Microsoft .NET Framework vs Zend PHP Engine comparison

Microsoft and Zend are both solutions in the Application Infrastructure category. Microsoft is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.6, while Zend is ranked #15 with an average rating of 8.0. Microsoft holds a 5.8% mindshare in AIS, compared to Zend’s 1.4% mindshare. Additionally, 93% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Zend users who would recommend it.

Microsoft .NET Framework

Read 55 Microsoft .NET Framework reviews

1,330 Views
1,290 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

Zend PHP Engine

Read 11 Zend PHP Engine reviews

440 Views
440 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Microsoft .NET Framework

Zend PHP Engine

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 5, 2025

Zend PHP Engine and Microsoft .NET Framework compete in web and application development. Microsoft .NET Framework is often perceived as superior due to its comprehensive development environment and versatile language support, despite Zend PHP Engine having strong open-source PHP support and community backing.

Features: Zend PHP Engine has excellent PHP support, efficient memory usage, and a comprehensive library system. It supports rapid web application development primarily with PHP. Microsoft .NET Framework provides an extensive range of programming languages, seamless integration with Windows, and a robust development framework offering diverse tools for various applications.

Room for Improvement: Zend PHP Engine could enhance integration capabilities across diverse IT environments and provide better documentation. Expanding support for frameworks beyond PHP could also be beneficial. Microsoft .NET Framework may increase cross-platform compatibility further, improve Linux integration, and reduce complexity in its vast toolset for easier adaptability by newcomers.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Zend PHP Engine is straightforward to deploy in PHP-friendly environments but might require additional support for advanced integrations. Microsoft .NET Framework benefits from integrated deployment with Windows systems and extensive documentation, providing adaptability for various enterprise scenarios with strong customer support.

Pricing and ROI: Zend PHP Engine is cost-effective due to its open-source nature, minimizing initial setup costs. Microsoft .NET Framework incurs higher upfront expenses but potentially offers higher ROI through its comprehensive toolset and enterprise-grade integration capabilities, making it a worthwhile investment for businesses seeking holistic solutions.

To learn more, read our detailed Microsoft .NET Framework vs. Zend PHP Engine Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft .NET Framework vs. Zend PHP Engine

September 2025

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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

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

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Application Infrastructure category, the mindshare of Microsoft .NET Framework is 5.8%, down from 6.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zend PHP Engine is 1.4%, up from 1.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Infrastructure Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Microsoft .NET Framework	5.8%
Zend PHP Engine	1.4%
Other	92.8%

Application Infrastructure

Featured Reviews

David Shlingbaum

IT Development Manager, Architect, Developer at Miltel Communications LTD

Old version maintains functionality but lacks current cloud support

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 needs to be improved as I'm not completely up to date. There is a challenge and complexity in supporting a very old version of a product that is no longer supported. It's still possible with Microsoft .NET Framework, which isn't the case with many other products. That's a positive aspect. It has limitations when trying to develop new things with Microsoft .NET Framework. But whatever works, continues to work. It always needs improvement, but again, it does not improve when discussing an old version of Microsoft .NET Framework. I think they're always improving, but it's a never-ending process.

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SatyendraGupta

External Consultant (Digital Tool Developer and Intervention Specialist) at IQVIA

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.…

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The web development and Microsoft Windows service development capabilities are among the most valuable features offered by the Microsoft .NET Framework. This language platform is highly user-friendly, with plenty of online examples and information available, as well as a robust development environment."

"User-friendly and straightforward."

"Firstly, I appreciate the decision to use Microsoft .NET Framework. I find it to be an excellent language, with a history rooted in providing an alternative to Java, albeit with initial challenges. It is gaining popularity and may be voted the most desirable programming language. What I particularly like about .NET is its language efficiency. While C# is the primary language, the platform also supports others, catering to those inclined towards functional programming. Although I started with Shell, I'm still grasping the concept of functional programming. Despite initial reservations about object-oriented programming, I acknowledge its advantages. .NET is a safer option, and despite criticisms, it has evolved over the years. One notable aspect is .NET's transition to an open platform in recent years, distancing itself from being exclusive to Microsoft engineers. I appreciate the versatility of .NET, enabling code production for a wide range of platforms, presenting a strong competition to Java. It allows targeting practically any physical platform, showcasing its flexibility. These qualities contribute to my positive view of .NET, totaling thirteen aspects that I find appealing."

