DEV Community: Hamza's Legacy

5 Best Image Placeholder Services for Developers and Designers

Hamza's Legacy — Sat, 13 Jun 2026 09:51:37 +0000

Building a website or app rarely starts with final content.

You may already have the layout, components and responsive behaviour figured out, but the images are still missing. Perhaps the designer has not delivered the assets yet. Maybe the content team is still deciding what goes where. Or you simply need realistic images while building a prototype.

That is where image placeholder services come in.

Instead of downloading random images manually, you can place a URL inside an <img> tag and get an image in the exact dimensions you need. Some services generate simple coloured blocks. Others provide real photographs, stable seeded images, filters and APIs you can use in more advanced workflows.

Here are five of the best image placeholder services available today.

Quick Comparison

Service	Best For	Image Type	Standout Feature
Pictwo	Most development projects	Real photos	Categories, seeds, filters and API access
Lorem Picsum	Familiar random photo placeholders	Real photos	Simple and widely recognised URL format
Placehold.co	Wireframes and UI layout testing	Generated blocks	Colours, text, fonts and modern formats
DummyImage.com	Highly customised placeholder blocks	Generated blocks	Flexible URL-based configuration
LoremFlickr	Topic-specific mockups	Real photos	Keyword-based image selection

1. Pictwo — Best Overall Image Placeholder Service

Website: https://pictwo.toneflix.net

Pictwo is the best all-round option for developers who want more than a basic placeholder image generator.

It is designed as a drop-in placeholder service for real development workflows. You can request random images using a simple URL, generate stable images using seeds, limit results to specific categories, apply image filters and fetch image metadata from a JSON API.

A basic random image is as simple as:

<img
  src="https://pictwo.toneflix.net/800/600"
  alt="Placeholder image"
>

Need a square image?

<img
  src="https://pictwo.toneflix.net/400"
  alt="Square placeholder image"
>

Pictwo follows the familiar Lorem Picsum-style URL format, so it is easy to adopt if you have used Picsum before.

Stable Images With Seeds

Random placeholders are useful, but they can become annoying when the image changes every time the page reloads.

Pictwo supports deterministic seeds, allowing you to generate the same image consistently:

<img
  src="https://pictwo.toneflix.net/seed/homepage-hero/1200/600"
  alt="Stable homepage hero placeholder"
>

As long as you use the same seed, you get the same image. This is useful for prototypes, automated tests, screenshots and demo pages where consistency matters.

Category-Based Images

Pictwo also lets you request images from specific categories:

<img
  src="https://pictwo.toneflix.net/category/technology/800/600"
  alt="Technology placeholder image"
>

Other useful categories include nature, people, avatar, fashion, African fashion, events, posters and album artwork.

That makes Pictwo especially useful when you want images that feel relevant to the interface you are building rather than completely random photos.

Built-In Filters

You can apply filters through query parameters:

<img
  src="https://pictwo.toneflix.net/category/nature/800/600?filters=greyscale"
  alt="Greyscale nature placeholder"
>

You can also stack multiple filters:

<img
  src="https://pictwo.toneflix.net/category/nature/800/600?filters=greyscale,blur:4,sharpen"
  alt="Filtered nature placeholder"
>

Supported filters include blur, greyscale, sharpen, invert, normalize, flip and flop.

Modern Image Formats

Pictwo can return images in modern formats such as WebP and AVIF:

<img
  src="https://pictwo.toneflix.net/800/600.webp"
  alt="WebP placeholder image"
>

You can also request JPEG and PNG output.

JSON API Access

For more advanced projects, Pictwo includes API endpoints for discovering available images and retrieving metadata.

GET https://pictwo.toneflix.net/api/v1/list
GET https://pictwo.toneflix.net/api/v1/id/60001/info
GET https://pictwo.toneflix.net/api/v1/seed/homepage-hero/info

This is useful when you need to populate a UI dynamically, inspect valid image IDs or build your own tooling around the service.

Why Pictwo Comes First

Most placeholder services focus on one narrow use case. Some give you simple blocks. Others return random photos.

