--- title: "PHP powers most of the web, so why aren’t new developers learning it?" url: https://daily.dev/posts/php-powers-most-of-the-web-so-why-aren-t-new-developers-learning-it--vetklkvqo source_url: https://allthingsopen.org/articles/why-new-developers-not-learning-php-2026 type: article source: "All Things Open" published: 2026-05-06T07:21:39.194Z updated: 2026-05-06T07:22:12.125Z tags: ["webdev", "open-source", "php"] reading_time: 4 upvotes: 76 comments: 17 language: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # PHP powers most of the web, so why aren’t new developers learning it? **[All Things Open](https://daily.dev/sources/allthingsopen)** · 4 min read · 76 upvotes · 17 comments ## Summary The 2026 PHP Landscape Report by Perforce reveals a paradox: PHP remains a dominant force in web development but faces an aging developer base, with only 8% of PHP developers having fewer than five years of experience. Most PHP users work at small-to-medium organizations (48% at companies with fewer than 20 employees), primarily in Europe. Deployment trends show 58% of apps still run on-premises, and NGINX has overtaken Apache as the top web infrastructure tool for the first time. Despite competition from newer technologies, PHP continues to mature with a focus on security, new features, and code quality — but attracting new developers remains a critical challenge for the community's future. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@axmad** · 15 upvotes > In France at least, it's almost the opposite problem there are actually more PHP juniors on the job market than open positions. Post-COVID bootcamps produced a lot of junior devs, but the market contracted fast and many of them are still struggling to land their first role. > > The issue is that most companies still running PHP have legacy projects that require experienced profiles. They can't afford to onboard juniors without solid mentoring, and many don't have the resources to do it. > > So you end up with a weird situation: too many juniors, a shortage of seniors, and seniors retiring. The gap... **@coppnic** · 10 upvotes > And here we are, training our Jr. & Mid. Developers all the languages we use in our stack. Including PHP. As the article says, yes we are a SME, too, but with just a bit short of being 100 employees. **@martinatanasov90** · 3 upvotes > I guess the obvious reason for "PHP powering the web" is mostly the Wordpress websites which doesn't require any coding skills. Marketing agencies spam mostly static content using Wordpress. So the number may be high but the quality is not. **@augustomen** · 3 upvotes > Because it shouldn't. **@brian\_p** · 1 upvotes > Because new developers are not learning any programming languages. ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Who will maintain the web when PHP’s veterans retire?](https://daily.dev/posts/who-will-maintain-the-web-when-php-s-veterans-retire--a4hytpoqs) · The New Stack · 60 upvotes · 21 comments - [PHP language still relevant, advocate insists](https://daily.dev/posts/php-language-still-relevant-advocate-insists-kqkphaixm) · InfoWorld · 25 upvotes · 6 comments --- Tags: [#webdev](https://daily.dev/tags/webdev), [#open-source](https://daily.dev/tags/open-source), [#php](https://daily.dev/tags/php) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/php-powers-most-of-the-web-so-why-aren-t-new-developers-learning-it--vetklkvqo)