"The APIs are completely effective."

"The new .NET Core has those middlewares, which are awesome from a security standpoint. With the old Framework or the newer Framework, middleware is basically an event pipeline. You configure and register it, and it handles things centrally. A simple example is logging. With the old Framework, you needed to try/catch blocks everywhere. Here, you configure the logging handler once, and it captures exceptions across the application. I really like the middleware pattern."

"A great solution for creating program solutions in a framework for Microsoft Windows quickly and easily."

"The most valuable feature of Microsoft .NET Framework is debugging."

"It facilitates running Windows business applications and leveraging enterprise application development."

More Microsoft .NET Framework pros

"The solution's initial setup process is easy."

"The cache modules that Zend provides have been able to optimize and accelerate the loading of the pages when there was exponential growth in data volume and quantity of requests. At the same time, the monitoring console allowed us to have a real-time understanding of the resources and to make decisions when they were at the limit."

"The Zend Framework provides an easy, open source way to produce coding based on the needs of our customers."

"This solution is really easy for me to use."

"Offers a complete environment to develop PHP applications. It is valuable because it allows you to have a complete stack (PHP, MySQL, Zend Server) enabling the building of a development environment, and to deploy to the production system."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is the speed at which it compiles and sends the dynamic cache."

"Zend Engine gives the flexibility to use external modules to easily expand the functionalities you need for your web project."

"Zend PHP Engine is a good tool for developing and collecting data, offering strong performance."

More Zend PHP Engine pros

Cons

"The integration capability of the product with AI is an area with certain shortcomings, where improvements are required."

"The solution needs to update its security periodically because there are many security concerns."

"Their system is very vast. I have spent 12 years here, and I can definitely say there is still a lot of scope for improvement."

"I would like to see a better response time from the technical support."

"The solution is difficult to learn if someone is learning it for the first time."

"I would want the product to be integrated with the different AI tools in the future since it is one of the areas where the product has certain shortcomings."

"The learning curve could be improved."

"Better integration with other tools to make the operation faster would be an improvement."

More Microsoft .NET Framework cons

"Integration of MVC with ORM tools for PHP is okay, but lacking a short list of decent ORM tools for PHP to choose from; there is ample room for improvement in both areas."

"Zend PHP Engine needs to improve the loading time of its libraries and make it faster."

"A general scripting language should be further developed and should be embedded into it."

"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."

"The solution can be quicker."

"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."

"SQL queries have always been an issue with PHP, especially if you use large tables, which require caution from the side of the developer."

More Zend PHP Engine cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

"In the interim, there's no need to purchase videos for viewing. Microsoft has made significant moves in the .NET space, starting with their response in Visual Studio Code and now providing Visual Studio entirely for free. This is a notable shift from the past when we used to pay substantial amounts for technical subscriptions. Previously, a group of ten developers could cost several thousand dollars annually for licensing. However, the current trend is to offer these tools for free to maintain their dominance in the developer market. The market dynamics have changed, and now developers can freely download Visual Studio, making it a preferred choice over other paid options."

"Considering the bigger picture, opting for the Microsoft ecosystem can be beneficial and it is priced well. When relying on entirely open-source solutions, you may encounter challenges associated with dealing with multiple vendors and potentially compromised security measures. However, it is important to note that Microsoft could enhance its performance when it comes to addressing critical security concerns."

"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."

"Do your homework. Consider the partnership program."

"The solution is a bit costly when compared to open source products or open gear licenses."

"The Microsoft .NET Framework is free of charge, without licensing cost."

"Microsoft .NET Framework is licensed under the Windows License."

More Microsoft .NET Framework pricing and cost advice

"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."

"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."

"The solution is open source and you just pay for the server cost."

