20 PHP Project Ideas — Student-Friendly Projects 2026-27

John Dear

PHP Project ideas

If you are a student learning web development, working on real projects helps you learn much faster than only reading theory. This article gives you 20 practical PHP Project ideas written in simple, easy-to-follow language.

Each idea includes what the project does, the main features, the difficulty level, a short step-by-step plan, and what you will learn. These PHP Project ideas are perfect for beginners and intermediate students who want to practise building useful websites and applications.

You can copy and paste any part of this article into your notes or project brief. Each project is explained so you can start right away with a clear plan. Use common tools like XAMPP/WAMP (for local development), Visual Studio Code (editor), and MySQL (database). If you are new to PHP, try a few beginner projects first and then move to intermediate ones.

Why build PHP projects as a student?

  • PHP is simple to learn and is widely used for web development.
  • Most hosting providers support PHP and MySQL, so your projects can go live easily.
  • Building projects helps you understand how front-end and back-end work together.
  • Projects give you material to show in your portfolio for college assignments or job interviews.

Must Read: 30 LLM Project Ideas — A Student’s Guide

How to choose the right PHP project

  1. Start small — choose a beginner project if this is one of your first real apps.
  2. Pick something useful — a project you or your classmates will use keeps you motivated.
  3. Plan features — list the core features first, then add extras if you have time.
  4. Use version control — learn Git and commit changes regularly.
  5. Keep it simple and readable — write clean code and comments so you can explain your work later.

Tools and setup

  • Install XAMPP or WAMP to run PHP and MySQL on your computer.
  • Use Visual Studio Code or any code editor you like.
  • Learn basic SQL for database tasks.
  • Use Bootstrap (optional) for simple, responsive design.
  • Use phpMyAdmin to manage your database easily.

20 PHP Project Ideas

Below are 20 PHP Project ideas explained clearly for students. Each project includes: overview, key features, difficulty, suggested technologies, basic steps to build, and learning outcomes.

1. Simple To-Do List App

Overview: A web app where users can add, edit, complete, and delete tasks.
Key features:

  • Add new tasks with title and due date
  • Mark tasks as completed/uncompleted
  • Edit and delete tasks
  • Filter tasks (all / active / completed)

Difficulty: Beginner
Suggested stack: PHP, MySQL, HTML/CSS, Bootstrap (optional)
Steps to build:

  1. Create a tasks table with fields: id, title, due_date, status.
  2. Build a form to add tasks and save them to the database.
  3. Show tasks in a list with buttons to mark complete, edit, and delete.
  4. Implement filters using SQL WHERE conditions.
  5. Add simple validation and alerts.

What you will learn: CRUD operations, form handling, basic SQL, dynamic page updates.

2. Student Attendance System

Overview: A small system for teachers to mark student attendance each day.
Key features:

  • Add classes and students
  • Mark attendance by date
  • View attendance reports per student or class
  • Export attendance as CSV

Difficulty: Beginner–Intermediate
Suggested stack: PHP, MySQL, HTML/CSS, DataTables (optional)
Steps to build:

  1. Create tables for students, classes, and attendance.
  2. Build pages to add students and assign them to classes.
  3. Create a daily attendance page where teacher selects class and marks present/absent.
  4. Use joins to generate reports and counts per student.
  5. Add export functionality to CSV.

What you will learn: Relational database design, joins, report generation, exporting data.

3. Online Quiz System

Overview: A platform to create quizzes, take quizzes, and track scores.
Key features:

  • Admin panel to add questions and answers
  • Time-limited quiz sessions
  • Score calculation and result page
  • Leaderboard or user score history

Difficulty: Intermediate
Suggested stack: PHP, MySQL, HTML/CSS, JavaScript (for timer)
Steps to build:

  1. Set tables for quizzes, questions, choices, and results.
  2. Build admin pages to add quizzes and questions.
  3. Show quiz questions one by one with a timer using JavaScript.
  4. Calculate score on submit and save results.
  5. Display history or leaderboard.

What you will learn: Session management, working with related tables, basic security for inputs.

4. Library Management System (mini)

Overview: Manage books, borrowers, and issue/return operations.
Key features:

  • Add / edit books and categories
  • Register members and track their borrowing
  • Issue and return books with due dates and fines
  • Search books by title/author

Difficulty: Intermediate
Suggested stack: PHP, MySQL, HTML/CSS, Bootstrap
Steps to build:

  1. Create tables for books, members, issues.
  2. