CodeIgniter to Laravel migration without losing data or logging users out

What does a CodeIgniter to Laravel migration involve?

A CodeIgniter to Laravel migration rebuilds the controllers, models, views and helpers of a CodeIgniter application inside Laravel, while the database, the URLs and the user accounts stay the same. Your customers and staff should notice faster pages and fewer errors, not a new system to learn.

CodeIgniter and Laravel share the same MVC idea, which helps. A CodeIgniter controller method maps to a Laravel controller action, a model built on Query Builder maps to an Eloquent model or a query class, and a view file becomes a Blade template. The differences sit in the details: how classes are loaded, how validation and sessions work, and how much logic the original developer put in places it did not belong.

The migration also covers what sits around the code: cron scripts calling controllers from the command line, upload folders with years of customer documents, email templates, and any third-party libraries dropped into the application/third_party folder. Each of those needs a home in the new app, or a decision to retire it.

• Controllers and routes: application/controllers and config/routes.php to Laravel controllers and routes/web.php
• Models: CI_Model with $this->db to Eloquent models or query classes
• Views: PHP view files to Blade templates with automatic escaping
• Validation: form_validation rules to Form Request classes
• Background work: CLI cron calls to Laravel’s scheduler and queue workers

CodeIgniter 3 to CodeIgniter 4 or to Laravel: which migration makes sense?

Both are migrations, and that surprises many owners. The CodeIgniter 4 upgrade guide says plainly that CodeIgniter 4 is a rewrite of the framework and is not backwards compatible, and that it is better to think of converting your app than upgrading it. The folder layout changes, everything becomes namespaced, and several CI3 libraries such as Calendar, FTP, Shopping Cart and Zip Encoding were removed.

So the real question is which framework you want to live with for the next ten years. CodeIgniter 4 is lighter and closer to what your current code looks like. Laravel carries a larger ecosystem: first-party queues, a task scheduler, authentication starter kits, API token tools, testing helpers, and a big pool of Indian developers who already know it.

CodeIgniter 4 also has its own floor: its requirements page lists PHP 8.2 or newer with the intl and mbstring extensions. Neither choice lets you stay on an old PHP version, which is usually the pressure that starts this conversation in the first place.

Why do businesses move from CodeIgniter to Laravel?

Usually one of three triggers: the hosting company is retiring an old PHP version, a new feature is proving painful to build in the old code, or the developer who built it has left and nobody else wants to touch it. Laravel addresses all three by giving the app a predictable structure that most PHP developers already understand.

Laravel also has a published support rhythm. Its release notes state that every Laravel release gets bug fixes for 18 months and security fixes for two years, with a major release roughly once a year. Laravel 12, for example, supports PHP 8.2 to 8.5 and receives security fixes until 24 February 2027, while Laravel 13 supports PHP 8.3 to 8.5. That makes planning upgrades a calendar exercise instead of a crisis.

Practical gains show up quickly: queued emails so checkout pages stop hanging, scheduled tasks defined in code instead of a forgotten crontab, database migrations that record every schema change, and automated tests that run before each release. None of this is impossible in CodeIgniter; in Laravel it comes built in.

Code audit: what we check in a CodeIgniter codebase first

Before estimating a CodeIgniter to Laravel migration we read the code, because two apps with the same number of screens can differ threefold in effort. The audit takes a few working days and produces a written module map you keep whether or not you continue with us.

We start with the exact CodeIgniter version, found in system/core/CodeIgniter.php, and whether the system folder was modified (it often was). Then we look for a MY_Controller or MY_Model base class carrying shared logic, HMVC module folders, hooks that run on every request, and custom libraries that wrap payment, SMS or PDF services. Views are checked for SQL queries and business rules hiding among the HTML.

Finally we check the surroundings: the database structure, the cron entries on the server, upload folders, any mobile app or partner calling the endpoints, and the PHP version in production. The output is a table of modules with a recommendation and an estimate for each.

