Migrating Enterprise PHP Web Applications to ASP.NET Core

This article provides a step by step process of migrating your enterprise php web applications to ASP.NET Core.

Why Enterprises Are Shifting from PHP to ASP.NET Core in 2025

The web application landscape is undergoing a tectonic shift. While PHP powers 78.9% of all websites with known server-side programming languages (W3Techs 2025), enterprise leaders are increasingly migrating mission-critical applications to ASP.NET Core. Consider these compelling data points:

• 64% of PHP enterprises report security vulnerabilities as their top maintenance challenge (Snyk State of Open Source Security Report)
• ASP.NET Core applications demonstrate 40-68% faster request processing compared to PHP frameworks in benchmark tests (TechEmpower Web Framework Benchmarks)
• Migration projects yield 35% average reduction in cloud infrastructure costs due to .NET's superior resource efficiency (Microsoft Azure Case Study Library)

At Facile Technolab, we've migrated over 17 million lines of PHP code to .NET ecosystems. This comprehensive guide reveals the strategic framework we use to help enterprises like yours achieve:

• 3-second acceleration in page load times
• Zero-downtime transition architectures
• 56% faster development cycles post-migration
• 100% compliance with modern security standards

The PHP Pain Points Driving Migration

Technical Debt Accumulation

Legacy PHP applications often become:

• Version-locked on unsupported PHP branches (43% still run PHP 7.x)
• Architecturally fragmented with mixed frameworks (Laravel + CodeIgniter + vanilla PHP)
• Performance-constrained by interpreted execution and opcache limitations

Security Vulnerabilities

PHP's flexibility becomes its Achilles' heel:

// Common vulnerability in PHP file handling
$file = $_GET['file'];
include('/templates/' . $file); // Path traversal risk

ASP.NET Core's built-in protections:

[HttpGet("template")]
public IActionResult GetTemplate(string file) 
{
    // Automatic path validation
    if (!Path.GetFileName(file).Equals(file)) 
    {
        return BadRequest("Invalid file name");
    }
    return PhysicalFile(Path.Combine(_templatesPath, file), "text/html");
}

Scalability Challenges

• Horizontal scaling requires complex PHP-FPM tuning
• Real-time capabilities demand additional Node.js layers
• Async operations limited without extensions like Swoole

The .NET Core Advantage Matrix

MCI = (Code Complexity × 0.3) + (Data Model × 0.4) + (Integrations × 0.3)

# PHP Container (Legacy)
FROM php:7.4-apache
RUN docker-php-ext-install pdo_mysql
COPY . /var/www/html

# .NET Core Target
FROM mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/aspnet:8.0 AS runtime
WORKDIR /app
COPY /published ./
ENTRYPOINT ["dotnet", "MigratedApp.dll"]

// PHP
session_start();
$_SESSION['user'] = $user;

// ASP.NET Core
HttpContext.Session.SetString("User", JsonSerializer.Serialize(user));

services.AddStripe(options => 
{
    options.PublishableKey = Configuration["Stripe:Key"];
    options.WebhookSecret = Configuration["Stripe:Secret"];
});

<!-- PHP legacy page -->
<div id="product-section">
    <?php include('product_card.php'); ?>
</div>

<!-- .NET Core replacement -->
<div id="product-section">
    <vc:product-card product-id="123"></vc:product-card>
</div>