The Best Symfony Hosting: Who’s The Best For Your Site? [Updated: 2021]

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Compare Symfony Hosting

If you have a dispersed development team or are working with customers in distant locations, you may want to develop your applications with Symfony. You’ll need specific technical specs on your web hosting plan and not all hosting providers will do.

Web hosting customers who plan to develop PHP applications using Symfony should verify that the hosts servers are running PHP 5.3.3 or higher, that JSON and ctype are enabled, and that the php.ini file includes the date.timezone setting.

We provide a detailed analysis of each host later in this post, but here’s a preview of the best 5 hosts for Symfony apps:

  1. SiteGround – Supports PHP versions up to 7, SSH access, outstanding uptime
  2. Bluehost
  3. A2 Hosting
  4. GreenGeeks
  5. WebHostFace

How Did We Pick the Best Hosts for Symfony?

We selected the best Symfony-friendly web hosting plans from over 380 hosts and 1,500 hosting plans. Then we chose the hosts which offer the most up-to-date PHP versions as well as the other technical specs that Symfony needs.

Finally, we pared down the list using our massive database of over 1 million words of actual customer reviews, to identify the top 10 hosts for Symfony.

What You’ll Learn

Symfony has powerful capabilities. But what are its primary uses? How does it compare to other similar software packages?

In this article, you’ll learn what makes Symfony outstanding. You’ll learn what to look for in a Symfony host and what to avoid.

I’ll also share my personal recommendations for Symfony hosts based on my career as a software engineer.

PEOPLE’S CHOICE: #1 HOST FOR symfony Apr 2021
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StartUp plan

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VPS Standard plan

$14.99 / mo

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Entry VPS plan

$5 / mo

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EcoSite Starter plan

$2.95 / mo

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Managed Dedicated Server plan

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what is symfony

What is Symfony?

“Symfony is a set of PHP Components, a Web Application framework, a Philosophy, and a Community — all working together in harmony.” — Symfony

Symfony is a collection of powerful PHP development tools that includes a set of independent components and a full-fledged development framework that rides on top of those components.

Symfony is at the core of a number of popular PHP applications and frameworks, including Drupal, PHPbb, and Laravel.

What is an Application Framework?

A framework is an integrated collection of tools, templates, and methodologies for developing a software application.

A framework doesn’t just provide a set of independent tools and libraries. Rather, the benefit of a framework is in the integration of all its parts and the overall effect this has on the way you develop an application.

programmer
Developers cite a variety of benefits from using Symfony, including efficiency, security, and the ease with which a new developer can get up to speed on an existing project. (Photo by Jefferson Santos via Unsplash).

Benefits of a Framework

Application development frameworks provide:

  • Modules for frequently needed application features.
  • Tools for speeding up or automating application development tasks.
  • Methodologies or implementation patterns for building new features.
  • Structure for how to organize code and architectural components.
  • Philosophy of how to go about designing, building, and deploying a software application.

Why Should I Use an Application Development Framework?

An application framework allows you to do more while typing less.

Here are some good reasons why you would use it:

  1. Why re-build the same features, over and over, for every new application?
  2. Why do things manually when they could be automated?
  3. Why do analogous tasks in different ways?
  4. Why build from scratch when most applications are organized on similar principles?
  5. Why walk alone when a community of developers has gone ahead of you?
laravel symfony code
A snippet of PHP code from the Laravel framework showing the use of Symfony components. (Source: WhoIsHostingThis.com)

The obvious answer to these questions is: You shouldn’t do those things. Using an application development framework helps you avoid those fundamental errors in programming judgment.

It will probably save you a ton of time, too.

symfony core features

What are Symfony’s Core Features?

Symfony is an application development framework for building web applications in PHP. There are several other popular PHP frameworks, so let’s focus on a couple things that really make Symfony stand out.

Understanding the Modular Design of Symfony

Symfony is highly modularized, more so than almost any other similar framework.

It consists of a core set of individual modules which each provide a fairly granular amount of functionality.

These components were designed so that they could be used individually. Indeed, you can add any one of them by itself to a project to get a specific feature benefit.

