nowfound

Dev tools · alternatives · 2026

24 alternatives to Dumbo – Hono inspired framework for PHP

Hey HN, I last PHP professionally over 15 years ago, and I loved it. I switched to Ruby on Rails, then Node/Go/React/GraphQL as there was a lot more demand for those roles. However, PHP is back! In true JavaScript fashion, I decided to learn PHP again by building a framework to put all the pieces together in my brain. I absolutely love Hono.dev, and decided to base the PHP framework on that. Dumbo isn't intended to compete with Laravel, Symphony or Slim, if anything, it's something people can use in production, but also contribute to and be used as a learning resource for…

Dumbo is a PHP web framework inspired by Hono, designed for building applications with a lightweight approach. It is intended for developers who want to use PHP in production while also serving as an educational… Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. Dumbo – Hono inspired framework for PHP launched in 2024; newer entries below may have overtaken it.

  1. 1

    Hey HN! I want to share my side project with you. It's called Bud and it's a full-stack web framework for Go. I created a short video to show you how to create a minimal Hacker News clone with Bud: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoypcRqn-xA. The framework is free, open source and MIT Licensed. You can find it on Github: https://github.com/livebud/bud. I started working on Bud 2 years ago after watching the introductory Laracast videos about the Laravel web framework. I was just blown away by how productive you can be in Laravel. However, like many of you,…

    2022 · github.com · its alternatives →

  2. 2
    Wolff▲103

    Ridiculously small PHP framework for building web apps 🐺

    2020 · its alternatives →

  3. 3
  4. 4

    :ramen: A tasty Haskell web and mobile framework. Contribute to dmjio/miso development by creating an account on GitHub.

    2017 · github.com · its alternatives →

  5. 5
    Remix▲413

    Next gen full stack web framework

    2022 · remix.run · its alternatives →

  6. 6

    I built Morph, an experimental fullstack HTML-first library for Deno, Node, and Bun. Everything returns HTML, not JSON. No React, no Vite — just plain HTML with server-side rendering. No build steps, no preprocessors, no complex configs — everything runs from a single file. Perfect for Telegram Web Apps, internal tools, simple admin panels, dashboards, or anywhere a full-blown SPA feels like overkill. Important: I built this entirely for myself — to solve my own problems. I hate complex frontend. I hate writing it. And I don’t want to waste time on it. But maybe it’ll help you too.

    2025 · github.com · its alternatives →

  7. 7
    AdonisJS▲238

    A fully featured web framework for Node.js

    2021 · adonisjs.com · its alternatives →

  8. 8

    We're excited to announce Lowdefy V4, a full-stack web framework built on top of Next.js that simplifies building web applications, internal tools, admin panels, BI dashboards, and CRUD apps using YAML or JSON configuration files. New in V4: Next.js: Lowdefy now runs on top of the Next.js framework. All of Auth.js: App auth is now handled by Auth.js supported providers, adapters and callbacks and events, easy to configure, but all of which can be customized. Plugin extensibility: Apps can now be extended with any npm or pnpm workspace plugins. Our story: We have developed a simple…

    2021 · lowdefy.com · its alternatives →

  9. 9

    Hey all, I just wanted to share a project I've been working on for the past month. After years of heavy frameworks, I really like the idea of using htmx, but it’s a little too low level for me and needs a thin layer above it to facilitate things like components, better syntax with complex JS inside of an attribute, etc To try and solve this problem with a very minimal stack (golang + htmx) that I've been really enjoying, I'm building this project to cater to my needs and was thinking it would be useful for other developers.

