Twig, the flexible, fast, and secure template language for PHP
8.4k
Stars
1.3k
Forks
46
Open issues
30
Contributors
AI Analysis
Twig is a mature, widely-adopted template language for PHP inspired by Django and Jinja, designed for flexibility, performance, and security in server-side rendering contexts. It is the de facto standard template engine in the PHP ecosystem, particularly within the Symfony framework and broader enterprise PHP applications. It benefits PHP developers and organizations building web applications that require robust templating without embedding complex logic in views.
Inferred from signals mentioned in the README (tests, CI, type safety) — not a review of the actual code.
AI's overall editorial judgment — not an average of the bars above, can weigh other factors too.
Twig: The PHP template engine that became the de facto standard for Symfony and beyond
Twig is a mature, well-designed template language for PHP inspired by Django/Jinja2. It offers sandboxed execution, auto-escaping, template inheritance, and a clean syntax that separates presentation from logic. Built primarily for Symfony (which bundles it as the default template engine), it is also widely used in standalone PHP projects, CMSs like Craft CMS, and static site generators. Its security model and extensibility make it suitable for multi-tenant or user-generated template scenarios where raw PHP would be unsafe.
Created in 2009 by Fabien Potencier (Symfony creator), Twig was designed as a safer, cleaner alternative to raw PHP templates. It became the default Symfony templating engine around Symfony 2 (2011) and has been a core part of that ecosystem ever since.
Growth was largely driven by Symfony adoption, which brought Twig into countless enterprise and agency PHP projects. Craft CMS choosing Twig as its native template language added another significant user base. Star growth is now slow (1 star/week observed) — consistent with a mature, embedded library rather than a trending new tool. Its utility is proven and its user base stable.
Twig is the default template engine in Symfony, one of the most widely deployed PHP frameworks globally. Craft CMS (a commercially significant PHP CMS) uses Twig natively. It is also used in Drupal (via a Twig integration), Silex, and many custom PHP applications. Packagist download counts for twigphp/twig are in the hundreds of millions — this is one of the most downloaded PHP packages in existence. Adoption is extensively documented and verified at scale.
Likely a compiler-based architecture: Twig parses templates into an AST, compiles them to native PHP classes, and caches the output. This approach appears to deliver good performance without interpreted overhead. The sandbox mode likely works by restricting which tags, filters, and functions are available during compilation/execution.
Not documented in README, but as a core Symfony ecosystem dependency with 16+ years of development, a comprehensive test suite is very likely maintained. No explicit coverage metrics are surfaced in the README excerpt.
Last push was 2026-06-15, approximately 11 days before the evaluation date — clearly actively maintained. With 1,286 forks and integration into the Symfony project (31k stars), maintenance cadence appears consistent and reliable. This is a mature project with slow but steady commits, not stagnant.
ADOPT IF: you are building on Symfony, using Craft CMS, or need a secure, sandboxed PHP template engine with inheritance and auto-escaping — Twig is the proven choice with excellent ecosystem support. AVOID IF: you are building exclusively within the Laravel ecosystem where Blade is the native and better-integrated option, or if you want to keep templates as plain PHP with no compilation step. MONITOR IF: you are evaluating PHP templating options for a new greenfield project and want to track whether Blade or other alternatives are gaining broader cross-framework adoption.
Independent dimensions
Mainstream potential
4/10
Technical importance
7/10
Adoption evidence
9/10
- Twig's growth is primarily tied to Symfony's continued dominance in the PHP enterprise/agency space; a significant shift toward Laravel or other frameworks could gradually reduce new adoption.
- The compilation-to-PHP approach means template debugging can be harder than with plain PHP; stack traces point to compiled cache files, not original templates.
- As a domain-specific language, Twig requires developers to learn its syntax, which may add onboarding overhead for teams already fluent in plain PHP.
- While sandboxing is a feature, misconfiguration of the sandbox in user-facing template scenarios remains a potential security risk that requires careful setup.
- No documented evidence of active development toward modern front-end integration (e.g., seamless server components, islands architecture) — projects requiring tight JS/PHP template sharing may find limitations.
Twig will remain a stable, widely-deployed library for the foreseeable future, sustained by Symfony and Craft CMS ecosystems. Dominant tool status is already achieved in its niche; explosive new growth is unlikely but not needed.
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Languages
Information
- Website
- https://twig.symfony.com/
- Language
- PHP
- License
- BSD-3-Clause
- Last updated
- 6d ago
- Created
- 204mo ago
- Analyzed with
- anthropic/claude-haiku-4-5
Stars over time
Contributors over time
Top 100 contributors only — repos with more will plateau at 100.
Open issues
Allow false value for data attribute in HTML attributes extension
Add support for a null-safe filter operator ?|
Standardize Twig comment annotations for documenting template variables and blocks
Possible to support providing callables as array members in context?
[RFC] Drop `|raw` in favor of a more secure approach
Top contributors
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Laravel's native template engine. Equally mature and widely used, but tightly coupled to the Laravel ecosystem. Twig is more portable and works well outside any specific framework. Blade uses PHP-native syntax more directly; Twig enforces stricter separation of concerns.
An older PHP template engine that predates Twig. Has declined significantly in ecosystem momentum. Twig is generally preferred for new projects due to cleaner syntax, better security model, and stronger ecosystem integration.
A well-regarded template engine in the Nette ecosystem. Strong security features and good performance, but much smaller ecosystem and community than Twig. Twig has significantly broader adoption and third-party tooling.
A lightweight PHP-native template system. No custom syntax — uses plain PHP. Simpler but lacks Twig's sandboxing, inheritance model, and compilation. Better for teams that want minimal abstraction.
Logic-less template languages with cross-language compatibility. Useful when templates must be shared across PHP and JavaScript. Twig is more powerful and PHP-centric; Mustache sacrifices power for portability.