Custom systems that will
still run in ten years.
Symfony is the MIT-licensed PHP framework behind Drupal, Magento, Sylius and API Platform. Twenty years of releases on a published schedule, a backward-compatibility promise and long-term support versions make it the foundation we choose when a system has to outlive the people who built it.
/api/orders/2418200 · 38 ms- Router0.4 ms
- Security2.1 ms
- Controller1.6 ms
- Doctrine21.8 ms
- Serializer8.3 ms
- Cache0.9 ms
The framework the rest of
the PHP world is built on.
Symfony has been in continuous development since 2005, maintained by Symfony SAS and a community of thousands of contributors. Its components are the plumbing inside Drupal, Magento, Laravel, Sylius, Shopware, PrestaShop and Composer.
Most custom business systems fail slowly. They are built fast on whatever the first developer knew, work for a while, and then become the thing nobody dares to touch: no upgrade path, no tests, no one left who understands it.
Symfony is designed against exactly that. It is a set of decoupled, well-documented components (HTTP, routing, security, forms, validation, serialisation, messaging, workflow, console, caching) and a full-stack framework that wires them together. Every piece has a stable, published contract and years of documentation behind it.
What makes it enterprise-grade is the release process: a new minor version every six months, a major every two years, and a long-term support version every two years with three years of bug fixes and a fourth year of security fixes. Deprecations are announced a full major cycle ahead. You can plan upgrades in a budget meeting, not in an emergency.
And it is genuinely open source, under the MIT licence. You can read the code, change it, host it anywhere, and hand the system to any of the hundreds of thousands of developers who already know it.
In continuous development since. Current LTS: 7.4, supported into 2029.
Open-source licence. No fees for the framework, the components or the tooling.
Of support for every LTS release: three years of bug fixes, one more of security fixes.
Reusable components, each usable on its own, downloaded billions of times via Composer.
Backward-compatibility promise: no breaking change inside a major version, deprecations announced ahead.
With API Platform, a documented REST and GraphQL API comes from the data model in hours.
The hard parts of a serious system,
solved and maintained.
Each component is independent, tested and documented. We use what the project needs and leave the rest out.
Security
Authentication against your directory or identity provider (LDAP, SAML, OpenID Connect), fine-grained authorisation with voters, CSRF, rate limiting, password hashing done right.
APIs with API Platform
REST and GraphQL endpoints generated from your entities, with OpenAPI documentation, filtering, pagination, validation and access rules. The standard way to build APIs on Symfony.
Doctrine ORM & migrations
A mature data layer for PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQL Server and Oracle, with versioned schema migrations, transactions and query builders that keep SQL readable.
Workflow & state machines
Order, claim, approval and document lifecycles defined as explicit workflows with guards and audit events. The business rule lives in one place, not in forty if-statements.
Messenger & async jobs
Message buses and queues over RabbitMQ, Redis, Amazon SQS or the database, with retries, failure handling and scheduling. Imports, exports and integrations run in the background.
Forms & validation
Complex back-office forms with nested collections, server-side validation rules reused by the API, and the same constraints applied whether data arrives from a screen, a file or a webhook.
Back-office UI
Twig templates, Symfony UX with Live Components and Turbo for interactive screens without a separate front-end project, or a React/Vue front end on the API when that is the better fit.
E-commerce with Sylius
A Symfony-native commerce platform for B2B and B2C: catalogue, pricing, promotions, checkout, channels and multi-currency, fully customisable and headless when needed.
AI integration
LLM calls, tool use and retrieval wired into the same services, with your data staying behind your permissions. Assistants on top of a system that already enforces the rules.
Observability
The profiler in development, structured logging with Monolog, and OpenTelemetry traces in production. When something is slow, you see which query and which line.
Console & scheduling
Command-line tools for imports, reports and maintenance, plus the Scheduler component for recurring jobs, all inside the same codebase and the same tests.
Translation, cache, mail
Multi-language interfaces, HTTP and application caching, transactional e-mail via any provider, PDF generation and file storage abstractions. The parts every project needs and nobody wants to rewrite.
Also part of the ecosystem: Twig for templating, PHPUnit and Panther for tests, Composer for dependencies, Docker images maintained by the community, and a certification programme for developers. Anything missing is a bundle away.
Custom software,
with the custom-software risks removed.
The risk of a bespoke system is not the first year. It is years three to ten: upgrades, staff turnover, security patches, the integration that nobody documented. Symfony is built for those years.
