Propel vs RedBeanPHP
When comparing Propel vs RedBeanPHP, the Slant community recommends RedBeanPHP for most people. In the question“What are the best PHP ORMs?” RedBeanPHP is ranked 1st while Propel is ranked 5th. The most important reason people chose RedBeanPHP is:
It requires basically nothing except database credentials making it awesome to use.
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Pros
Pro Powerful and versatile ORM
It requires some learning curve, but at the end it's a powerful and versatile ORM. We've been using it for a very big database in a realtime multi-frontend app with zero issues.
Pro Support for a large number of databases
Since it uses PDO, it supports all PDO enabled databases, with MySQL, SQLite, PostgreSQL, MSSQL, Oracle included.
Pro Simple to learn
Propel uses Active Record, which is a rather simple to understand implementation of an ORM. It's also the most widely adopted implementation. In simple words: an object represents a row, you can create or edit an object to create or edit the corresponding row.
Pro Zero configuration
It requires basically nothing except database credentials making it awesome to use.
Pro Great for rapid development/prototyping
Since it employs a strategy of zero configuration, it can create all required databases and tables on the fly. Making it a great ORM to use when quickly prototyping a product.
Pro SQL extensions
Offers additions to SQL that makes querying very easy.
Pro CLI applications can be written in no time
You can generate CLI applications in no time as well.
Cons
Con Backward compatibiliy breaks
Since it's based on PHP 5.4+, using an older version of PHP may cause issues.
Con Not suitable for existing projects with a custom database
Since RBP has a no-config approach, it enforces pretty strict database conventions. This does not make it a good ORM for an existing custom database.
Con Doesn't empty the legacy ORM columns from the table, like user and instead only adds user_id to it
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