Pictwo covers more ground without becoming complicated. You can start with a basic image URL and gradually use categories, seeds, filters, formats and API routes when the project needs them.

Best For

Web apps, mobile apps, dashboards, component libraries, landing pages, portfolios, prototypes and development environments where realistic placeholders matter.

2. Lorem Picsum — Best for Familiar Random Photos

Website: https://picsum.photos

Lorem Picsum is one of the most recognisable image placeholder services available. It is simple, predictable and easy to use.

Add your preferred width and height to the URL:

<img
  src="https://picsum.photos/800/600"
  alt="Random placeholder photo"
>

You can also request a square image:

<img
  src="https://picsum.photos/400"
  alt="Square placeholder photo"
>

Like Pictwo, Lorem Picsum supports seeded images:

<img
  src="https://picsum.photos/seed/profile-card/600/400"
  alt="Stable placeholder photo"
>

It also supports specific image IDs:

<img
  src="https://picsum.photos/id/237/600/400"
  alt="Specific placeholder photo"
>

You can apply grayscale and blur effects using query parameters:

<img
  src="https://picsum.photos/800/600?grayscale&blur=2"
  alt="Blurred grayscale placeholder"
>

Lorem Picsum remains a strong option because it does the basics well. However, Pictwo takes the same familiar approach further by adding category-based placeholders, a broader filter system and an additional compatibility layer.

Best For

Developers who want a simple and familiar way to add random photos to prototypes, blog layouts and demo pages.

3. Placehold.co — Best for Wireframes and UI Layout Testing

Website: https://placehold.co

Not every prototype needs real photography.

Sometimes you only need a clearly labelled rectangle to reserve space in a layout. Placehold.co is one of the best tools for that job.

A basic placeholder looks like this:

<img
  src="https://placehold.co/600x400"
  alt="Placeholder block"
>

You can customise the background and text colours:

<img
  src="https://placehold.co/600x400/111827/FFFFFF"
  alt="Dark placeholder block"
>

You can also add your own text:

<img
  src="https://placehold.co/600x400?text=Hero+Image"
  alt="Hero image placeholder"
>

Placehold.co supports SVG, PNG, JPEG, GIF, WebP and AVIF formats. It also supports retina variants using @2x and @3x:

<img
  src="https://placehold.co/600x400@2x.png"
  alt="Retina placeholder block"
>

It is not a replacement for realistic photo placeholders, but it is excellent when testing spacing, responsive behaviour and component states.

Best For

Wireframes, admin dashboards, UI component libraries and early-stage layouts where image content does not matter yet.

4. DummyImage.com — Best for Detailed Placeholder Block Customisation

Website: https://dummyimage.com

DummyImage.com is one of the oldest tools on this list, but it remains useful because of how much control it gives you through the URL.

A standard placeholder looks like this:

<img
  src="https://dummyimage.com/600x400"
  alt="Dummy placeholder image"
>

You can define background and foreground colours:

<img
  src="https://dummyimage.com/600x400/111827/ffffff"
  alt="Custom dummy placeholder"
>

You can also add custom text:

<img
  src="https://dummyimage.com/600x400/111827/ffffff&text=Product+Image"
  alt="Product image placeholder"
>

One of its more useful features is ratio-based sizing:

<img
  src="https://dummyimage.com/640x16:9"
  alt="16 by 9 placeholder image"
>

DummyImage.com also supports standard screen sizes and common advertising dimensions through shortcuts.

Its output is more utilitarian than modern, but it is still handy when you need precise, predictable blocks for layout testing.

Best For

Developers who need fine-grained control over dimensions, colours, aspect ratios and placeholder labels.

5. LoremFlickr — Best for Keyword-Based Placeholder Images

Website: https://loremflickr.com

LoremFlickr is useful when random images are not enough and you want photos related to a particular subject.

