Do you want to actually BUILD things? Then Laravel is for you. Everything you could possible want, Laravel solves it. Not only this, but there is also a HUGE ecosystem GOOD libraries and tutorials which i can’t really say the same for javascript frameworks. For example:

Authentication

Maybe i’m just stupid, but libraries such as Auth.js and LuciaAuth are overly complicated. I don’t want to mess around with setting it all up, connecting it to the database, stressing about whether i’ve implemented it correctly. Laravel’s auth solution just WORKS! One thing that’s interesting is the existence of ShipFast. Sure this project makes sense for NextJS. But for Laravel?? Everything is so easy to implement it would be impossible to justify spending $200 on a template. BUT, if you do need a template for Laravel.. then they are free. Examples are Jetstream and Breeze.

Opinionated Design

Opinionated design in frameworks like Laravel and Next.js streamlines development by providing strong conventions and best practices out of the box. Laravel offers a well-structured MVC architecture and built-in tools that simplify tasks like routing and authentication, enabling developers to focus on features rather than configuration. Similarly, Next.js provides opinionated defaults for routing and code splitting, making it easy to build fast, scalable React applications. Both frameworks enhance productivity, maintainability, and ensure consistent, high-quality code, which is crucial for scaling projects efficiently.

Its SO EASY to implement fully featured forms with Laravel. Especially when we start to dive into tools such as Filament Form Builder to make insanely beautiful forms with tons of features

How would you implement an admin dashboard in Nextjs? Bit of a tricky question right? Use a CMS? Implement one yourself? How long will that take. Now you have to maintain two seperate things.

In Laravel.. just use filament! Its so incredibly easy and intuitive we are lucky that its COMPLETELY. FREE. I guarantee you if this was made for Nextjs it would be $100 minimum. You can read more about it here:

https://filamentphp.com/docs/3.x/panels/installation

What about NestJS, Django or something else?

I tried all these projects, and honestly, does anyone actually think they can be compared? Sure they are similar in the sense that they are big frameworks with batteries included. But none of them can truly match the ecosystem of Laravel. I won’t even bother talking about it more because i don’t think there is a reason to use these other frameworks apart form maybe being required to use a language specific library such as matplotlib.

UI Frameworks

This is the only point that im still a little stuck on. React has such an incredible ecosystem of ui components however the framework which im currently using is https://mary-ui.com/ which is built off DaisyUI. This is good, however it doesn’t really compare to something like ShadCN. Luckily Laravel also solves this problem with InertiaJS.

IntertiaJS

With Inertia you build applications just like you’ve always done with your server-side web framework of choice. You use your framework’s existing functionality for routing, controllers, middleware, authentication, authorization, data fetching, and more.

However, Inertia replaces your application’s view layer. Instead of using server-side rendering via PHP or Ruby templates, the views returned by your application are JavaScript page components. This allows you to build your entire frontend using React, Vue, or Svelte, while still enjoying the productivity of Laravel or your preferred server-side framework.

Easy, Right?