Some of the PHP frameworks that are not as well known, such as Qcodo, Yii, Seagull, and Lithium, are still worth recommending. Each has its own merits, such as Qcodo’s ability to perform code generation from the database model, Yii’s ability to build database-centric apps, and Lithium’s very small footprint and tight code.
Looking more closely at the Qcodo PHP framework, what stands out is Qcodo’s code generation–unlike other frameworks which use runtime reflections for creating data-access classes, Qcodo reads the database and creates the classes, as well as the HTML and PHP for creating, reading, updating and deleting data from the database.
Another positive factor for Qcodo is that it creates the actual source code, and is executed before runtime, providing a performance benefit. It also separates data access code from customizations, saving problems should you change your data model down the road.