Key Modules in Symfony

The key modules include:

Front-End/Client-SideBack-End/Server-Side
  • BrowserKit is a simulated web browser.
  • Form creates HTML web forms.
  • HttpFoundation adds object orientation to HTTP.
  • Filesystem provides basic file and directory functions.
  • Finder finds and fetches files and directories (even if it doesn’t already know where to look).
  • EventDispatcher acts as a mediator between event listeners and the objects that trigger those events.
  • CssSelector translates CSS into XPath.
  • ClassLoader autoloads classes as needed.
  • Config manages configuration settings and resolves conflicting configuration statements.
  • Console assists with running application functions from a terminal window.
  • DomCrawler assists with DOM traversal.
  • ExpressionLanguage evaluates the truth value of expressions without executing them.
  • Debug helps developers track down bugs.
  • DependencyInjection manages the creation of objects.
  • HttpKernel provides tools for building HTTP based frameworks.
  • OptionsResolver eases the creation of objects that need option arrays.
  • Process runs commands inside sub-processes.
  • PropertyAccess adds simple read/write (accessor) methods to objects.
  • Routing maps HTTP requests to application methods and arguments.
  • Security provides a sophisticated authorization scheme.
  • Serializer translates structured data from one format to another.
  • Stopwatch measures execution time for code.
  • Templating assists with the creation of views and template.
  • Translation helps with internationalization and localization.

Mixing and Matching Symfony Modules

These modules each provide a fairly specific set of features to application development. They can be used independently. In fact, they are developed and maintained independently — each individual module has its own GitHub repo.

Taken as a whole, and with added structural components, they create a powerful development framework.

Plugins Give Symfony Additional Functionality

But the modularity doesn’t end with the design of the framework itself. Additional functionality beyond these core modules can be added to the application by plugins.

User management, mail server interaction, CSS preprocessing — all these common applications features, and many others can be added via plugins.

What is Model-View-Controller (MVC) Design?

This structure also encourages application development to be done in a similarly modular way, which promotes code re-use and good programming practices.

model view controller mvc
A simple diagram of the MVC concept. (Via WhoIsHostingThis.com)

The Symfony PHP framework strongly encourages the model-view-controller (MVC) approach to design.

MVC cleanly separates the user interface from the app’s internal workings, so it’s easy to change the look of a Symfony application without changing everything.

Symfony Culture

The Symfony development team emphasizes that it isn’t just a set of tools and a framework: it is also a philosophy and a community.

What Does the Symfony Community Offer?

The Symfony community provides an outstanding level of support and documentation, from detailed instructions on how to use each component, to talking points for explaining development frameworks to various stakeholders and decision makers.

This focus on the “soft” aspects of software development promotes a high degree of overall programmer satisfaction and quality of code.

symfony hosting

When to use Symfony Hosting

Why would you use Symfony on a hosted system, rather than your own desktop? There are several possible reasons.

You may be working with testers or customers at distant locations. Following a DevOps philosophy, you want them to see changes as you make them.

Geographical Considerations

Your development team may be dispersed over a large area. A hosted site may be the most practical and economical way for them all to work together.

Multiple Environments

If you use the same site for Symfony work and application hosting, it serves as a staging area where you can make corrections on the fly and then deploy them on the web server.

Your final testing environment is the same as the deployment environment, giving you extra confidence.

Symfony Versions

The latest major release of Symfony is version 5, which is designed for PHP 7.

If you want to stick with code that runs under PHP 5, Symfony 3 is still supported. There’s no good reason to use older versions.



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Looking for an excellent deal on Symfony hosting?
SiteGround – rated #1 by our readers – supports Symfony with PHP 7, SSH access, and fast servers. Right now you can save up to 67% on these quality plans. Use this exclusive discount link to get the deal.



Symfony Requirements

At a minimum, Symfony requires:

  • PHP 5.3.3 or higher (Symfony 3)
  • PHP 7.1.3 or higher (Symfony 4)
  • JSON enabled
  • ctype enabled
  • php.ini must have date.timezone setting

Symfony Components and Settings

Other components and settings are highly recommended. Please see the complete Symfony Requirements guide.

Also, applications built on Symfony might additionally require other features, modules, or settings at the server level.

Support for Symfony

Many web hosts already support Symfony, or can be configured to support it.