A roadmap you can plan around
Release dates are published years ahead. An LTS version is supported for four years, and the path to the next one is documented and tooled. No surprise end-of-life, no forced rewrite.
Nobody can switch you off
MIT licence, your repository, your servers. No platform fee that rises with usage, no vendor cloud, no partner holding the keys. Change partners or take it in-house at any time.
People who know it are everywhere
Symfony is taught, certified and used across Europe. Hiring a developer who can read your codebase on day one is not a search; it is a job advert.
Fast where it matters
Modern PHP with Symfony serves high-traffic APIs comfortably, and with FrankenPHP or Swoole runs as a persistent, worker-based server. Spotify, Dailymotion and BlaBlaCar run on it at scale.
| Compared on | Low-code / SaaS platform | Micro-framework or "whatever the dev knew" | Symfony |
|---|---|---|---|
| Licence | Per user, per app or per run; rises with usage | None | None. MIT |
| Fit to your process | Within the platform's model; the last 10% is painful | Total | Total, with proven building blocks |
| Upgrades in year 5 | Vendor decides; features deprecated or re-priced | Often a rewrite | Scheduled, documented, tooled |
| Finding developers | Platform specialists, small pool | Depends on the original author | Large European talent pool, certification |
| Security & compliance | Vendor's region and audit, your name on the fine | Your own responsibility, often untested | Security advisories, patched LTS, hosted where you decide |
| Exit | Export, then the system goes dark | You own it | You own it, and any Symfony team can take over |
We pick Symfony when the question is not "how fast can we ship" but "will this still be safe and maintainable when the people who built it have moved on".
Best fit: a system the company
cannot afford to lose.
If a standard product fits, we will say so and point you to ERPNext or Open Mercato. Symfony is our choice when the system itself is the asset:
High-performance APIs & integration hubs
The API behind a mobile app, a partner network or a marketplace; the hub that connects ERP, web shop, logistics and banks.
- Documented REST and GraphQL
- Queues, retries and audit for every message
- Rate limits, keys and OAuth built in
E-commerce back-ends
B2B shops with contract pricing, configurators, multi-country catalogues or order flows that no SaaS platform allows.
- Sylius or a custom commerce core
- Headless front end of your choice
- ERPNext for stock and invoicing
Regulated back-office systems
Insurance, finance, pharma, utilities, public sector: case handling, claims, policies, approvals and reporting with a full audit trail.
- Explicit workflows and permissions
- Every change logged and attributable
- Hosted in the EU or UK, on-premise if required
Replacing legacy PHP or a dead platform
A system written ten years ago on an old framework or none, still essential, impossible to upgrade, and the only developer has left.
- Strangler migration, screen by screen
- Tests before touching anything
- Business keeps running throughout
Everything between
"interesting" and "it runs".
Mobinea is an EU-based IT consultancy working with clients across the European Union and the United Kingdom. We design, build and operate custom systems on Symfony, and we stay after go-live.
- Fit assessment & architectureWe map your process, data, integrations and non-functional requirements, then tell you honestly whether a custom system is the right call and how it should be cut.
- Custom back-office systemsDomain model, workflows, permissions, screens and reports, built as a tested Symfony application in your repository, with documentation your next team can read.
- APIs & integration platformsAPI Platform services with OpenAPI docs, event-driven integrations over Messenger, connectors to ERPNext, Open Mercato, web shops, banks, EDI, couriers and BI.
- E-commerce back-endsSylius implementations and custom commerce cores for B2B and B2C, headless or with a classic storefront, connected to stock and accounting.
- Legacy modernisationMigration of old PHP applications, dead frameworks or abandoned platforms to a supported Symfony LTS, incrementally, with the business running throughout.
- AI on top of your systemAssistants, document extraction and retrieval wired into the application's services and permissions, running under GDPR, UK GDPR and the EU AI Act.
- Hosting & operationsOn your servers, in a managed private cloud in the EU or the UK, or in your cloud account. CI/CD, backups, monitoring, upgrades and security patches handled.
- Support & evolutionAn SLA-backed support line, scheduled LTS upgrades, and a monthly block of developer hours for the changes every living system needs.
Weeks, not quarters.
A working PoC before you commit.
Fit-check call
A short conversation about the system you need, what you run today and what it must survive. You leave with a clear yes, no, or "yes, but".
30 minutes · freeDiscovery & architecture
Workshops with your key users and IT. Domain model, integration list, non-functional requirements, and a fixed-scope offer with a timeline.
1–2 weeksProof of concept
The riskiest slice built end to end on your data: the core workflow, the hardest integration, the performance target. Your team uses it for real.
