# Laravel vs Symfony: source lines of code compared

The Laravel vs Symfony comparison on OctoCounts shows side-by-side source line counts for laravel/laravel and symfony/symfony, counted with the same engine and analysis options on the dates shown in the methodology line: files, total lines, code lines, comment lines, blank lines, and per-language totals, pinned to the exact commits listed below.

As of 2026-09-17, laravel/laravel contains 2,059 total lines (1,134 code) across 33 files, while symfony/symfony contains 1,481,690 total lines (1,283,887 code) across 6,093 files as of 2026-09-16. symfony/symfony is about 1132x the size of laravel/laravel by code lines. Code size is not code quality: a larger count only means more source material, not a better or worse project.

| Metric | [laravel/laravel](https://octocounts.com/github/laravel/laravel) | [symfony/symfony](https://octocounts.com/github/symfony/symfony) |
| --- | ---: | ---: |
| Files | 33 | 6,093 |
| Total lines | 2,059 | 1,481,690 |
| Code lines | 1,134 | 1,283,887 |
| Comment lines | 667 | 121,693 |
| Blank lines | 258 | 76,110 |
| Languages counted | 7 | 12 |

Top languages in laravel/laravel: PHP (86.9% of code), JSON (8.0% of code), XML (2.9% of code). Top languages in symfony/symfony: PHP (98.3% of code), Twig (1.0% of code), JSON (0.4% of code). PHP, JSON, JavaScript, CSS appear in both top language lists; XML appears only in laravel/laravel's top languages; Twig appears only in symfony/symfony's top languages.

Methodology: both counts come from cached OctoCounts reports generated with tokei. laravel/laravel was counted at ref f6e4638ee6ca1cd40aa7c56311d89ea3d91a24f8 (commit f6e4638ee6ca) on 2026-09-17; symfony/symfony was counted at ref a2707548b4dde49c07cc3d8882949b875ecf79f0 (commit a2707548b4dd) on 2026-09-16. See the [counting methodology](https://octocounts.com/docs/methodology) for ignored directories and analysis options.
## About this comparison

laravel/laravel counts the Laravel application skeleton — the starter repository a new application is created from: default configuration, bootstrap files, and declared dependencies — not the framework implementation itself. symfony/symfony counts the Symfony framework monorepo: component and bundle sources maintained together across many packages. These two counts therefore do not describe the same kind of repository, which is the first thing to know when reading this page.

The totals reflect that asymmetry directly: the Laravel skeleton is intentionally minimal, an empty starting point whose framework code arrives as a Composer dependency, while the Symfony monorepo counts the full framework source across dozens of components.

The per-language tables confirm both projects live in the same language ecosystem, but one number measures a starter template and the other measures a maintained framework monorepo — this page is best read as an illustration of how repository selection shapes a count.

_Do not conclude from this page that Laravel is a smaller or simpler framework: the framework code lives in laravel/framework, which is not what is counted here. This comparison measures repository selection, not framework size._

Sources: [laravel/laravel repository (application skeleton)](https://github.com/laravel/laravel) · [symfony/symfony repository (framework monorepo)](https://github.com/symfony/symfony). Statements verified 2026-09-16.

Evidence and next steps:

- [laravel/laravel SLOC report](https://octocounts.com/github/laravel/laravel)
- [symfony/symfony SLOC report](https://octocounts.com/github/symfony/symfony)
- [Compare laravel/laravel and symfony/symfony interactively](https://octocounts.com/compare?left=https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2Flaravel%2Flaravel&right=https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2Fsymfony%2Fsymfony)

Note: code size is not code quality. OctoCounts only reports reproducible line counts and makes no claim that either project is better.

## Compare FAQ

### Which has more lines of code, laravel/laravel or symfony/symfony?

symfony/symfony has more code: 1,283,887 code lines versus 1,134 for laravel/laravel, about 1132x as much, based on cached OctoCounts reports as of 2026-09-17.

### Does more source lines of code mean more complexity?

Not necessarily. SLOC measures size, not complexity, quality, or maintainability. A larger codebase can mean more features, more generated or vendored code, more verbose language idioms, or more tests — none of which imply the code is harder to work with. Use SLOC to gauge the scale of what you'd be reading or maintaining, not as a quality signal for laravel/laravel, symfony/symfony, or any repository.

### How is this comparison calculated?

Methodology: both counts come from cached OctoCounts reports generated with tokei. laravel/laravel was counted at ref f6e4638ee6ca1cd40aa7c56311d89ea3d91a24f8 (commit f6e4638ee6ca) on 2026-09-17; symfony/symfony was counted at ref a2707548b4dde49c07cc3d8882949b875ecf79f0 (commit a2707548b4dd) on 2026-09-16. See the counting methodology for ignored directories and analysis options.

### Can I compare a different branch, tag, or commit?

Yes. This page shows the default branch for each repository. Use the interactive comparison tool to pick any public GitHub repository, branch, tag, or commit SHA for both sides and get a fresh side-by-side report.

## Related OctoCounts pages

- [Interactive repository comparison](https://octocounts.com/compare)
- [Recently analyzed repositories](https://octocounts.com/recent)
- [Popular SLOC reports](https://octocounts.com/popular)
- [Trending GitHub repositories](https://octocounts.com/trending)
- [Hall of Monoliths](https://octocounts.com/hall-of-monoliths)
- [Original research: how filtering changes SLOC counts](https://octocounts.com/research)
- [GitHub SLOC counter guide](https://octocounts.com/docs/github-sloc-counter)
- [Counting methodology](https://octocounts.com/docs/methodology)
- [SLOC and code metrics glossary](https://octocounts.com/docs/glossary)
- [OctoCounts API docs](https://octocounts.com/docs/api)