    2024 · htmgo.dev · its alternatives →

  10. 10
    PHPRunner▲103

    Professional web apps with little or no coding

    2022 · xlinesoft.com · its alternatives →

  11. 11FJ
  12. 12

    Hi HN! I created this lib in the need of a simple and tiny framework to easily do AJAX-style navigation / replacement of fragments in the page, in a web application. For people who don't want to use client-side-rendering and complex frameworks à la React, there are nowadays a few "HTML-over-the-wire" libraries, like HTMX, Unpoly or this super-tiny one Swap.js :) One other key thing is that no external tool is needed: no bundler, no webpack, no TypeScript compiler, no minification needed. Just write HTML, JS (+ your preferred server-side language: PHP, Python, etc.) and it works. The…

    2023 · github.com · its alternatives →

  13. 13

    Hey HN, I built ArtisanForge, a free platform to learn PHP and Laravel through a medieval-fantasy RPG. Instead of traditional tutorials, you progress through kingdoms, solve coding exercises in a browser editor, earn XP, join guilds, and fight boss battles. Tech stack: Laravel 12, Livewire 3, Tailwind CSS, Alpine.js. Code execution runs sandboxed via php-wasm in the browser. What's in there: - 12 courses across 11 kingdoms (PHP basics to deployment) - 100+ interactive exercises with real-time code validation using AST analysis - AI companion (Pip the Owlox) that uses Socratic method – never…

    Feb 2026 · artisanforge.online · its alternatives →

  14. 14RA

    I wanted to have a framework that would let me build web apps faster than ever before. I didn’t care if it was a little hacky or didn’t use best practices — I wanted to be able to get a multi-user application out the door in hours instead of months. I researched the CMS space for months before deciding to build something from scratch. My goal was to be 90% done building a web app once I had the static HTML and CSS finished. I’m not a big fan of building out API endpoints over and over again for every new app, fiddling with a database, or doing lots of config. What I ended up with was a…

    2020 · its alternatives →

  15. 15

    :steam_locomotive::train: - sturdy 4kb frontend framework - choojs/choo

    2016 · github.com · its alternatives →

  16. 16AH

    I've been trying to write my "go on rails" framework for years. I never quite got it like I wanted. There is gin and echo and all sorts of other frameworks and patterns but I finally found something I really like: /foo/ /foo/bar/ /foo/bar/more/ That's it. Just three levels and all my controllers get passed in what's between the / with var names first, second, third. In order to really make sure this framework could build something real I made a Hacker News clone. RemoteRenters.com is a HN just for articles about the remote work revolution…

    2023 · remoterenters.com · its alternatives →

  17. 17

    Hey all! I've been using this stack personally for a while now and decided to automate it a bit by turning it into a template I can reuse. Hope others might find it helpful!

    2025 · bhvr.dev · its alternatives →

  18. 18

    Yoyo is a full-stack PHP framework to create rich, dynamic interfaces using server-rendered HTML. You keep on writing PHP and let Yoyo make your creations come alive. - clickfwd/yoyo

    2024 · github.com · its alternatives →

  19. 19SW

    i'm building this minimalistic framework mostly for myself. it's really just a project template + a tiny library that adds file based routes to express and persistent task queues. i wanted something that: 1. is a single long-running process to deploy and manage (thanks sqlite!) 2. has type-safe database queries and type-safe server rendered React-like `.tsx` components 3. addresses 80% of common full-stack concerns like emails, task queues and routing 4. doesn't have a frontend build process curious to hear what you think!

    2024 · plainweb.dev · its alternatives →

  20. 20

    The PHP Framework for Web Artisans

    2023 · laravel.com · its alternatives →

  21. 21

    Create clean, simple but powerful web apps and APIs quickly.

    2019 · leafmvc.netlify.com · its alternatives →

  22. 22
    Leaf 3▲116

    Simple and elegant PHP

    2021 · leafphp.dev · its alternatives →

  23. 23IB

    This is a simple PHP framework I built myself from scratch with minimal dependencies from composer. It has Autowiring DI and some simple routing provided by the Slim router. The code: https://github.com/cipher-code/phpframework

    2022 · its alternatives →

  24. 24

    PHP does Meta Programming too! (Requires PHP 5.4). GitHub Gist: instantly share code, notes, and snippets.

    2011 · gist.github.com · its alternatives →

Also compare

Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →