Why PHP Dominates Freelance Web Development

Discover why PHP is still the top choice for freelancers—fast setup, low cost, and massive ecosystem power millions of sites. 

PHP earned its crown in the freelancing world due to its simplicity and accessibility during the early 2000s. Back then, building websites was complex—options like Java, Perl, or C++ required extensive server configuration with CGI-BINs. Database communication and handling HTTP requests were challenging for most developers.

PHP changed the game. It was incredibly easy to deploy: simply upload .php files to your server, and they worked. Installing php_mod was a breeze, and connecting to databases like MySQL—an emerging and reliable solution—was straightforward.

The rise of the LAMP stack (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) further fueled its dominance. While Python was occasionally used, PHP was far easier to get running on affordable shared hosting—often for just $8/month. Just FTP your files, and your website was live.

This convenience led to the explosion of systems like WordPress, which started as a simple blog tool and became the world’s most used CMS. Today, over 40% of websites are powered by PHP, primarily through platforms like WordPress, Laravel, and CakePHP.

Even now, PHP enables rapid deployment—from launching a small business website to creating a rental booking platform—in minutes, for under $10/month. Though modern PHP has evolved, its ease of use, massive community, and ecosystem keep it the go-to language for freelance web projects.