Be sure that your hosting plan lets you install Symfony and is suitable for development work. You’ll need these capabilities, at a minimum:

  1. Command-line access.
  2. The ability to upload files.
  3. Access to php.ini and other configuration files.

Useful Tools

You’ll very likely want to use a remote IDE and debugger, so make sure that your host isn’t firewalled against it. Look for a hosting server with a free trial period, and use the time to verify that your development environment works the way you want.

For serious development work, a dedicated host or VPS is best. You don’t have to compete for processing power, and you can install development software globally on the server.

Shared hosting may be good enough for personal projects.

Core Symfony Features:

  • Allows PHP development without having to reinvent common functions
  • Strong support community
  • Flexible and expandable, thanks to bundle-based architecture

Other features in Languages and Frameworks




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Looking for the right Symfony host?
A2 Hosting scored #1 in our recent server speed tests. They provide one-click installation of Symfony and unlimited storage and bandwidth. Save up to 50% on A2’s developer-friendly plans by using this discount link. (This deal includes an “Anytime” money-back guarantee.)




Symfony Frequently Asked Questions

  • What is Symfony?

    Symfony is a PHP framework designed to speed up web application development.

  • Who develops Symfony?

    Symfony is developed by SensioLabs, an open-source software company. They are helped by a vast network of community contributors.

  • Why are there so many modules?

    Modules provide Symfony with flexibility. If you are looking to develop a complex application with multiple functions, you can install the full version of Symfony (the Full Stack). If you have specialized needs, you can pick and choose the functions that you require. Or if you just want to take advantage of one or two features, you don’t need the whole framework. Just use an individual module to enhance your project.

  • Can I use Symfony with other PHP frameworks?

    Yes. PHP is designed to add to your existing tools, whether that’s simply PHP or PHP and another PHP framework. In fact, because Symfony is a module build, you only need to use the pieces that are appropriate for your application, so you can use it as necessary, and then go back to utilizing your other resources.

  • How does Symfony version 3 compare version 4?

    The big difference is that Symfony 4 uses PHP 7, and Symfony 3 uses PHP 5. Applications built with Symfony 4 require PHP 7 to run. Version 4 uses a new application structure called Flex. Otherwise, the differences are minor, and moving to version 4 shouldn’t break existing projects.

  • When Symfony gets updated, will my code still work?

    Symfony is designed so that your code will continue to work, regardless of updates. Updates are built around the existing code and only provide bug fixes, security fixes, or improved functionality. Existing functionality should remain intact. However, you should always review release notes prior to updating, to make sure no existing features or code have been impacted.

  • What type of support is available for Symfony?

    Community-based support is provided through an online forum, mailing list, and IRC channel. Additionally, a large library of documentation, including user guides, installation guides, and samples are available to assist users. Symfony also offers personalized, paid support for a range of prices.

  • Is Symfony training available?

    Yes. SensioLabs, the creators of Symfony, offers training courses and certifications in English, French, German, and Spanish. These are offered in several countries around the world. Additionally, there is a large library of documentation available on their site to get you started and to help you master the Symfony framework.

  • Can I use Symfony with a shared hosting plan?

    Yes, but it is not recommended. Any web application that relies on dynamic content, as in something built with PHP, is going to require more resources than a traditional, publishing-only website. Depending on the level of interaction or the number of visitors you get, this can quickly become too much for a shared plan to handle.

    On the other hand, if your interest is simply learning Symfony, a shared hosting plan should work just fine.

  • What type of license is Symfony issued under?

    Symfony is released under the MIT license. This is very similar to the GNU GPL license, and, in fact, is considered GPL-compatible. It allows users to download, use, modify, and redistribute the source code in any way (even for use in proprietary software), provided the MIT license is distributed with the modified software.

  • How can I contribute to Symfony?

    Like most open-source software, Symfony welcomes community support. The easiest way to contribute is by submitting a bug report. You can also contribute to their documentation library or write a translation. If you are a developer, you can contribute by submitting a patch, either for a bug or a proposed enhancement. At the time of this writing, they were not accepting new core contributors, but if you are interested, you should check their website to see if this has changed.

  • How can I keep my system up-to-date?

    Symfony allows you to subscribe to their mailing list to be notified any time an update is available, that way you can always make sure you’re using the latest version.

Gary McGath

About Gary McGath

Gary McGath spent years as a software developer before turning to writing. In addition to writing many articles on technology, he’s the author of two crowdfunded e-books. His tech passions include data security and digital preservation.

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