For example, you can request a technology image:

<img
  src="https://loremflickr.com/800/600/technology"
  alt="Technology placeholder image"
>

Or a food-related image for a restaurant mockup:

<img
  src="https://loremflickr.com/800/600/food"
  alt="Food placeholder image"
>

You can use multiple keywords:

<img
  src="https://loremflickr.com/800/600/lagos,street"
  alt="Street placeholder image"
>

You can also lock an image temporarily using a query parameter:

<img
  src="https://loremflickr.com/800/600/city?lock=12"
  alt="Locked city placeholder image"
>

LoremFlickr depends on Flickr for its images, which has caused availability issues in the past due to API restrictions. The hosted service is active again, but it is worth keeping that external dependency in mind.

Pictwo is a better choice when you want stable seeds and categories without depending on live keyword searches from a third-party photo platform.

Best For

Topic-based mockups, editorial layouts and quick demos where the image subject needs to match the content.

Which Image Placeholder Service Should You Use?

The right service depends on what you are building.

Use Placehold.co or DummyImage.com when you need clean placeholder blocks for wireframes and layout tests.

Use Lorem Picsum when you want a familiar random photo service with minimal setup.

Use LoremFlickr when you need photos related to a specific keyword and temporary consistency is good enough.

But for most development projects, Pictwo is the best overall option.

It gives you the simplicity of Lorem Picsum-style URLs while adding the features that become useful once your prototype grows: categories, stable seeds, modern image formats, filters and API access.

You can begin with a single line:

<img
  src="https://pictwo.toneflix.net/800/600"
  alt="Placeholder image"
>

Then expand from there as your project needs more control.

That is exactly what a good developer tool should do: stay simple when you need simplicity and give you more power when you need it.

GitHub Suspended My Account Without Warning.

Hamza's Legacy — Sat, 16 May 2026 13:31:00 +0000

I was updating the README.md for one of my organisations yesterday, Friday, 15th May 2026, when I suddenly got logged out, tried logging back in a couple of times, and kept getting redirected to the login page.

Then I decided to start again from a fresh new tab, and then got redirected to github.com/suspended with the page stating that I had violated some GitHub terms and conditions.

No email. No warning. No explanation. Just a banner that says my account has been suspended and a link to contact support, a link that redirects me to the login page, which redirects me right back to the suspension banner. Just the perfect go fuck yourself loop with no exit.

I'm Legacy, a software engineer and tech entrepreneur based in Nigeria. I'm the founder of Toneflix Technologies and lead developer at Greysoft Technologies. Over the past few years, I've been quietly building a suite of open-source packages, frameworks, and tools that other developers depend on. Today, all of that is frozen.

What Got Locked

Here's a non-exhaustive list of what I can no longer access to maintain:

Toneflix / Greysoft Packages

A collection of JavaScript, TypeScript, and PHP utilities published and maintained under the Toneflix GitHub org. These include component libraries, Laravel packages, and utility tools actively used in production apps.

Arkstack

Arkstack is a framework-agnostic, full-stack, runtime-agnostic Node.js framework I've been building, think Laravel. It has a package ecosystem of its own and currently powers the backend of a fintech product currently in active development.

H3ravel

H3ravel is an elegant Laravel-inspired framework built on top of H3 that also has its own growing package ecosystem. Some of these packages are dependencies of Arkstack itself.

A total of over 100 open source projects and packages that are now no longer accessible. Pull requests are frozen. Issues can't be responded to. CI/CD pipelines that relied on my account are broken. Users who depend on these packages can't get updates. And I can't do anything about it because I can't get in touch with a human at GitHub.

The Support Loop Problem

The cruellest part of this isn't the suspension itself, it's the way the system is designed to keep you out of the appeals process.

When your account is suspended, GitHub directs you to support.github.com. To file a ticket there, you have to be logged in. When you log in, GitHub detects the suspension and redirects you back to the suspension page, which tells you to go to support. Which requires you to log in.

That's it. That's the loop. There is no break in it by design. Just perfect fuckery

The workarounds I've found so far:

Email support@github.com directly from the email associated with my account.
Sent DMs and mentioned @gitHub on X/Twitter.
Sent an email to abuse@github.com.

I've done all three. Now I'm waiting.

