What are the advantages of using Node.js vs PHP

Question

Possible Duplicate:
Why and When to use node js?

Can someone tell me why all this fuss about node.js ? Is a regular web site (lets say a blog) written in node.js faster compared to same written in some php framework? I know that a web server written in node.js will be faster than apache but how about a real web application that doesn't create threads or something like that?

Solution

Edited:

There are 2 main advantages:

1. Speed! (Performance)
2. Node.js is event-driven and non-blocking and very good at handling concurrent requests.

Here is a link to a benchmarking test for node.js against PHP on Apache.

Comments

[Rahul Chordiya]

why are you comparing client side script with server side script???

[akamike]

@Rahul: Node.js is server-side Javascript: nodejs.org

[ceejayoz]

@Rahul Node.js is server-side JavaScript.

[Quentin]

@Rahul — JavaScript is "a programming language" not "an exclusively client side programming language". Node.js is not designed to run inside web browsers.

[overthetop]

@rahul node.js is server side framework!

[Twelve47]

@Rahul Node.js isn't designed to run in the browser. It isn't just straight js.

[trusktr]

@RahulChordiya Ditto what everyone said. Haha.

[overthetop]

yes i know that node.js web server is faster than apache :) so it is only the web server advantage?

[Robin Maben]

Yes, that advantage is too cool to resist but I must also mention there's no large community support yet. So you'd have to be very daring to go with node.JS for your next project.

[oldwizard]

I'd say the main advantage is memory usage. If you do long-polling stuff node.js shines since it doesn't require a 100 MB Apache + PHP instance to handle each request. So if you do anything where you have many connections open at the same time - for long periods of time - go with node.js. Usually they coexist well. use node.js for updating a chat panel or similar, not to render your pages.

[Alix Axel]

You forgot to mention one of the most important features: it's non-blocking!

[trusktr]

A port of WordPress to Node.js would be awesome. hah

[Nico Burns]

@trusktr tryghost.org

[trusktr]

@NicoBurns That looks freackin' awesome.

[trusktr]

If I make a new freelance site for someone, I'll have to try Ghost.

[Bogdan]

last time i checked node.js can't use multi core servers.. :-) so why is that good... since php/apache can use a multi core and it's performance will be better.. :-)

[FredTheWebGuy]

@Bogdan Check again- stackoverflow.com/questions/2387724/…

[Bogdan]

my bad :-) seems that i'm not good with news

[barbushin]

NodeJS is slower then PHP 5.5.5 + React + phpQuery see philsturgeon.co.uk/blog/2013/11/…

[Gremio]

As SeniorDev eluded to, PHP can support non-blocking if you want such a thing. reactphp.org . I wouldn't say NodeJS is necessarily slower though. As Phil has pointed out in updates, increasing the max connections of NodeJS gets the two setups in his test neck and neck.

[Rolf]

@RobinMaben From my perpective memory leaks would be the biggest disadvantage with Node. Running a web app on a V8 core for days; no wonder.

[Andy]

How does node JS compare to Php on Apache/nginx when it comes to I/O operation like downloading or streaming large video files from object storage sever like S3 buckets ?

[channasmcs]

Normally, you write code in in Java,php,python,c# in "blocking" traditional way, that means when a tasking is executing, other tasks must wait for it to completed (in a queue) In Nodejs, the basic concept is the "non-blocking" way, that means when a tasking is executing, other tasks dont need to wait for it to completed.

[Maaz Rehman]

What about running php on Nginx ?

[AVI]

how about php7?

[Abhishek Kamal]

What about in >= 2020 , PHP version 7+ uses less memory and became super fast and secured ?