PHP Data Access Libraries (ORM, ActiveRecord, Persistence) | Comparison tables

Link	Doctrine	Agile Data	Eloquent	Yii ORM	Cake ORM	Fuel ORM	Red Bean PHP	Ting	Spiral ORM	..
Website	doctrine-project.org	git.io/ad		yiiframework.com			redbeanphp.com	ccmbg.com/...	spiral-framework.com/...
Description		Data Access Framework for high-latency databases (Cloud SQL/NoSQL).					RedBeanPHP is an easy to use ORM for PHP. It's a Zero Config ORM lib that 'automagically' builds your database schema.	Simple: no magic inside : it’s basically SQL queries	ORM engine with automatic database scaffolding, strict schemas, code discovery, modular database partitions and various relation loaders.
Github / Bitbucket / Sourceforge	github.com/...	git.io/ad		github.com/...			github.com/...	bitbucket.org/...	github.com/...
License	MIT	MIT		BSD-3			New BSD / GPL	Apache 2	MIT
Latest version	2.5.5	1.2.x		2.0.10			4.3.2	3.4.2	1.0.8
How schema is defined?	PHP, XML, YAML	in PHP. Method init() in Model class defines fields, relations, conditions, etc.	Model class properties	Active record magic properties.			Automatically discovered on the fly.	PHP	PHP Const array. Column class.
Code generation	Yes schema-tool	Yes https://github.com/atk4/schema		Yes Web and console generator https://github.com/yiisoft/yii2-gii
Can be used in Any Framework	Yes composer / packagist	Yes Through composer/packagist	Yes Through Capsule	- Planned in 2.1.x			Yes	Yes composer / packagist
Automated Cache		Yes Frameworks focuses on optimizing queries rather then caching. Still possible with cross-persistence saving.	Yes	Yes
Anti-patterns (purposely included)		Model close-coupled with Persistence and Field classes.	Eloquent is a God Class; Global functions; DB Conection is global;
Audience
Dependencies	Medium: ±5 packages.	Minimal: 2 packages: DSQL Query Builder (git.io/...						Minimal: 3, pimple, doctrine/cache, aura/sqlquery
Simplicity	no rating	*5.0/5* 2 ratings	no rating	*5.0/5* 2 ratings	*5.0/5* 1 rating	no rating	no rating	*5.0/5* 1 rating	no rating	no rating
Enterprise Compliance	*5.0/5* 1 rating	*5.0/5* 2 ratings	*3.0/5* 1 rating	*4.5/5* 2 ratings	*5.0/5* 1 rating	no rating	no rating	*5.0/5* 1 rating	no rating	no rating
Minimum PHP Version	5.4	5.6		5.4				5.5
Basic Features
PDO Support	Yes Yes	Yes Yes	Yes	Yes				- But made a custom driver to support it is easy	Yes https://spiral-framework.com/guide/database-databases
Transparent support for NoSQL		- Through 3rd party drivers.	No Eloquent is built on Query Builder. Perhaps moloquent? Also - Through Caching backend, but not as ORM native persistence.	Yes Avialable cross sql and nosql datababase relations (https://github.com/yiisoft/yii2-mongodb)			No Build around plain queries.	No	No No, through ODM (https://spiral-framework.com/guide/odm-databases)
How to invoke db-vendor-specific extensions?	Yes DBAL	Yes For SQL - save/load/delete operations are expressed in DSQL Queries that can be manipulated: http://git.io/dsql	Yes Through Query Builder / RAW queries.	Yes SQL - Query Builder.			- Can add SQL code chunks.	Yes Ting use native query, you can use everyting of your SGBD	Yes Query models: https://spiral-framework.com/guide/orm-query
Array as a persistence		Yes CRUD operations supported		Yes https://github.com/yii2tech/filedb			No		No
RestAPI as a persistence		- Through 3rd party extension.		- To extend BaseActiveRecord			No		No
JSON string as a persistence		Yes Supported with few extra lines of code.		- To extend BaseActiveRecord			No		No
Same model, multiple persistences		Yes Same class. Different object.		- (no docs)
Basic Single-record operations (C,R,U,D)
Table Name Mapping	Yes Yes	Yes Yes	Yes Same as model class name by default	Yes Using static method of active record. http://www.yiiframework.com/doc-2.0/guide-db-active-record.html#declaring-ar-classes			No mapping no longer supported.	Yes Yes
Field Name Mapping	Yes Yes, (Annotations in PHP)	Yes Yes (Field::actual property)	- Through accessors/3rd party extension	Yes			No mapping no longer supported.	Yes Yes
Map Entity to SubQuery	No Must be physical table	Yes Yes. Extension exist for UNION-models. https://github.com/atk4/report	No Must be physical table.	- table = new Expression(..)			No	No This concept is no-sense for Ting
Map property to expression	No Must be physical field	Yes $model->addExpression()	No Must be physical table	- (couldn't find docs)			No	No This concept is no-sense for Ting
Map native types (DateTime)		Yes $field->type = 'date'	Yes Accessors and Mutators	Yes Active record behaviors			Yes	Yes Yes	- No support for DateTime. https://spiral-framework.com/guide/orm-accessors