This Is a Bigger Problem Than Just Me

I went looking to see if others had experienced this and, hopefully, to get hints on how they resolved theirs, and found a deeply uncomfortable pattern. Developers suspended without notice, without explanation, often without even an email:

GSoC contributors locked out mid-program
Students blocked from university coursework
Open source maintainers unable to respond to their communities
Appeals going unanswered for months

One developer filed a ticket in November 2025 and as of March 2026 — four months later — had received zero response. Not a denial. Not a request for more information. Nothing.

The common thread across all these cases: automated systems acting without human oversight, and no meaningful way to appeal.

For free-tier users in particular, there appears to be effectively no escalation path. You are at the mercy of whatever algorithm flagged you and whatever queue your ticket lands in.

Why This Matters for Open Source Infrastructure

GitHub has become the de facto home of open source software. That's not inherently a problem, but it creates a structural risk that doesn't get talked about enough: a single company's automated moderation system can, without notice or reason, remove a developer from the ecosystem they've spent years building.

I'm not a security threat. I'm not a spammer. I'm not a bad actor. I'm a developer who woke up one morning and found years of work locked behind a door I cannot open, while the people who depend on that work get no explanation either.

Open source maintainers — especially independent ones without institutional backing — are disproportionately exposed to this risk. We don't have a legal team to write a letter. We don't have an enterprise contract that buys us a phone number to call. We have an email address and a tweet.

What I'm Doing While I Wait

I'm mirroring critical repositories to a temporary account and orgs as a backup
I've opened a temporary landing page at arkstack-tmp.toneflix.net for Arkstack
I'm documenting everything here so there's a public record
I'm continuing work locally and will push everything once access is restored

If you maintain packages that depend on anything under the Toneflix or H3ravel GitHub orgs and you're seeing issues, this is why. I haven't abandoned the projects. I'm locked out.

What GitHub Should Fix

This isn't a feature request, it's a baseline that should already exist:

Suspension notifications should be mandatory, with a specific reason attached, before the account is locked, not after.
The support portal should have an unauthenticated appeals path for suspended accounts. The current loop is not an oversight; it's a design failure.
Automated suspensions should trigger a human review within 48 hours, not leave developers in limbo for weeks or months.
Open source maintainers with active public repositories should have escalated review priority, given the downstream impact of losing access.

A Note to the Community

If you've experienced something similar, I'd genuinely like to hear about it in the comments. Not to vent, but because the more documented cases there are, the harder it is to dismiss this as a one-off.

And if you work at GitHub and you're reading this: my username is @3m1n3nc3. My email is on file. I haven't done anything wrong. I'd just like to get back to work.

UPDATE

So after 3 gruesome weeks, I finally got a response, but not before I created a new account and opened a new ticket from their, which they asked me to open another ticket as a guest using the email address associated with the blocked account. 3 days later, I got this response from them:

Hello,

Thank you for your message and I hope this finds you well. Your account was flagged for a manual review.

GitHub is meant to be used as a collaborating and hosting tool for software developers. We're unable to see activity on your account that indicates that it's being used for the intended purpose.

Could you please share a little more with us on how you plan to use GitHub? I look forward to hearing back from you soon.

Best regards,
...

I replied with a list of projects and organisations I manage and build for, and after another three days without a follow-up response from them, I pinged the ticket again and got my account released with the following response:

Hi there,

Thanks for contacting GitHub Support.

Sometimes our abuse detecting systems highlight accounts that need to be manually reviewed.

We've cleared the restrictions from your account, so you have full access to GitHub again.

Thank you for being a member of the GitHub Community, and have a great rest of your day!

Best regards,
...
GitHub Support

I'd like to appreciate everyone in the open source community who tweeted, retweeted and commented on the community posts I made and gave attention to this issue that eventually brought it to a close.

In the meantime, I'm looking at other viable alternatives, can't keep all my baskets for one egg, abi how dem dey talk am sef?

Update: I'll edit this post as the situation develops. If the account is restored or I receive a reason, I'll document that here too.