"Its pricing depends on the number of users."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Construction Company

14%

Real Estate/Law Firm

12%

Government

Financial Services Firm

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	28
Midsize Enterprise	9
Large Enterprise	22

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Large Enterprise	2

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.

See all answers

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...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Microsoft .NET Framework?

See all answers

What do you like most about Zend PHP Engine?

The fact that it is available open-source is the best feature.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zend PHP Engine?

PHP is an open-source solution.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Zend PHP Engine?

Integrating AI tools would make PHP more competitive, as other tools already have AI features.

See all answers

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Compared 100% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft .NET Framework

September 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Application Infrastructure

September 2025

Download Zend PHP Engine product report

Also Known As

MS .NET Framework

PHP Engine

Overview

Microsoft .NET Framework is a software development framework for building and running applications for Windows, Windows Phone, Windows servers, XML Web services, and Microsoft Azure. The software is made up of two major components: Common Language Runtime (CLR) and the .NET Framework Class Library. The CLR is the execution engine that handles running apps and the Class Library is a library of tested, reusable code that developers can call from their own apps.

Microsoft .NET Framework Features

Microsoft .NET Framework has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

Memory management: With Microsoft .NET Framework apps, the CLR allocates and releases memory and handles object lifetimes in many programming languages, so programmers are not responsible to do it.

Multitargeting: Microsoft .NET Framework targets .NET Standard, allowing developers to create class libraries that work on multiple Microsoft .NET Framework platforms.

A common type system: When using Microsoft .NET Framework, basic types are defined by the .NET Framework type system and are common to all languages that target Microsoft .NET Framework as opposed to traditional programming languages where basic types are defined by the compiler.

Side-by-side execution: By allowing multiple versions of the common language runtime to exist on the same computer, Microsoft .NET Framework helps resolve version conflicts. In addition, an app can run on the version of Microsoft .NET Framework with which it was built and multiple versions of apps can coexist.

Development frameworks and technologies: Microsoft .NET Framework provides libraries for specific areas of app development, such as ASP.NET for web apps, ADO.NET for data access, Windows Communication Foundation for service-oriented apps, and Windows Presentation Foundation for Windows desktop apps.

Microsoft .NET Framework Benefits

There are many benefits to implementing Microsoft .NET Framework. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:

Language interoperability: With this Microsoft .NET Framework feature, routines written in one language are accessible to other languages, enabling programmers to focus on creating apps in their preferred languages.

Version compatibility: Microsoft .NET Framework offers version compatibility for rare occasions when apps that are developed by using a particular version of Microsoft .NET Framework happen to run without modification on a later version.

Extensive class library: With Microsoft .NET Framework, programmers have the ability to use a readily accessible Microsoft .NET Framework class library instead of having to write vast amounts of code to handle common low-level programming operations.

Reviews from Real Users

Below are some reviews and helpful feedback written by PeerSpot users currently using the Microsoft .NET Framework solution.

PeerSpot user, Syed A., Principal System Developer at a government, says the solution is a “Great all in one framework with extensive stack for web applications, windows applications and mobile applications.”

A QA Supervisor at a manufacturing company mentions, “It comes with many features that you can interact with and has all of the libraries readily available, which is not available in the RPA platforms. You can create your own SSIS package. You can integrate with all of the Windows objects, which is not available in Automation Anywhere, and you need to rely on their Object Cloning technologies to interact with them.”

Brennan G., IS Technical Architect at Avara Foods Holdings Limited, comments, “It is easy to use, and it runs on a Windows platform. The .NET Framework is a very good framework. It does what I need it to do.”

Microsoft

The Zend PHP Engine is designed to optimize PHP code and improve performance, making it a popular choice for web developers. It is easy to use, stable, does not require a lot of code, is open source, and only requires payment for server costs. The initial setup is straightforward, and there is no real need to set up the solution because it's built into the deployment.

Zend

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

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft .NET Framework vs. Zend PHP Engine

September 2025

Free Report: Microsoft .NET Framework vs. Zend PHP Engine

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