User-defined types (e.g. "23 USD")	Yes Type class	Yes Yes. Independent from Model. by extending Field class.	Yes Accessors and Mutators	Yes Active record behaviors				Yes Yes, with custom serializer
Map field of related Entity ('currency' = currency_id->Model Currency.name)	- Specific record only	Yes Transparently maps into sub-select.	- Relationship, but only single record.	Yes $model->currency->name			No	Yes Yes
Map field to sub-query on related entity (Client.balance = Client->orders->sum(total))	No	Yes Yes. hasMany()->addField(..aggregate)	No	- (couldn't find docs)			No	- This concept is no-sense for Ting
Entity to join multiple tables (adding new record populates both tables)	Yes Associations	Yes $model->join('other_table')	No	No No native support.			No	Yes Yes
Criteria, Scope, Conditions (Model will refuse to work with records that does not match criteria)
Support model-level criteria		Yes Yes. Applied on loading / saving / update.	- Global Scope (querying only)	No			No
Soft-delete	Yes Extension	Yes Through criteria. Example given in the docs.	Yes Trait and Scope	Yes Events and behaviors			No
Domain Model Criteria		Yes $m->addCondition('gender','M'); where 'gender' can be arbitrary expression, sub-select, field from association(join) or mapped no another physical field.	- Scopes, but not in domain model.	No Only for specific query: User::find()->byEmail('...')->active()->one()			No
Expression-based condition		Yes $m->addCondition($m->expr('..'));	Yes through Query Builder	No Only for query: User::find()->andWhere('...')->all()			No
Criteria Compliance (new record must match condition)		Yes Transaction rollback and exception. Automated-rloading.		No			No
Dynamic criteria		Yes $user->addCondition('is_expired', false)		No Only Querying: User::find()->where(['a' => '1', 'b' => true])->all();			No
Query Building (Convert Model into Query object for further SQL tweaking)
Convert Model into Query Object		Yes $q = $model->action('select');	Yes Model is a Query object. See: Model::where()	Yes \yii\db\ActiveRecord::find()			No		Yes RecordSelector
Raw expression		Yes new Expression('any sql')	Yes DB::raw()	Yes new \yii\db\Expression('...')			Yes	Yes
Nested/Composite Queries/Expressions		Yes Expression can be in any part of query	No	Yes Expression can be in any part of query			No
Reference domain-model field in query		Yes through Expressionable interface	No No fields. Only properties.	No Field is class property.			No	No
field, where, order, limit		Yes Expressions and Parametric values	Yes	Yes \yii\db\ActiveQuery			No	Yes
options, rollup, partition		- Through custom templates, or expressions.					- not sure.
UPDATE, DELETE, INSERT query building		Yes		Yes			No	Yes
REPLACE, TRUNCATE		Yes		- Throught raw sql in \yii\db\Command			- wipe(),
SHOW, DESCRIBE, CALL		- Supported through Expressions or Custom query template		- Throught raw sql in \yii\db\Command			- Automatic schema alter / discovery.
ALTER, CREATE query building		Yes Addon: http://github.com/atk4/schema		Yes			No
User-defined query template		Yes Templates for all queries		Yes (please link doc)			No
full support for OR conditions		Yes Through Object Composition and Expressions	- Partial	-			No only raw query
Use Domain logic in multi-record update		- Supported, but must map fields/values manually.	No	No			No
Data Fetching (different ways to retrieve data from database)
Get All Data (2x array)		Yes	Yes	Yes \yii\db\Query::all()			Yes exportAll()	Yes
Associative Array (id=>value)		No Planned	Yes lists()
Select only required fields		Yes
Typecasting (e.g. DateTime)		Yes						Yes
Import (multiple records)		Yes						Yes
Respect domain model mapping (and criteria)		Yes
Single row		Yes loadAny	Yes	Yes \yii\db\Query::one()				Yes
Single Value		Yes Through action	Yes	Yes \yii\db\Query::scalar()				Yes
Single Column		- may need to map resulting array	Yes	Yes \yii\db\Query::column()			Yes	Yes
Iterator		Yes	Yes	Yes
Bypass persistence mapping		Yes action('select')->getAll()	Yes ?? (e..g prevent date from being transformed into Carbon)
Loading and Saving individual records
Load by ID		Yes load(id)		Yes User::findOne(1)			Yes	Yes get(id)	Yes findByPK
Load by other field		Yes loadBy('field', $value)		Yes User::findOne(['id' => 1])			No	Yes getBy(['propertyName' => 'value']);
Read-only Models		Yes Yes					No
Model without primary key		Yes Yes, but only in Read-only Mode					No	Yes
Specify fields to load		Yes onlyFields()	No Fields load with SELECT *	Yes User::find()->select([])->one()			No	Yes
Save only sends dirty fields		Yes	Yes	Yes			- (there is Dirty support, so I assuming it is supported)	Yes	Yes
Guarded / Fillable properties		Yes Conditions and OnlyFields do same thing but more reliably.	Yes Prevents "create($_GET)" from messing up important fields.