How to Bulk Create GitHub Issues Using AI and Markdown

Hamza's Legacy — Tue, 24 Feb 2026 13:13:51 +0000

Managing GitHub issues one by one gets old and tiring really fast, especially when you're setting up a new project, migrating tasks, or generating structured backlogs.

In this guide, I’ll show you how to bulk-create GitHub issues using AI and seed them directly into your repository with Ghit.

You can either:

Generate multiple markdown files (fully automated workflow), or
Generate one large markdown file and split it automatically.

Let’s break it down.

What Is Ghit?

Ghit is a command-line tool that lets you manage GitHub repositories, issues, and workflows directly from your terminal. It combines custom, high-level commands for common tasks with auto-generated commands that cover the entire GitHub REST API, making bulk operations, automation, and version-controlled issue management easy and scriptable.

Instead of manually filling forms in GitHub’s UI, the Ghit issues:seed command lets you define your issues in markdown with frontmatter, then seed them into your repository with a single command.

Installing Ghit

You can install Ghit with your preferred package manager globally or for a specific project.

npm install -g ghit

This will install Ghit and get you ready for seeding issues to GitHub

Option 1: Generate Multiple Markdown Files (Fully Automated)

When to Use This

You want AI to generate separate files automatically.
You prefer structured issue files in a folder like issues/.
You want clean numbering like 001-issue-title.md.

Step 1 — Generate Issues with AI

Use a prompt like this:

Generate 5 markdown files for GitHub issues about authentication bugs.

Each issue must follow this format:

---
type: [Feature | Task | Bug ]
title: Issue Title
labels: ['label1', 'label2', 'label3']
assignees: ''
---

## Description

Explain the issue clearly.

Filename format:
001-issue-title.md
002-another-issue.md

AI will generate multiple .md files for you.

Step 2 — Organize Files

Example structure:

issues/
├── 001-invalid-token-error.md
├── 002-session-timeout-bug.md
├── 003-password-reset-failure.md

Step 3 — Seed the Issues

Run:

ghit issues:seed issues/

Ghit will read every markdown file and create the corresponding GitHub issues automatically.

Option 2: Single Markdown File (Copy & Seed)

This method is perfect if:

AI cannot directly create files.
You’re working in ChatGPT and need to copy/paste.
You want everything inside one file.

Step 1 — Generate a Single File

Use this prompt:

Generate a single markdown file containing 3 issues about UI improvements.

Separate each issue using `++++++`.

Each issue must follow this format:

---
type: [Feature | Task | Bug ]
title: Issue Title
labels: ['label1', 'label2', 'label3']
assignees: ''
---

## Description

Explain the issue clearly.

Step 2 — Save the File

Copy the generated content into:

bulk-issues.md

Step 3 — Seed the Issues

Run:

ghit issues:seed bulk-issues.md

Or with a full path (relative to the current working directory):

ghit issues:seed path/to/bulk-issues.md

Example File Format

---
title: Bug: Login Fails
labels: bug, auth
type: Bug
---

## Description

Login fails for users with special characters in their password.

++++++

---
title: Feature: Export Data
labels: feature, data
type: Feature
---

## Description

Allow users to export their data in CSV format.

Separator Rules

Must be ++++++ or ======
Must be on its own line
Each issue must contain valid frontmatter

Pro Tip: Use Dry Run First

Before creating anything for real:

ghit issues:seed bulk-issues.md --dry-run

This shows you what will be created without actually pushing issues to GitHub.

Why This Workflow Is Powerful

It's perfect for project scaffolding
Ideal for AI-generated backlogs
Comes in handy for migrating Trello/Notion tasks
Clean, version-controlled issue definitions
Reproducible issue seeding

Ghit allows you to define once and seed anytime.

H3ravel: Bringing Laravel’s Elegance to the JavaScript Ecosystem

Hamza's Legacy — Mon, 01 Sep 2025 02:57:30 +0000

If you’ve ever worked with PHP’s Laravel, you probably know why developers love it — clean architecture, productivity-boosting tools, and an overall developer-friendly experience. On the JavaScript side, though, frameworks often lean toward being minimalist (Express, Hono, Fastify) or hyper-opinionated (Next.js, Nuxt).