• CodeIgniter version and changes made inside the system folder
• Base classes, hooks and HMVC modules that every page depends on
• Raw SQL built from strings, and queries sitting inside views
• Session driver, encryption key usage and cookie settings
• External callers: Android apps, payment callbacks, partner APIs
• Cron scripts, upload folders and email templates

Rewrite or wrap: deciding module by module

Not every module deserves a rewrite during a CodeIgniter to Laravel migration. For each one we ask two questions: is the code understandable and correct, and will you change this area often? The answers put it in one of three buckets.

Wrapping means Laravel takes over the route, but the core logic is lifted almost as it is into a Laravel service class, with only CodeIgniter calls replaced. It suits stable, well-tested pieces such as a tax calculation or a report query that nobody has complained about in years. Rewriting means rebuilding the module properly with Eloquent, Form Requests and tests. It suits code that is buggy, tangled or about to receive new features.

A third option, retiring, is underrated. Old apps collect screens nobody uses. Server logs and a quick conversation with the staff who use the app often reveal a fifth of the modules can simply be switched off, which is the cheapest migration of all.

How do CodeIgniter and Laravel run side by side during migration?

Laravel becomes the front door and CodeIgniter stays behind it for whatever has not moved yet. Requests hit Laravel’s public/index.php; if a Laravel route matches, Laravel answers; if not, a fallback hands the request to the old CodeIgniter front controller. Users see one domain and one site throughout.

Where the two frameworks conflict inside one PHP process, for example over global helper names, we separate them at the web server instead, sending migrated URL prefixes to Laravel and everything else to CodeIgniter through Nginx or Apache rules. Both approaches share one database connection target, so data written by either side is visible to the other straight away.

Sessions are the tricky bit. CodeIgniter and Laravel use different cookie names and formats, so for a period we either keep login on the CodeIgniter side and let Laravel read the logged-in user from a shared, signed token, or we move login to Laravel first and teach CodeIgniter to trust it. Moving login first is usually cleaner, and it is why the account migration comes early in our plans.

How do you migrate a CodeIgniter database to Laravel without losing data?

In a CodeIgniter to Laravel migration you mostly do not move the database at all. Laravel can connect to the same MySQL or MariaDB database CodeIgniter uses, and Eloquent models can point at existing table names and primary keys. The work is in making the schema trustworthy, not in copying rows around.

We capture the current schema as a Laravel baseline so every future change goes through Laravel migrations with a record of who changed what. Then, on a staging copy first, we fix the common problems of older CodeIgniter databases: MyISAM tables without transactions, utf8 columns that cannot store emoji or some Indian-language characters properly, missing foreign keys, zero dates, and money stored as floats.

Every structural change is rehearsed on a copy of production data, with row counts and checksums compared before and after. Only then does it run on the live database, in a planned window with a fresh backup. If a change looks risky, we leave it for later rather than bundle it with the framework move.

• Keep table names; map them in Eloquent models where they break Laravel conventions
• Convert MyISAM to InnoDB so transactions and foreign keys work
• Move utf8 to utf8mb4 for full character support
• Replace float money columns with decimals after checking stored values
• Leave the old ci_sessions table in place until login has fully moved

Moving logins and passwords without forcing everyone to reset

Nobody should receive a “please reset your password” email because the framework changed. How smooth this is depends on how the old app stored passwords, which the audit tells us.

If the CodeIgniter app used PHP’s password_hash function, as later tutorials and libraries did, the bcrypt hashes are already readable by Laravel’s hashing and users sign in without noticing anything. If it used MD5 or SHA-1, sometimes with a salt column, Laravel gets a small custom check: on a successful login using the old method, the password is immediately stored again with a modern hash and the old value is cleared.

Roles and permissions from libraries such as Ion Auth or a home-made user_groups table are mapped into Laravel gates and policies. Remember-me cookies from the old app will not carry over, so people who ticked “remember me” sign in once more after cutover; we warn staff in advance so it is not a surprise.

