PHP popularity has dropped dramatically, coinciding with WordPress becoming "JavaScript-first" according to its co-creator Matt Mullenweg.
In conclusion, it is easy to see PHP in 2024 as the forgotten child of web development, while JavaScript is the most popular kid in class. Sadly for PHP, its decline in usage is unlikely to stop any time soon — why would it, when WordPress developers are busy adapting to a new JavaScript paradigm? But at least there is active development at the PHP Foundation.
PHP is great when you use it right. The problem is, most people don’t use it right. That old way of rendering html through PHP, or worse, injecting PHP into html, is antiquated.
IMO, PHP is a great language to use for making your backend API. Use whatever flavor of the week on your front end.
There’s always a use for server rendered html. Maybe JavaScript is an issue. But it’s usually not. The list is pretty short though.
I can’t think of many situations where I would say yes if I asked myself “if you could re-do the system today, would you still choose server-rendered html?”
I’m sure other people have use cases where it would make sense. I build admin utilities and ERP stuff.