for subscribing to channels and listening to broadcasted realtime events through WebSoсkets.
Lavarel Lumen is one of the fastest micro-frameworks today for building micro-services and APIs within the Laravel framework.
A pre-packaged Vagrant Box, Laravel Homestead provides a development environment without the need to install PHP or a web server on your local machine.
If you don’t want to deal too much with Laravel coding, Spark has you covered: authentication, two-factor authentication, password reset, team billing, profile photos, etc.
Especially fit for MacOS users, Laravel Valet is a minimalist development environment with open-source code and easy to use setup.
Laravel Mix is a tool with an almost completely managed front-end Webpack Asset build process by providing a clean and flexible API.
Laravel Cashier is a subscription billing management tool for the Laravel application development platform for handling coupons, subscription trials, one-off charges, generating invoice PDFs, etc.
Laravel Dusk is the perfect browser testing and automation tool that comes with a default Chromedriver and provides a user-like experience.
The official OAuth2 implementation solution, Laravel Passport provides painless authentication via open-source code.
Laravel Scout is a tool that allows adding full-text search to Eloquent models and syncronize search indexes with Eloquent records.
For fluent OAuth authentication with OAuth providers like Google, LinkedIn, GitHub, Facebook, Twitter, and others, you need Laravel Socialite.
Laravel Telescope is a polished debugging assistant with a standalone UI and its own set of supertools.
Laravel Tinker enables interaction in the form of REPL with the entire Laravel application on the command line, including the Eloquent ORM, jobs, events, etc.
Aside from the highly specialized list of services it offers, a legitimate Laravel development company will also have a roster of additional services. While they might not seem particularly important at first glance, you should be familiar with the complete offer to make the right decision.
Without proper API integration and third-party customization, a product may not be complete or functional enough to be usable. That’s why it should be integrated with API components and customized with third-party services to fit the client’s operations infrastructure and business needs.
A top Laravel development company should be skilled in migrating apps or systems to or from another platform, so those have an advantage in our rankings. To minimize or completely eliminate any issues down the line with transitioning projects, we make certain the companies we rank have extensive experience with that.
Continued maintenance of the system and technical support available at all times (or at least immediately after an incident occurs) can sometimes make or break your relationship with the company you hire. Through these services, you will get regular software updates and system enhancements, backups, bug fixes, troubleshooting and ensure your system is monitored and running.
We favor Laravel development companies whose customer support is available 24/7 via several channels (phone, live chat, email, ticket) and is comprised of knowledgeable staff.
You expect the system or app developed for your purposes to be error-free and running seamlessly. That means it has to be tested by the developer to make sure the expected quality and functionalities match the client’s requirements.
While the companies need to be proficient in a number of tools closely related to the Laravel services they offer, there are also substitute tools that we take into account for our ranking.
BitBucket is perfect for small projects where you don’t want to share code repositories with too many collaborators. GitHub is more suitable for a large number of developers working with the Laravel framework on open-source projects.
Eyewitness allows monitoring Laravel applications such as uptime, backlog accumulation, failed or pending jobs, application log file status, and retry server jobs remotely.
For integrating chat or messaging features into a Laravel framework product, Talk is the right tool. It includes real-time messaging, message threading, conversation tracking through conversation ID and/or user ID, and thread/message pagination.
Every time you choose a business partner, you should make sure your respective company cultures align, and Laravel developers are no exception. Keep in mind that the team you choose brings more to the table than just their creativity and expertise. Their work ethic, punctuality, and flexibility will also influence your joint business endeavors, so do what you can to avoid misunderstandings, conflicts, and delays by finding a company similar to yours in this respect.
Finding the right company for Laravel development services can also come down to the way they handle their workload, communicate any unforeseen issues, and relay how the project is progressing without too much effort on your side.
One of the ways this is done nowadays is via transparent agile management, which includes short development cycles called sprints and is ideal for implementing changes during the development process based on developer and client feedback. This allows you to stay in the loop, suggest timely changes, and request a change of pace if needed.
In this sense, choosing the best Laravel development company for you means great organizational skills, a clear line of communication and frequent progress reports. That can help you get a system for your internal use or a product for your customers within the agreed timeframe, and within your budget.
A crucial factor when ranking companies is the price of the services they offer. We, however, don’t consider only cheap Laravel service providers, but rather, look for those that fall within the industry standards and provide good value for money.
Keep in mind that the prices may vary from one project to another based on its size, complexity, and duration. Take this into account when making your decision so as not to be unpleasantly surprised when you get the bill.
When deciding on a company to outsource a project to, it’s not enough just to gather information about the potential options. For your collaboration to be successful, it’s imperative to define your own priorities, capabilities, and expectations. That way, you will make the right choice and eliminate surprises down the road. Read on to learn how to do that.
Before making any definite choice on your Laravel service provider for the foreseeable future, consider your company’s needs. While it may sound tempting to go for a lot of flashy features you didn’t really want when you first started looking for a company providing web development services, don’t include them unless you have a real need for them. Bear in mind that any additions also come with their own delays, complications, and expenses.
If yours is a company that operates within a narrow industry, one with specific requirements and difficulties, you must choose a Laravel development company that has experience in the area. That will help you avoid unnecessary delays and miscommunication when the actual work starts.
Consider the amount of money you are willing to spend on outsourcing services. This will help you to further narrow down the choices and ideally, will leave you with just one option in the end.