A Comprehensive Guide for Businesses to Modernize Their Laravel Apps

As a business owner, CTO, or key tech decision-maker, you must keep up with continuous modernization to stay competitive. Laravel — the industry-leading PHP framework with a 35.87% market share, can help you out here. 

With Laravel 11’s latest features and performance boosts, you can address security vulnerabilities and technical debt. Plus, they can improve the user experience and customer satisfaction. 

This guide helps you assess, plan, and execute your modernization project smoothly. 

Assessing Your Current Laravel Application 

You must thoroughly assess the current state of your app before modernizing it. This way, you’ll spot the areas that need improvement, and your modernization plans will become more likely to hit the mark with your business goals. 

Technical Audit

1. Check the Current Laravel Version and List All Dependencies

Using outdated versions can lead to security vulnerabilities and missed performance upgrades. For instance, if your application is running on Laravel 5.5, upgrading to Laravel 11 can provide many benefits, like better application structure, per-second rate limiting, health routing, queue testing improvements, and more.

2. Verify the PHP Version Your Application is Running On

Laravel's performance and compatibility are closely tied to the PHP version. So, you should upgrade to PHP 8.3.9 (the latest stable PHP version) for smooth running and new features, such as deep-cloning of read-only properties, explicit typing of class constants, and additions to the randomness functionality. 

3. Assess the Current Server Infrastructure

Check the hardware specifications, operating system, and hosting environment. Then, ensure that your server meets the requirements for the latest versions of Laravel and PHP. For example, there could be a need for increased memory limits or support for the latest PHP extensions and libraries. Also, consider if switching to a cloud-based solution could help with scalability and flexibility.

4. Evaluate the Codebase Structure and Quality

Keeping your codebase well-structured and clean makes way for easier maintenance and upgrades. So, use tools like PHPStan or Laravel Pint to identify code issues, adherence to coding standards, and potential refactoring opportunities. 

5. Identify Performance Bottlenecks in Your Application

Use monitoring tools like New Relic or Blackfire to analyze performance metrics and fix performance hiccups, so everything works perfectly and user satisfaction increases. 

Business Goals Alignment 

1. Identify Business Needs and Pain Points

Figure out what problems your app is solving and what your business really needs. For instance, if you have an e-commerce site, and having high cart abandonment rates is your pain point, then find out what’s causing the trouble, such as sluggish page loads or a complex checkout process.

2. Evaluating Current App Performance

Get feedback from users and stakeholders to find out what’s hitting the mark and what’s missing. Their insights will highlight your app’s strengths and guide you on where to focus your improvement efforts. 

Risk Assessment 

1. Identify Potential Challenges and Pitfalls

You might run into some compatibility problems with old dependencies, complex data migrations, or the risk of downtime. For example, upgrading from an older Laravel version might break some custom-built packages or functionalities.

2. Develop Contingency Plans and Mitigation Strategies for the Identified Risks

For backup plans and dealing with unexpected issues, you should:

• Get backups ready.
• Test everything in a staging environment first.
• Have a rollback plan in place. 

For instance, if there’s a risk of several seconds of downtime, you might plan a phased rollout to minimize disruption.

Smart Modernization Techniques for Laravel Apps

Choose the right modernizing strategy from whether it’s an incremental upgrade, a complete rewrite, or a hybrid approach to achieve your goals effectively and efficiently:

1. Incremental Upgrades

This strategy involves upgrading your Laravel and PHP versions step-by-step. For instance, you might first update from Laravel 7.x to 9.x; then, update from Laravel 9.x to 10.x. Finally, update from Laravel 10.x to 11.x. Such small, manageable steps can help you handle any risks that may come along the way. 

Pros

• Less disruptive
• Allows ongoing maintenance and monitoring

Cons

• Time-consuming
• Might not resolve all underlying issues or outdated code practices
• May not fully leverage the latest features and optimizations of newer Laravel versions

2. Complete Rewrite

A complete rewrite involves building a new application from scratch using the latest version of Laravel. This way, you can use all the newest features and best practices right from the get-go. 

Pros

• Provides a clean slate
• Allows you to redesign and optimize your application with no constraints of legacy code

Cons

• Higher costs and complexity
• Longer project timeline

3. Hybrid Approach

The hybrid approach is a mix of gradual upgrades and a complete rewrite. It lets you tackle quick fixes with incremental updates while also planning to slowly move to a newer, improved version of your app. 

Pros

• Balances the need for speed with thoroughness, enabling you to implement updates quickly while gradually rolling out comprehensive changes

Cons

• Requires meticulous planning and execution to coordinate between upgrading existing systems and developing new features

Laying the Groundwork: Modernization Planning Essentials

If you want your Laravel modernization project to go off without any issues, you must plan it out. Here's how:

Timeline

Map out a practical timeline for each part of the project, such as allocating a certain duration for upgrading the Laravel version, followed by code refactoring, testing, and deployment. This structured approach helps manage expectations and track progress.

