FuelPHP is one of the more modern PHP frameworks on the market this year. It’s a modular solution, which means that you can quickly build parts onto your applications with ease, and it’s also incredibly compact, so you don’t have to worry too much about a complicated UI. This simple and slick solution follows the Model View Architecture along with “View Models” which helps to provide a layer between view and controller.

At a base level, FuelPHP is a combination of Kohana and CodeIgniter in terms of what it can offer. It comes with a bunch of great functionalities including Models, Caching, HMVC and more. Additional functionalities can also be added as packages, and Fuel is flexible enough to be extended wherever you see fit. Developers love this framework for it’s naturally versatile approach to creation. Here are just some of the top features of FuelPHP.

1. It’s Extendable and Modular

Perhaps one of the most obvious benefits of FuelPHP is its modular construction. Just about every class in the FuelPHP core pack can extend without the user having to change any code or where that code is used. You can also package additional functionality into Fuel by dividing your application up into multiple modules.

The dispersed nature of FuelPHP means that you can replace or extend your core classes without having to rewrite your code, saving you a serious amount of development time. In simple terms, this framework offers absolute flexibility. There are almost no restrictions on how to write code, and you can create classes in any file structure you like.

2. It’s Highly Secure

Security is one of the biggest concerns that any developer will face today. From the moment it’s out of the box, FuelPHP offers you the peace of mind you need with Views that encode your output to make your project as secure as possible. FuelPHP prevents XSS attacks and supports CSRF prevention with input filtering, tokens, and Query builder files that help you to defend your system against unwanted SQL injection attacks.

Many of the security features offered by FuelPHP use the functionality provided by the PHPSecLib solution. This ensures that you’re getting a secure authority framework from start to finish.

3. It Comes with a Lightweight and Powerful ORM

The ORM offered by FuelPHP was designed to offer the perfect balance between a host of powerful features, and a lightweight user experience. FuelPHP isn’t designed to replace your Propel or Doctrine system. Instead, this solution is a lightweight framework that’s designed to tackle competitors and give you the most out of your projects. It offers an OO approach to working on a database, and you can use it to complete CRUD operations and manage relations between rows.

FuelPHP might be small, but it’s also secure, fast, and powerful. It allows developers to create their web-based applications as quickly as possible, and it comes with built-in package and module support too.

4. Strong Authentication Framework

The creators behind FuelPHP know how difficult it is to create an Auth library that works for everyone. That’s why the framework comes packed with a framework that sets a default interface for specific drivers to adhere to. This simply means that developers can create and share implementations and upload solutions that others can embrace, without changing their common usage patterns.

When you download and install FuelPHP you get two sets of drivers included. The first is “SimpleAuth” which is offered as a quick start option. It uses one table to store information and role permissions. You can also access “ORMauth” – the ORM based solution that provides a complete ACL system with permissions at various levels.

5. A Dedicated Community

When you’re looking for developer tools online, one of the most important features to search for is the right community. An active and dedicated community shows that your tool is something that’s worth investing in. FuelPHP benefits from a huge community full of web developers that are dedicated to making the experience as valuable as possible for their peers.

New modifications are frequently released, and you can simply click on the “Contribute” section of the FuelPHP website if you want to bring your own system into the mix. There’s a forum, an active customer service group, and regular blog posts on the site that keep you informed of where the FuelPHP service is heading. As Fuel says themselves, becoming an active part of the community is a great way to create something incredible.