When comparing KumbiaPHP vs Li3, the Slant community recommends KumbiaPHP for most people. In the question“What are the best PHP frameworks?” KumbiaPHP is ranked 7th while Li3 is ranked 10th.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Easy to use
Pro Very fast
Check the independent benchmark.
Pro Cache administration
Pro It's MVC
Pro Simple template system
Pro Scaffolding support
Pro Convention over configuration
Pro Supports AJAX
Pro Easy API Rest
Pro Zero config
Pro Unified relational and non-relational database API
Lithium has unified the relational and non-relational database APIs into a single one. Being one of the few frameworks to do it.
Pro Robust plugin architecture
Lithium makes use of PHP namespaces to create a powerful plugin architecture. Almost every component of the framework is replaceable.
Pro Fast Bootstrap & Autoloader
This framework loads faster than most due to its class autoloader. It is flexible as well and handles older classes - but requires the developer to define transforms here for naming convention, includes, etc. Many other frameworks use Composer for autoloading and that significantly slows down their bootstrap time because Composer's autoloader is extremely compatible without much developer interaction (it does not require as much involvement for autoloading legacy libraries). So it's a trade-off, speed vs. a little bit of up-front work.
Pro Integrated unit testing
Lithium comes with integrated unit testing. It also has a test dashboard.
Pro Aspect inspired filter system
Lithium's filter system is based on the paradigm of Aspect-oriented programming which aims to increase modularity by separating cross-cutting concerns and helping speed up development.
Pro Great for building an API
Lithium can return JSON and many other formats from the same actions that render templates increasing productivity in many cases. It handles a "type" key in the route which allows it to render various responses with different Content-Types. This is incredibly useful and easy to extend. This combined with closures in routes makes Lithium a very good framework for building a RESTful API.
Cons
Con Less than ideal documentation
Documentation is scattered so it takes a little while to learn and figure some things out.