4–8 weeksBuild, integrate, migrate
Remaining modules, integrations, screens and reports, with automated tests and CI/CD from the first week. Data migration rehearsed twice. Training for every team.
2–6 monthsGo-live & evolution
Cut-over on a date you choose, hyper-care in the first weeks, then ongoing support, scheduled upgrades and new capabilities.
Then: ongoingA focused API or back-office scope is typically live within three to four months of the first workshop, with the proof of concept in your team's hands after about six weeks. Larger systems and legacy migrations are phased so that each phase delivers something people use.
Four lines on the budget.
One of them is zero.
We quote fixed-scope projects after discovery, so the number you sign is the number you pay. The structure is always the same:
Software licence
Symfony, its components, API Platform, Doctrine and Sylius Community Edition are all MIT-licensed. No per-user, per-app or annual fee, ever.
Design & build
Discovery, architecture, development, integrations, migration and training. Fixed price per agreed scope; phased for larger systems.
Hosting
Your own infrastructure (no cost from us), your cloud account, or a managed private cloud in the EU or the UK. Sized to your traffic and data, not per seat.
Support & development
An SLA-backed support retainer with scheduled LTS upgrades and a monthly block of developer hours for changes and new features.
The cheapest system over ten years is rarely the cheapest in year one. We will show you the comparison for your case, including the cost of the upgrade nobody budgets for, on the first call.
The questions your CTO
and your CFO will ask.
PHP? Is that still a serious choice?
Modern PHP is a typed, fast, actively developed language with a yearly release cycle, and Symfony is the most rigorously engineered framework in that ecosystem. It runs Drupal, Magento, Sylius, Shopware and the back-ends of Spotify, Dailymotion and BlaBlaCar. For business systems the questions that matter are maintainability, security, hiring and longevity, and on those PHP with Symfony scores as well as any stack we know.
Where another stack is the better fit, for instance TypeScript on Open Mercato or Python on Frappe, we will say so. We use all three.
How is this different from ERPNext and Open Mercato, which you also offer?
ERPNext is a finished ERP you configure. Open Mercato is a CRM/ERP foundation with the business modules already in place. Symfony is a general-purpose framework: it gives you no business modules, and no opinions about what your system is. That is the point. When the system is a high-performance API, an e-commerce back-end, a regulated case-handling platform or the replacement for a legacy application, that freedom is worth more than ready modules.
They work together: Symfony for the custom core or the integration hub, ERPNext for the ledger and the warehouse, connected over their APIs.
What does "LTS" actually give us?
A long-term support version of Symfony is released every two years and receives bug fixes for three years and security fixes for a fourth. The dates are published in advance. We build on the current LTS, and the support retainer includes the upgrade to the next one, which is a scheduled, tooled task rather than a project, thanks to the backward-compatibility promise and automated upgrade tooling.
How secure is it, and where does our data live?
Wherever you decide: on your own servers, in your cloud account, or in a private cloud in the EU or the UK that we operate for you. Data residency stays inside the jurisdiction you choose, for GDPR and UK GDPR alike.
Symfony has a dedicated security team, published advisories and a responsible-disclosure process; the components handle authentication, authorisation, CSRF, session hardening and password hashing so that these are not re-invented per project. We add automated dependency scanning and security patches as part of operations.
How long does it take, and how much of our team's time?
A focused API or back-office scope typically goes live in three to four months; larger systems and legacy migrations are phased, with a proof of concept in your hands after four to eight weeks. From your side we need one decision-maker, one key user per area for a few hours a week during discovery and testing, and someone who knows where the data and the current integrations are. We do the rest.
What if Mobinea disappears, or we want to change partner?
Nothing happens to your system. You own the repository, the database and the infrastructure configuration, with tests and documentation that any Symfony team can pick up. Symfony is among the most widely known frameworks in Europe, so that team is not hard to find.
That is the whole point of choosing an open foundation, and we would rather earn your business every year than lock it in.
Can we host it ourselves?
Yes. A Symfony application runs on any Linux server, in containers, on Kubernetes or on any cloud, with PostgreSQL or MySQL underneath. We hand over the deployment pipeline, backup and upgrade procedures and can train your IT team, or keep operating it for you under an SLA.
Tell us what the system must do.
We'll tell you if Symfony fits.
A 30-minute fit-check call: your process, your current systems, your constraints. No slides, no commitment. If a standard product would serve you better, you will hear it from us first.
- We reply within one business day
- Architecture review of your current system, on request
- Ten-year cost comparison for your case, free