Application migration
We have moved business systems from PHP 5.6 to Laravel, one in eight months and one in two. Here is what breaks on that kind of jump and how we check nothing was lost.
A cabinet manufacturer's ordering, dealer-portal and inventory system went from PHP 5.6 and MySQL 5.0 to Laravel 13 on PHP 8.5 and MySQL 8, with a new Next.js front end. It took about eight months, with workflows verified against the old system in parallel.
A loyalty-card system that we had built ourselves on PHP 5.6 moved to Laravel in two months, with every card, balance and rule preserved. We knew that code, and it was smaller, which is most of the difference. So the honest answer to how long a move takes is that it depends on the assessment.
We have also taken a Qatar manpower company's C#/.NET desktop application through a rebuild in Electron when their environment moved on, keeping the same workflows. It is now being scoped for the web.
Choose a target that will stay supported long enough to justify the work. Laravel 13 supports PHP 8.3–8.5, and receives security fixes until March 17, 2028. On php.net's schedule, PHP 8.5 has security support until 31 December 2029, while PHP 8.2 ends on 31 December 2026, so a move to 8.2 today would need another upgrade almost immediately.
We read the code and schema first and write down what the system does, including rules that exist nowhere else. We then rebuild in stages and run old and new against the same inputs, comparing results. Any difference is either a bug in the new system or a bug users have come to depend on, and the business decides which. A big-bang rewrite gives you none of this, because nothing can be compared until the end.
For Laravel upgrades we quote a fixed price after a free assessment: Small application from $799; Mid-sized application from $1,200; Large application (thousands of files, full audit) from $2,999. Prices are in USD and invoiced in USD, GBP, EUR or INR. Other stacks are quoted after the same assessment. The Laravel upgrade service has the detail.
Labour-supply quoting, trade-based pricing, billing, employee records and deployment tracking for a Qatar manpower company placing skilled trade workers with clients. Built in C#/.NET, rebuilt in Electron, now being scoped for the web.
Cabinet manufacturer's ordering, dealer-portal and inventory system moved from PHP 5.6 and MySQL 5.0 to Laravel 13 on PHP 8.5 and MySQL 8, with a new Next.js front end. Eight months, workflows preserved, now live.
Loyalty-card management system we first built on PHP 5.6, re-platformed onto Laravel with all cards, balances and rules preserved. Two months, live since mid-2026, Indian client.
Yes, that is the normal case. The old system stays in use while the new one is built and compared against it. The cutover is scheduled once results match and the data has been rehearsed.
It depends on the code. A well-structured application on an old framework can often be upgraded in steps. Code with no framework, as with PHP 5.6 systems, usually gets rebuilt on the new stack while keeping its behaviour and data. The assessment tells you which applies.
Send the PHP or framework version, the database and a rough idea of size. Assessment is free, and you get a fixed price before any work starts.
We reply within one business day (IST).