For apps with an Android client, token-based login moves to Laravel Sanctum, and the old token format is honoured until the app update carrying the new login has reached most users.

From CodeIgniter Query Builder and models to Eloquent

CodeIgniter’s Query Builder and Laravel’s query builder look alike, so straightforward model methods port with few changes. $this->db->where()->get() becomes a Laravel query with where() and get(), and result arrays become collections. The value of the move comes when we go one step further to Eloquent relationships.

Old CodeIgniter models tend to return arrays and repeat joins in many methods. In Laravel, relationships such as an Order that belongs to a Customer and has many Items are declared once, and eager loading removes the query-inside-a-loop pattern that makes list pages slow. We measure page queries before and after on the busiest screens.

Raw SQL strings built by concatenating request input are replaced with bound parameters as each module moves. That closes the most common security hole in older PHP apps. Complex reporting queries that already perform well can stay as raw SQL with bindings; not everything needs to be Eloquent.

Forms, validation, CSRF and file uploads in the new app

CodeIgniter’s form_validation rules translate fairly directly into Laravel validation rules, and we move them into Form Request classes so controllers stay short. Custom callback rules become custom rule classes that can be reused across forms.

CSRF protection is often switched off in old CodeIgniter configs because it clashed with AJAX calls. In Laravel it is on for web routes by default, and each migrated form gets its token. AJAX calls get the token from a meta tag, and genuine external callbacks, such as payment notifications, are excluded explicitly and verified by signature instead.

File uploads need care because years of customer documents sit in folders the old code writes to directly. We keep the existing paths reachable, move new uploads to Laravel’s storage system (local disk or cloud storage), and check file types and sizes on upload rather than trusting the browser.

PHP version compatibility during a CodeIgniter to Laravel migration

The old and new code share a server for weeks, so both must run on the same PHP version. PHP.net lists PHP 8.1 as end of life since 31 December 2025 and PHP 8.2 as receiving security fixes only until 31 December 2026, so the realistic target for a new Laravel app is PHP 8.3 or 8.4.

CodeIgniter 2 does not run cleanly on PHP 8 at all, and CodeIgniter 3 apps often throw deprecation notices on 8.1 and 8.2: null passed to string functions, dynamic properties created on classes, and old callable syntax. During the migration we patch the CodeIgniter side just enough to run on the target PHP version, knowing that code will be deleted module by module.

If the app is small enough, a cheaper route is to skip Laravel for now and only make the old code PHP 8 compatible. Our PHP version upgrade service page covers that path and how to tell which one you need.

How long does a CodeIgniter to Laravel migration take, and what does it cost?

Most business apps take 6–12 weeks with our team, and projects start at ₹60,000. A small app with fifteen screens and clean models can move in three or four weeks; an ERP-style app with HMVC modules, forty screens and several integrations takes longer and is split into more stages.

Owners often ask for one firm number for the whole job. What we give instead is an itemised estimate per module after the audit, with the modules ordered so that the riskiest pieces, usually login and payments, come early. You approve each stage separately. If the audit shows a module is bigger than it looked, you hear about it before that stage starts, not in the middle of it.

The biggest cost drivers are business logic inside views, number of external integrations, test coverage (normally none, so tests are added as modules move), database clean-up, and whether a mobile app depends on the endpoints. Cosmetic redesign of screens is a separate decision; doing it in the same stage makes it harder to compare old and new behaviour.

Keeping URLs, SEO, mobile apps and cron jobs working

When a CodeIgniter to Laravel migration breaks users, it is usually at the edges, not the core screens. Public pages that rank in Google, links in old emails and invoices, API endpoints that a published Android app calls, and cron jobs hitting a controller path all have to behave the same on day one.

We list every public URL from the routes file, the sitemap and Google Search Console, and keep each one either identical in Laravel or redirected with a 301 to its new home. The index.php segment many CodeIgniter sites show in URLs can be removed with redirects in place. For API endpoints, Laravel routes reproduce the old paths and response fields exactly, so the Android app needs no emergency update.