That’s where H3ravel steps in.

H3ravel is a modern, runtime-agnostic, TypeScript-based web framework built on top of H3. Its goal? To bring Laravel’s familiar structure, elegance, and developer experience into the JavaScript world — across runtimes like Node.js, Bun, and Deno.

Key Features

Here’s what makes H3ravel stand out:

Laravel-inspired Architecture

H3ravel implements core Laravel concepts such as:

Service Containers & Providers
Middleware
Facades
Controllers

If you’re coming from Laravel, you’ll feel right at home.

TypeScript-first

The framework is written entirely in TypeScript, giving you type safety, better tooling, and modern DX right out of the box.

Runtime Agnostic

Thanks to being built on H3, H3ravel runs seamlessly in Node.js, Bun, and Deno. No vendor lock-in.

Eloquent-like ORM

H3ravel ships with Arquebus, an ORM inspired by Laravel’s Eloquent, bringing model-based database interaction to the framework.

Modular Services

Out of the box, you get common web dev building blocks like:

Mail
Queue
Cache
Broadcasting

Clean Routing

Applications have a dedicated routes directory with separate web and API route files — clear, organized, and Laravel-esque.

Class-based Controllers

Keep your business logic structured with controller classes, making code organization much easier for growing apps.

Powerful CLI

Musket CLI is a powerful Artisan-like command-line tool for generating code and running tasks, and speeding up development workflows.

Purpose

H3ravel’s mission is simple: to provide JavaScript developers with Laravel’s elegance, structure, and productivity without sacrificing modern runtime flexibility.

If you’ve ever thought:

“I love Laravel’s workflow, but I want to stick with TypeScript.”
“Other Node frameworks feel too barebones.”
“I want a framework that feels powerful but not bloated.”

Then H3ravel might just be what you’re looking for.

Wrapping Up

H3ravel bridges the gap between the structured developer experience of Laravel and the modern flexibility of JavaScript runtimes. With TypeScript at its core, a powerful ORM, and Laravel-inspired architecture, it’s shaping up to be a solid choice for teams who value both speed and maintainability.

👉 You can follow updates and contribute to H3ravel on GitHub.

God of Stories: My Resolve

Hamza's Legacy — Sun, 19 Jan 2025 06:14:50 +0000

While others want to earn at the expense of learning, I want to learn so I can pay those who want to earn.

Greysoft Technologies gives me the tools, time, and leverage to learn—a privilege I wouldn’t have if I were working for a company that pays me 10 million Naira monthly. In case you were wondering why I stayed back while others were leaving, that’s besides the fact that someone bought my loyalty for a thousand lifetimes.

10 million Naira monthly is an enormous amount of money, and you might think it’s easy to come by because I’m in the tech space. But in reality, it isn’t. To be sincere, you may never come across it in your entire tech career. What I’m looking for, what I’m building myself for, isn’t a future of dependency on some Fortune 500 handouts. I want to build a Fortune 500 that others can depend on for handouts.

A turning point in my life, a memory that haunts me every time I catch myself slacking, was the moment I came home from school for the weekend and heard my father say we’d have to move into our uncompleted building in the middle of nowhere. It didn’t even have a roof. He said we’d get tarpaulin as a temporary covering until we could sort ourselves out. I think about that moment now and then, and it breaks my heart on repeat. But every time, it also renews my resolve to get better until better gets to me.

I don’t come from privilege like everyone else, and I don’t seek to make a living like everyone else. I want to change my life, my family’s life, and my story. I want to become the starting point for the stories of everyone who crosses paths with me. I want to become the god of stories.

My resolve is to die trying, and I don’t care what else comes with that. I have a pain, and I won’t stop until I am healed of it.

Is CodeIgniter Still Relevant in 2025?

Hamza's Legacy — Fri, 27 Dec 2024 06:58:59 +0000

In the web development ecosystem, frameworks are developed and then either evolve or become obsolete but some are able to stick around because they are flexible, easy to use and have an active community that supports them. CodeIgniter is a PHP framework that was very popular in the 2010s because of its lightweight and simple design and it is one of the frameworks that create this question. Moving to the year 2025 does CodeIgniter still find its place in the competitive arena of the current web development environment?

