What PHP Developers Really Think: Key Findings from the PHP Foundation Survey

Overview

A listening tour was conducted with about 60 participants from 18 countries representing various parts of the PHP ecosystem. The findings reflect community input and are not official positions of the PHP Foundation.

Feedback Categories

The PHP Foundation

Operations & efficiency

Communication & transparency

Fundraising & sponsorship

PHP Marketing & Outreach

Marketing, brand, and perception

Advocacy & representation

Community Growth & New User Pipeline

Expanding the user community

Newcomer experience

Education & employment

Learning resources

User groups & conferences

Ecosystem sustainability

PHP Language

RFC process

Contributor experience

Overall vision

AI role

Operations & Efficiency

Work prioritization : Community is unclear how priorities are set and decisions made.

Siloed contractors : Coordination between contractors could improve.

Response speed : Shared work among contractors would speed up issue and PR handling.

Unclear work ownership : Community does not know who is responsible for what.

Communication & Transparency

Foundation role is vague : Relationship between the Foundation, the language, and the community is unclear.

Plans lack clarity : The Foundation communicates “what” but not “why,” and lacks forward‑looking context.

Irregular communication rhythm : More consistent cadence would improve transparency and trust.

Decisions shared after the fact : Communication feels reactive; earlier sharing is needed.

Fundraising & Sponsorship

Fundraising strategy is unclear : Uncertain whether proactive fundraising is happening.

Need stronger sponsor relationships : Lack of feedback loops and ongoing sponsor interaction.

Fundraising becoming more challenging : The open‑source funding environment is shifting, making it harder to raise money.

Sponsor value proposition is vague : Clear benefits and sponsor needs are needed.

PHP Marketing & Outreach – Perception

PHP seen as outdated : A perception exists that PHP is old, causing it to be overlooked.

Perception doesn’t match modern PHP : People associate PHP with legacy assumptions and are unaware of recent improvements.

Competing languages have higher visibility : Other open‑source languages receive more discussion and mention.

Lack of coordinated storytelling : No unified effort to tell PHP’s evolution story or showcase real‑world use cases.

PHP Marketing & Outreach – Advocacy & Representation

Limited presence at open‑source events : PHP talks are rarely submitted or accepted at conferences.

Uncoordinated advocacy : Most advocacy is individual, not a unified effort.

Representation imbalance : PHP lacks sufficient voice in broader open‑source policy discussions.

Missing interaction with decision‑makers : Companies don’t receive accurate, up‑to‑date information about PHP.

Community Growth & New User Pipeline – Expanding Community

Large but fragmented global community : Thousands of developers exist, but cohesion is weak.

Growth slowing, retention dropping : New users join, yet many migrate to other languages.

Insufficient resources for community leaders : Hard to find support for growth initiatives.

Frameworks and ecosystem participants act independently : Better collaboration would strengthen PHP.

Community Growth & New User Pipeline – Newcomer Experience

Inconsistent onboarding : Experiences vary widely; newcomers rely on disparate community channels.

No clear onboarding path : New users struggle to know where to start.

Installation setup can be complex : Setting up a development environment is often tricky.

Lack of a central help hub : Newcomers don’t know where to ask questions or find answers.

Community Growth & New User Pipeline – Education & Employment

PHP has limited presence in formal education : Many curricula focus on Python or JavaScript; PHP is rarely taught in universities or bootcamps.

Fragmented education ecosystem : Some learners only study Laravel or Symfony without a holistic PHP foundation.

Developers leaving PHP for better opportunities : Even those who like PHP often switch due to scarce job prospects.

Dispersed job listings : PHP‑related positions are scattered across many sites, making job hunting difficult.

Community Growth & New User Pipeline – Learning Resources

Official manual is excellent but not beginner‑friendly : php.net assumes prior knowledge.

Learning gap for newcomers : Many tutorials presuppose existing PHP skills.

Resources are scattered and often outdated : Finding vetted, up‑to‑date tutorials is hard.

Mentorship programs have faded : Past mentor initiatives lack sustainable support.

Community Growth & New User Pipeline – User Groups & Conferences

User groups need assistance : Still recovering from COVID restrictions, they need support for venues and participation.

Conferences face sustainability challenges : Need help with promotion, funding, speaker recruitment, and attendee attraction.

Diversity and inclusion remain issues : Organizers struggle to attract diverse speakers and participants.

Lack of coordination between user groups and conferences : They often operate independently rather than collaboratively.

Community Growth & New User Pipeline – Ecosystem Sustainability

Contributor burnout and lack of support : Many maintainers feel burned out with no support system.

Funding for small projects is limited : Small initiatives need financial backing.

Contributor pipeline and retention need strengthening : Not enough long‑term contributors earn trust.

PHP Language – RFC Process

Mailing‑list navigation is difficult for many : Participants need more support and visibility.

Voting system lacks representative participation : Active contributors and stakeholders are under‑represented.

Missing code‑of‑conduct leads to inconsistent interactions : Experiences on php‑internals vary widely.

PHP Language – Contributor Experience

Key extensions could be bundled by default : e.g., better integration of debugging tools.

Contribution workflow can be slow : Long PR or issue response times discourage contributors.

Internal documentation needs improvement : Existing docs are outdated; review processes can be bottlenecks.

Setup and installation remain frictionful : More research is needed to understand the install experience.

PHP Language – Overall Vision

Lack of long‑term roadmap makes planning hard for users and framework developers .

Companies want predictability; without it they may switch languages .

Challenges are more perceptual than technical : Storytelling and perception are key.

A clear vision can ease backward‑compatibility vs. new‑feature tension : Knowing which features will be deprecated helps preparation.

PHP Language – AI

No unified open‑source stance on AI yet : No widely accepted industry standard.

Opportunities come with risks : Copyright, ownership, code quality, and maintainer burnout.

Ethical and environmental considerations are essential : AI impact goes beyond code.

AI agents become a new audience for PHP content .

Original source:

https://github.com/ThePHPF/talks/blob/main/board-presentations/PHP%20Community%20Feedback%20Summary%20-%20April%202026.md