Cron jobs move to Laravel’s scheduler with one crontab entry, and each job is run manually on staging first with its output compared. Emails are checked by sending both old and new versions to a test inbox.

• Every indexed URL either unchanged or 301-redirected
• API responses matched field by field for app clients
• Payment and SMS callbacks tested with sandbox calls
• Scheduled jobs dry-run on staging before switch-over

How to choose a developer for a CodeIgniter to Laravel migration

Look for someone who is comfortable in both frameworks and honest about the old code. A pure Laravel specialist may want to throw everything away; a CodeIgniter veteran may just patch. You want someone who reads your code before proposing either.

Ask these questions on the first call and listen for specific answers. Vague reassurance is a warning sign; so is a single total price quoted before anyone has seen the repository.

• Will you audit the code before estimating, and do I keep the audit?
• How will users stay logged in while both frameworks are live?
• How will you prove the database has not lost or changed rows?
• What happens to URLs that currently rank in Google?
• Which modules would you retire rather than migrate?
• Who owns the repository and servers during and after the work?
• What testing will exist when you hand over?

If your previous developer disappeared halfway through a job, our page on a developer who left a project midway explains how we pick up unfinished work.

Ownership, handover and how our small team works

For every CodeIgniter to Laravel migration, the code goes into a Git repository you own from the first day, and deployments run on hosting billed to you. When we finish, you hold every credential: repository, server, database, domain and any cloud storage. Our role ends without anything depending on us.

Three people handle your project. One of us does the Laravel and CodeIgniter code, another of us handles the server, database clean-up and backups, and the third of us keeps the module map, stage approvals and testing sign-offs in order. You message us on WhatsApp in English or Hindi, any day of the week, and get replies from the people doing the work.

At handover you receive the updated module map, a short guide to running and deploying the app, the list of scheduled jobs, and notes on what we would improve next. We do not do on-site visits and we do not staff large teams; for a typical business app, three people who know the code are enough.

CodeIgniter to Laravel migration for businesses across India

CodeIgniter was the go-to PHP framework for Indian web shops for years, so its apps run everywhere: coaching institute portals in Jaipur, B2B order systems in Surat and Rajkot, travel booking engines in Delhi, school ERPs in Lucknow, and property listing sites in Nagpur.

We work with all of them remotely. You share repository or server access, we audit and send the module map, and stages are approved in writing. Businesses in Vadodara, Bhopal and smaller cities get the same process as metros. Invoices carry GST details where you need them, payments go by UPI or bank transfer, and overseas clients pay in USD by Wise, wire or PayPal.

Indian CodeIgniter apps share some habits worth knowing: GST logic copied into several controllers, SMS gateway code written for an API version that has since changed, Hindi or regional content stored in latin1 columns, and PDF invoices generated with ageing libraries. Each is fixed as its module moves.

Worked example: a hypothetical travel agent portal on CodeIgniter 3

Imagine a tour operator in Jaipur running a B2B portal for travel agents, built on CodeIgniter 3 with the HMVC extension around 2016. It has agent login, package search, bookings, a wallet top-up with a payment callback, PDF vouchers, and a cron job that emails daily booking summaries. The host has announced that PHP 7.4 will be switched off.

The audit might find twenty-eight screens, of which six have no traffic in the last year. Package search and bookings have SQL built from strings and are due for new features, so they are marked rewrite. The voucher PDF code is stable and gets wrapped. Agent passwords turn out to be salted SHA-1, so login moves to Laravel first with the upgrade-on-login check.

A plan could run like this, starting from ₹60,000 and split into four stages. Stage one, two weeks: audit, PHP 8.3 staging server, Laravel installed in front, database baseline, login moved. Stage two, three weeks: package search and bookings rewritten with tests comparing prices against the old code. Stage three, two weeks: wallet and payment callback moved and tested with sandbox calls, vouchers wrapped. Stage four, one week: cron to scheduler, six unused screens retired, old CodeIgniter code removed. This is a planning illustration, not a past client project.