Migrating from PHP to Golang

Every time we meet Clients facing poorly performing applications written in PHP, and we suggest migrating to Golang we are faced with surprise and maybe even mild resistance. Though a year into running a Golang based application they are happy to have made the switch to Golang.

Initially created in 1994, PHP has been around for 24 years. Since its heydays, PHP has seen popularity due to its open source format, ease of use and stability. However, as happens in every other aspect of life the old have to make way for the new if they are not able to adapt to modern times. Even the most recent versions of PHP such as PHP 7 have left a lot to be desired in terms of security, scalability, concurrency and more. As times have changed so have the demands of a computer application. Quickly deploy-able, concurrent, scalable, bug-free, low maintenance cost-efficient applications are the demand of the day.

Golang has time and again proven itself as a safe bet for Enterprise Applications.Following are just some of the features in which Golang outperforms PHP and turns out to be a wiser choice for Businesses.

Speed: The difference in speed of performance of Golang and PHP is spectacular. Kairos reported its customers to have reported 8* speed increase in API Transactions when they moved from PHP build to Golang. This happens because Golang handles Data processing more efficiently than PHP. Further, due to the compilation aspect even bad Golang code outperforms good PHP code leading to faster performance. More importantly, end users get a fast-performing application.

Less Go-To-Market time: This has to be the most oft-repeated advantage of Golang. Simply by virtue of the less amount of code that needs to be written for developing the same application; a program written in Golang can be developed more quickly. PHP, on the other hand, requires almost five times more code to be written to produce the same functionality. Imagine the time that it saves for an application to be deployed.Enterprises can save on valuable time by having their enterprise applications up and running in no time.

Cost: Due to increased efficiencies of Go because of multi-threading, reduced deployment size, smaller memory footprint, and running overall fewer Docker containers, Businesses can reduce the count of hosts in Kubernetes cluster by over 50%. Go deployment, requires an astonishingly less number of containers to handle a much higher load than PHP API. Given these factors, Golang leads to lesser overhead costs for a business.

Safe and Secure Code: Due to Golang's inbuilt error checking mechanism the chances of bugs being left behind because of developer oversight is very low. Golang performs analysis on compilation and notifies developers of errors and lets them resolve before pushing to production. This leads to a more safe and secure code. In contrast, due to open source nature of the PHP hypertext preprocessor, everybody can view PHP’s source code. As a result, it is possible for a hacker to identify bugs in the code and subsequently, use such bugs to attack unsuspecting users.

Scalable: It is difficult to use PHP to program huge applications. Since it is not highly modular, huge applications created out of the programming language are difficult to maintain. PHP was mostly created for use in website development and not for creating applications for use on Windows and other operating systems, this could be a reason as to why it does not support vast applications. Golang, on the other hand, is a more modern language. It supports more requests per second than almost any other language. As a result, Golang is the most scalable language around. It shall grow as your business grows to accommodate the growing load on your applications. 

Given all the above factors, it is safe to say that it is a wise move for Businesses to migrate from Golang to PHP. If you wish to know more on how to migrate from PHP to Golang, drop me a message or get in touch with us, here.