Object Hierarchy Model
Admin extends User, adds criteria (is_admin=1)		Yes Yes, recommended pattern. "User" class adds condition.	No	No Can be done as wrapper: User::findAdmin(..) or custom CDbCriteria			No
Admin extends User, adds accessible fields		Yes Yes, recommended pattern.	No	No			No
Extend model, add Join (Disjoined SubTypes)		Yes Yes. Unlimited number of joins.	No	No			No
Extend model change table		Yes Yes. Used to tweak 3rd party models.					No
Relations/References (One model can relate to another model. NOT A TABLE JOIN)
Model can define relation to other Model		Yes References are implemented as Objects	Yes Relations	Yes Relations			Yes
One-to-Many		Yes $user->hasMany('Orders', new Order());		Yes			Yes
One-to-many traversal strategy		Returns destination model instance with dynamically applied criteria (parent_id=123). No queries are executed. Inserting record into this model will ensure association with parent model.	Returns array of objects that may either be pre-loaded with record data or only contain IDs (lazy-loaded).	Uses classical eager/lazy loading approach. with() can help pre-fetch the data for related entities.			pre-fetch and store objects in an array.
Lazy/Eager-loading		No Anti-pattern	Yes	Yes			Yes
One-to-One		Yes $order->hasOne('user_id', new User());		Yes			Yes
Many-to-Many		Yes $user->addCondition('vip', true)->ref('Orders');		Yes relations() method of an entity can define.
Deep Many-to-Many traversal.	No	Yes $user->ref('Orders')->ref('Payments')->action('count'); No intermediate queries.		- only with "to-one" references: $book->author->address->street; Executes multiple queries.			- only with to-one references. Executes multiple queries.
Cross-Persistence traversal		Yes $user->hasMany('Log', new Log($mongodb));		- No docs.			No
Cross-persistence joins, aggregation, reporting
Multi-persistence join	No	No	No				No
UNION existing models	No	Yes Yes, in add-on https://github.com/atk4/report/. Can join UNION result with more tables.	No				No
Domain-model Aggregation		Yes Group by multiple fields. Apply aggregation functions. Preserve types.					No
Model to Model join		No Planned.					No
Multi-persistence UNION	No	No	No				No
Behaviours / Hooks
Before/After operation		Yes		Yes
Override standard C,R,U,D operations		Yes		Yes
Persistence-specific hooks (to modify Query)		Yes		- (no docs)
User-defined hooks		Yes		Yes
Auditing
Global Auditing		Yes http://www.agiletoolkit.org/data/extensions/audit					No
Store old/new field values		Yes Yes in JSON and user-readable string.		Yes
Revert action (undo) and replay (redo)		Yes	No	No
Reactive actions		Yes Each action will be automatically linked with sub-actions which may be invoked through Hooks.
Store log in any persistence		Yes		No
Override, Add fields to audit log		Record dirty fields before persisting. Type-cast into JSON string and store in a single field of AuditLog Model. This model can be persisted anywhere, table, file, etc.
Custom events		Yes		Yes
Access to record-specific history		Yes $item->ref('AuditLog');		- Through a custom query.
Date of creation, modification		- No but easy to add through hook.		Yes \yii\behaviors\TimestampBehavior					Yes TimestampTrait
User/IP creation, modification		- Easy to add through a hook.		Yes \yii\behaviors\BlameableBehavior
Store incremental revisions		- Easy to add through a hook	Yes
Integration
Field meta-information provided		Type, caption, possible values, mapped field, join table spec, encryption, serialization, UI-specific settings, validation rules.
UI extensions	No	Yes CRUD, Form, Table, Grid, Entity-manager. (see https://github.com/atk4/ad)	No	No			No
API extensions		Yes RestFULL API, automated CRUD operations + RPC https://github.com/atk4/api
Like	Likes 0	Likes 3	Likes 0	Likes 1	Likes 1	Likes 0	Likes 0	Likes 0	Likes 0	Likes 0