PHP Developer of 20 Years Builds Lightweight Framework Beacon After Frustration with Bloat

A PHP developer with over two decades of experience has created an open-source framework called Beacon, designed as a lean alternative to Laravel and Symfony. The developer was frustrated by the complexity of existing starter kits, which often pull in JavaScript toolchains and large ecosystems even for simple server-rendered applications. Beacon includes core features such as routing, dependency injection, authentication, Twig templating, CSRF protection, and database migrations, while supporting PHP 8.5 and emphasizing strong typing. The framework is not intended to replace Laravel or Symfony, but to offer a focused, easy-to-understand starting point for developers who want to build PHP applications without unnecessary overhead. Beacon is still a work in progress, and its creator is actively seeking feedback and constructive criticism from the PHP developer community.