Laravel is one of the most popular PHP frameworks in the world, known for its elegant syntax, developer-friendly tools, and active community. One of the key strengths of Laravel lies in its extensibility—developers can leverage thousands of open-source packages to speed up development, enhance functionality, and maintain clean codebases.
In this post, we’ll explore some of the best Laravel packages that every Laravel developer should consider using in their projects. These packages range from debugging tools and authentication systems to UI components and testing utilities.
1. Laravel Debugbar
GitHub: barryvdh/laravel-debugbar
Use case: Debugging and performance monitoring
Laravel Debugbar adds a developer toolbar to your application, displaying useful debugging information such as:
- Route details
- Request parameters
- Database queries
- Memory usage
- Time taken for execution
It’s incredibly useful for identifying performance bottlenecks and understanding what’s happening under the hood. Whether you’re a seasoned developer or a beginner, this tool helps you keep track of your application’s internals with ease.
2. Spatie Laravel Permission
GitHub: spatie/laravel-permission
Use case: Role and permission management
Managing roles and permissions is a common requirement in modern web applications. The Spatie Laravel Permission package makes this process straightforward. It allows you to assign roles and permissions to users, perform access control, and check permissions using simple methods like:
$user->hasRole('admin');
$user->can('edit articles');
It’s robust, well-documented, and widely used in the Laravel community.
3. Laravel Excel
GitHub: Maatwebsite/Laravel-Excel
Use case: Importing and exporting Excel/CSV files
Working with spreadsheets? Laravel Excel is the go-to package for importing and exporting Excel and CSV files. It allows you to handle large datasets with minimal memory usage and provides a fluent API to work with data:
- Export reports
- Import product lists
- Handle bulk data operations
This package simplifies a complex process and integrates seamlessly with Laravel collections and validation.
4. Laravel Sanctum
GitHub: laravel/sanctum
Use case: API authentication
If you’re building a single-page application (SPA) or a mobile app backend, Laravel Sanctum is the simplest way to handle API token authentication. Unlike Laravel Passport, Sanctum offers a more lightweight and developer-friendly solution, perfect for projects that don’t require full OAuth2.
Key features:
- Token-based authentication
- CSRF protection
- SPA-friendly
5. Laravel Telescope
GitHub: laravel/telescope
Use case: Application monitoring
Laravel Telescope is a powerful debugging assistant created by the Laravel team. It provides detailed insights into:
- Requests
- Exceptions
- Jobs
- Queues
- Database queries
It’s a must-have for developers who want to maintain visibility over their app’s behavior in development or staging environments.
6. Laravel Livewire
GitHub: livewire/livewire
Use case: Building dynamic interfaces without JavaScript
Livewire lets you build modern, reactive web interfaces using only PHP. It bridges the gap between Laravel and JavaScript frameworks like Vue or React by handling DOM updates via AJAX.
Instead of writing complex JavaScript, you can create interactive components like modals, dropdowns, and form validation directly in Blade templates.
<input wire:model="name" type="text">
It’s perfect for developers who are more comfortable with PHP than JavaScript.
7. Laravel Jetstream
GitHub: laravel/jetstream
Use case: Application scaffolding
Jetstream is Laravel’s official application starter kit. It provides robust features such as:
- Authentication (login, registration, 2FA)
- Email verification
- Profile management
- Team management (optional)
- API support via Laravel Sanctum
Jetstream supports both Livewire and Inertia.js, giving you the flexibility to choose your front-end stack.
8. Laravel Backpack
Website: https://backpackforlaravel.com
Use case: Admin panels
Backpack for Laravel is a collection of packages that helps you build custom admin panels quickly. It provides ready-made CRUD operations with a clean UI, allowing developers to focus on business logic rather than repetitive boilerplate.
Features include:
- User management
- Access control
- Advanced CRUD configuration
- File manager
While Backpack has a commercial license, it offers immense value for enterprise applications.
9. Spatie Laravel Media Library
GitHub: spatie/laravel-medialibrary
Use case: Managing media files
If your application needs to handle file uploads, organize media, or generate image conversions (e.g., thumbnails), this package is ideal. It allows you to associate files with Eloquent models and includes support for:
- Responsive images
- File conversions
- Storage abstraction (local, S3, etc.)
It’s widely used and highly customizable.
10. Laravel Horizon
GitHub: laravel/horizon
Use case: Queue management
Laravel Horizon is a beautiful dashboard and code-driven configuration for your Laravel-powered Redis queues. It provides real-time insights into:
- Job throughput
- Failures
- Retry attempts
- Job statuses
If you’re working with background jobs, Horizon helps you keep things running smoothly and efficiently.
11. Laravel Socialite
GitHub: laravel/socialite
Use case: OAuth authentication
Socialite makes it easy to authenticate users with OAuth providers like:
- GitHub
It simplifies user onboarding by integrating external login services. With just a few lines of code, you can support social logins in your application.
12. Laravel Cashier
GitHub: laravel/cashier
Use case: Subscription billing with Stripe or Paddle
Laravel Cashier provides a fluent interface for handling subscriptions, invoices, coupons, and more. If you’re building a SaaS platform or need recurring billing, Cashier takes care of the heavy lifting.
Cashier includes support for:
- Subscription plans
- Trial periods
- Coupons and discounts
- Payment retries
13. Laravel Log Viewer
GitHub: rap2hpoutre/laravel-log-viewer
Use case: Viewing logs from the browser
Tired of SSH’ing into your server to read logs? Laravel Log Viewer brings your storage/logs files into the browser. It parses log files and provides filtering by error level (info, warning, error, etc.), making it easier to track issues during development and production.
14. Laravel Settings
GitHub: spatie/laravel-settings
Use case: Application settings management
This package helps you store and retrieve configuration settings from the database, rather than hardcoding them. Great for:
- Feature toggles
- Theme preferences
- Site-wide configurations
It ensures your configuration remains manageable and dynamic.
15. Laravel Activitylog
GitHub: spatie/laravel-activitylog
Use case: Audit trail
Want to track who did what in your application? This package records user actions and logs them. It’s great for compliance, security, and user behavior analysis.
Example:
activity()
->causedBy($user)
->performedOn($model)
->log('Updated profile');
You can later retrieve these logs for reporting or auditing purposes.
Conclusion
Laravel’s ecosystem is rich and ever-evolving. These packages help you add powerful features to your applications while maintaining clean, efficient code. From debugging tools and authentication to media management and billing, there’s a Laravel package for nearly every need.
When choosing a package, always check:
- GitHub stars and forks
- Maintenance status
- Community support
- Compatibility with your Laravel version
Integrating the right packages can save development time, reduce bugs, and create better end-user experiences.
What are your favorite Laravel packages? Let us know in the comments!
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