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Microsoft .NET Framework vs Zend PHP Engine comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 5, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft .NET Framework
Ranking in Application Infrastructure
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
56
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Zend PHP Engine
Ranking in Application Infrastructure
15th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2025, in the Application Infrastructure category, the mindshare of Microsoft .NET Framework is 5.4%, down from 6.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zend PHP Engine is 1.4%, down from 1.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Infrastructure Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Microsoft .NET Framework5.4%
Zend PHP Engine1.4%
Other93.2%
Application Infrastructure
 

Featured Reviews

Muhammad Qasim - PeerSpot reviewer
Has enabled building responsive multi-threaded applications while supporting rapid deployment workflows
Microsoft .NET Framework has already made significant improvements by becoming open source. Many developers are contributing to Microsoft .NET Framework, not just Microsoft itself. They have ported it to many platforms and allow a healthy ecosystem of open source tools. They have moved from Visual SourceSafe to supporting Git with Microsoft Visual Studio. Their IDE, Visual Studio Code, is open source and multi-platform. There are many third-party tools available, including AI-based tools such as Cursor and Bolt, which are forks of Visual Studio Code. Based on my understanding, I don't have any suggestions for improvement as they are already doing an excellent job.
SatyendraGupta - PeerSpot reviewer
The fact that it is available open-source is the best feature
The fact that it is available open-source is the best feature.  A general scripting language should be further developed and should be embedded into it. I have been Zend PHP Engine for nine years.  Multiple people are using the solution.  Overall, I rate the solution a seven out of ten.…

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"Microsoft .NET Framework reduces the cost of entry and enables the development of applications with mature and enterprise features, thereby lowering the entry barriers."
"The .NET framework is a mature platform that is very helpful and saves time during the software development process."
"Given that it's cross-platform right now, where you can use it on Windows and Mac, that is the single most significant feature that has resulted in wider adoption of .NET."
"The solution is easy to use."
"The solution is not limited in storage, is customizable and simple to use."
"If we take low code, no code platform such as RPA platforms, you might end up writing 100 lines of code and you might do it in a single line of code using. NET."
"The addition of generics to handle common functionality across types, and the more recent upgrade of the dataset to the Entity Framework, has cut development time drastically, while increasing quality and confidence between builds."
"Microsoft Platform is the only viable solution when I wish to do something that is not supposed to be cross-platform."
"It offers good support for various types of classes, along with many open source libraries that we can readily utilize in our application development process. This gives us a lot of options when it comes to custom development solutions, without having to worry about licensing or other programming-related issues."
"Faster web app implementation, when PHP dev is required by customers."
"The fact that it is available open-source is the best feature."
"The Zend Framework provides an easy, open source way to produce coding based on the needs of our customers.​"
"Scaling up is an important factor for large projects, and with PHP 7 and its performance improvements, this becomes even easier.​"
"​Zend Engine is the core of PHP. It makes PHP fast, efficient, and basically, the language of choice for web applications."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is the speed at which it compiles and sends the dynamic cache."
"The solution's initial setup process is easy."
 

Cons

"You need to have the technical expertise to use this product."
"There is room for Microsoft .NET Framework to improve cloud platform capabilities."
"This solution is best used with some training."
"The product’s reliability needs improvement."
"They should try to improve their Blazor WebAssembly."
"Improvements are needed in .NET development, particularly in a backend scenario."
"The significant challenge is that you need an enterprise-level company to maintain software in Microsoft .NET Framework with a proper structure."
"Difficult to scale this product for large organizations."
"The solution can be quicker."
"The process of installing and configuring the product is a bit complex and could be improved."
"Its object oriented programming language needs improvement."
"Integrating AI tools would make PHP more competitive, as other tools already have AI features."
"Although it offers a complete environment to develop and deploy PHP applications, it has some limitations. For example, when the volume of data increased exponentially, I had problems scaling the system."
"The biggest problem with PHP is you have to write lot of conditions or have to use a framework."
"The main area that Zend needs to improve is to support asynchronous programming tasks, which is facilitated in PHP 7, but not at the same degree as HHVM.​​"
"In terms of improvement, it doesn't support concurrent processing. When we want to process anything on a concurrent basis, we have to divide it into a number of things, like a queue, or we have to run it using Cron jobs. We would like to have the capability to run any thread or process in parallel."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Microsoft .NET Framework is a free, open-source solution."
"The product’s pricing is a bit high."
"The solution is free but you need to pay for a license for the hosting service."
"It's an expensive solution"
"For the moment I can only give the product a rating of five out of ten since only some of the customers will be satisfied, those that have the financial resources for hosting a platform on Windows Server."
"The solution is a bit costly when compared to open source products or open gear licenses."
"The support is an extra cost when purchasing the license. The price of the solution is overall reasonable and paid annually or every three years. Additionally, they have a monthly license. The cost is approximately $1,000 per user."
"The product and support for this solution are free for everyone."
"Its pricing depends on the number of users."
"The solution is open source and you just pay for the server cost."
"Zend PHP Engine is not an expensive solution."
"The Zend PHP engine is open source technology, so there's no need for us to worry about licensing or other costs."
"No problem with pricing and licensing, as tools are open source. You have to consider training cost, mindset setup cost, as part of the TCO."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
15%
Real Estate/Law Firm
13%
Computer Software Company
8%
Government
8%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business28
Midsize Enterprise9
Large Enterprise23
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Large Enterprise2
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Microsoft .NET Framework?
Microsoft .NET Framework continually innovates, particularly in Visual Studio, which focuses on improving languages, debugging, and .NET functionality.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft .NET Framework?
I don't know about pricing. I'm paying for Visual Studio, even though I'm not using the new version yet. Prices can always be better, but I think for the environment provided, the prices are accept...
What needs improvement with Microsoft .NET Framework?
Since the version I'm using is many years old, they have been continuously improving. They are always adding features to the language and framework, but I cannot comment from a very old version on ...
What do you like most about Zend PHP Engine?
The fact that it is available open-source is the best feature.
What needs improvement with Zend PHP Engine?
Integrating AI tools would make PHP more competitive, as other tools already have AI features.
 

Also Known As

MS .NET Framework
PHP Engine
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Curtin University, Rockwell Automation, Aruba Networks, Insurity Inc., City of Barcelona, Pennsylvania DCNR, University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, A1 Telekom Austria AG, Eastman Chemical Company
Cisco
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft .NET Framework vs. Zend PHP Engine and other solutions. Updated: November 2025.
872,846 professionals have used our research since 2012.