Budget

Make sure to set aside funds for paying your developers, getting testing tools, and having extra funds for contingencies.

The Right Team

Find people with the right skills for Laravel development. You’ll need Laravel developers for the coding, DevOps specialists for deployment, and QA testers to ensure quality. Furthermore, you could bring in a specialized agency for complex aspects or hire freelancers for specific tasks to keep costs in check.

Clear Communication Channels

Set up regular updates through meetings or project management tools like Slack or Trello. For example, having weekly catch-ups helps keep everyone in the loop about progress and quickly tackles any issues, so you’re all aligned and avoid any surprises.

Executing a Smooth Laravel Upgrade

Here’s a detailed guide to walk you through executing a Laravel application modernization project.

Upgrading the Laravel Version

1. Preparation

Review the Laravel upgrade guide for the version you’re aiming for to understand the changes and deprecated features. Also, make sure all your third-party packages, like Laravel Cashier Stripe, Passport, Sanctum, or Telescope, are up-to-date too. 

For instance, with Laravel 11, you’ll need to manually publish their migrations because it doesn’t automatically load them from the migrations directory anymore.

2. Execution

Upgrade to intermediate versions if necessary. For example, you can move from Laravel 8.x to 9.x, then to 10.x, and finally to 11.x using Composer to handle the updates for you.

3. Post-Upgrade

Test the application thoroughly to ensure that the upgrade hasn’t introduced any issues or broken functionality. For example, check that all your routes still work and see if any of your Blade templates or view components need adjustments because of the Laravel version changes.

Upgrading the PHP Version

1. Preparation

Make sure the new PHP version works with your updated Laravel version. Also, check and update any PHP extensions or settings you might need, such as enabling the opcache extension for better performance or adjusting memory_limit settings.

2. Execution

Upgrade PHP on your server. For instance, if moving from PHP 8.2.x to PHP 8.3.x, follow your hosting provider’s or server’s instructions for updating PHP, such as the upgradation of the minimum supported Windows version to Windows 8 or Windows Server 2012. 

3. Post-Upgrade

Test your application to check for compatibility issues and deprecated functions. For example, ensure that any removed functions like each() in PHP 8.0 are replaced with suitable alternatives like Polyfill each() when working with legacy code or with end-of-life packages.

Refactoring Code

1. Identify

Use static analysis tools like PHPStan, PHP Insights, or Laravel Pint to identify areas of code that need refactoring. 

2. Refactor

Update the codebase to improve readability, maintainability, and performance. For instance, refactor complex functions into smaller, more manageable ones.

Optimizing Performance

1. Identify Bottlenecks

Use profiling tools like Blackfire or New Relic to spot any performance issues. For instance, Blackfire can help you find slow database queries or clunky bits of code that need a tune-up.

2. Optimize

To make your Laravel app run faster, try some performance enhancements like database indexing, query optimization, and caching. For example, you can use Laravel’s caching tools like Memcached, Redis, or DynamoDB. They can lighten the load on your database and speed up how quickly your app responds.

Implementing New Features

1. Plan

Think about what your business needs, and list and rank the new features you want to add. For example, you might plan to integrate a new payment gateway or implement a user analytics dashboard.

2. Develop

Add new features bit by bit. Then, test them to make sure they work in the right way. Also, make sure they don’t disturb anything that’s already running smoothly. For example, add a new feature for user profile customization and ensure it works across different user roles and scenarios.

Testing

Automated Testing

1. Unit Tests

Write and run unit tests with PHPUnit to check that each part of your application works correctly. For example, test a service class responsible for payment processing to ensure it handles various scenarios correctly.

2. Integration Tests

Check that different parts of your app work well together. For example, make sure that when a user inputs data, it correctly moves from the screen to the database.

3. End-to-End Tests

Use tools like Laravel Dusk to test how your app works from the user's point of view. For instance, you can set up automated tests to check if a user can register, log in, and make a purchase with no issues.

Manual Testing

User Acceptance Testing (UAT)

Get real users to test the new features. Then, make sure the app meets their needs. For instance, get a group of beta testers to try out the new design and let them tell you how user-friendly it is and if it works as planned.

Performance Testing

1. Load Testing

Simulate high traffic to ensure your application can handle expected user loads. You can use tools like Apache JMeter to create a scenario where thousands of users are using the app at the same time to see how it performs under stress.

2. Stress Testing

Push the application to its limits, so you see how it performs under stress. For example, check how it handles a big spike in visitors or a flood of data submissions happening all at once.

Conclusion

Modernizing your Laravel app is key to staying ahead and making sure it performs well over time. Think of it as giving your app a major upgrade, including upgrading, cleaning up the code, tweaking performance, and making sure everything runs just perfectly. Testing and rolling out updates with as little disruption as possible helps improve performance, security, and the user experience. 

Remember, once it’s live, monitoring and regular maintenance can keep it running well.

Get into the modernization journey to use the new features of Laravel 11 and keep your app up-to-date. This way, it’ll stay powerful and ready for future changes, meeting both your business needs and your users' expectations.