What’s New in Laravel 10 & 11 — A Developer's Guide

Laravel continues to be the go-to PHP framework for modern web development. With Laravel 10 released and Laravel 11 on the horizon, developers are getting a host of powerful features, performance upgrades, and syntax improvements that make coding faster, cleaner, and more enjoyable.

In this blog, I’ll walk you through the most exciting features introduced in Laravel 10 and what’s coming next with Laravel 11.

🔥 Laravel 10 – Key Highlights
✅ 1. Requires PHP 8.1+
Laravel 10 now requires PHP 8.1 as the minimum version, unlocking powerful features like:

Enums

Readonly properties

First-class callable syntax

This ensures cleaner, more expressive code and improved performance.

✅ 2. Native Type Declarations in Codebase
The Laravel core code now uses full native type declarations for arguments and return types. This means:

Better IDE support

Easier debugging

Stronger code reliability

It’s a step forward in adopting modern PHP standards.

✅ 3. Faster Testing with --parallel
Running tests just got a major speed boost:

php artisan test --parallel

This runs your test suites concurrently using multiple processes, making CI pipelines significantly faster.

✅ 4. New Process Facade
Need to run shell commands? Laravel 10 introduces a convenient Process facade:

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Process;

$result = Process::run('npm run build');

You can now run and inspect system commands directly from your Laravel app.

👀 Coming Soon: Laravel 11 Sneak Peek
🔄 1. No More Default app/Http/Controllers Folder Structure
Laravel 11 plans to ship with a more minimalistic skeleton. The focus is on giving developers flexibility to structure apps their way.

📦 2. Slimmer Framework Structure
Expect fewer default service providers, routes, and middleware in a fresh Laravel install. This makes the base app leaner and easier to customize.

🛠️ 3. Improved Bootstrap Process
Laravel 11 aims to simplify the entire bootstrapping process and provide better DX (Developer Experience), especially for API-only or microservice projects.

✨ Final Thoughts
Laravel is evolving fast and smart. With type safety, testing performance, and syntax improvements, it’s more productive than ever. Whether you're building a SaaS app, an eCommerce platform, or a simple API — Laravel 10 & 11 have the tools to help you ship faster and better.

💡 Stay updated, keep experimenting, and level up your Laravel game!