How Did CodeIgniter Became Appealing in The First Place?

CodeIgniter thrived in its prime for its simplicity, reliability and speed.

For developers who were new to PHP, CodeIgniter offered a clean and accessible entry point, Its lightweight nature, free from bloated configurations, meant rapid deployment. If you needed something that just works? CodeIgniter was your go-to.

Its no-frills approach made it a favourite for small-to-medium projects. Unlike Laravel or Symfony, it didn’t drown you in abstractions. No Composer dependencies. No steep learning curve. Just an elegant, nimble framework ready to roll.

But the World Has Changed

Fast-forward to 2025, and the landscape of web development looks wildly different. Frameworks like Laravel, Symfony, and even non-PHP options such as Django and Node.js-based solutions have become the de facto choices for scalable, modern applications. Meanwhile, CodeIgniter faces significant hurdles:

Modern Expectations: Developers today demand features like dependency injection, event-driven architectures, and advanced CLI tools. CodeIgniter, despite updates, feels quaint by comparison.
The Ecosystem Gap: Laravel, for instance, boasts a robust ecosystem. Need an authentication system? A task scheduler? Laravel has polished solutions out of the box. CodeIgniter? You’ll likely write custom implementations.
Full-Stack JavaScript Boom: The rise of frameworks like Next.js and Nuxt has ushered in an era of full-stack JavaScript, making PHP itself feel niche in some circles.
Performance vs. Features Tradeoff: While CodeIgniter remains lean and quick, it often sacrifices the bells and whistles developers now expect.

CodeIgniter’s Strengths—The Underdog Advantage

CodeIgniter persists because it occupies a specific niche that few frameworks can rival.

• Lean and Mean: In a world bloated with abstractions, CodeIgniter’s minimalism is a breath of fresh air. Its small footprint translates to blazing-fast execution, which could become very useful for simpler projects.
• Perfect for Legacy Projects: Many businesses still rely on systems built during CodeIgniter’s heyday. Developers who are fluent in the Codeigniter framework remain in demand for maintenance and incremental upgrades.
• Low Barrier to Entry: Newcomers to PHP might still find CodeIgniter to be the perfect training ground. Its straightforward syntax and accessible documentation remain assets.

Is CodeIgniter 4 A Modern Revival?

To its credit, CodeIgniter hasn’t been stagnant. The release of CodeIgniter 4 introduced a whole lot of modern features, including:

• Namespaces and Autoloading: A nod to modern PHP standards.
• Composer Support: Finally bridging the gap with contemporary practices.
• PSR Compliance: Aligning CodeIgniter with industry-wide coding standards.

These updates demonstrate an effort to stay competitive, but do they close the gap enough to win over today’s developers?

When you should consider using Codeigniter:

• You’re building a straightforward application without heavy scaling requirements.
• You need speed and simplicity over advanced features.
• You’re maintaining or extending a legacy project.

When you should consider using something else:

• You’re crafting a modern, enterprise-grade application.
• You need seamless integrations, rich ecosystems, or cutting-edge features.
• You’re drawn to newer paradigms like serverless or full-stack JavaScript.

Here are my Final Thoughts

CodeIgniter is no longer the universal choice it once was—but it’s not obsolete either. It thrives in its niche, catering to lightweight, no-nonsense projects.

While the framework’s simplicity and speed are refreshing, it’s clear that for larger or more complex projects, frameworks like Laravel offer a more compelling proposition.

So the question still is, is CodeIgniter still relevant in 2025? Yes, but don't take my word for it, it is very much still relevant if you know where it fits. For small teams, beginners, or legacy applications, it remains a valuable tool. However, if you’re eyeing the future, you might want to set your sights on frameworks that better embody the next wave of web development.

What do you think? Are you still moving on with CodeIgniter, or you really are moving on for good? Leave your comments and let's discuss!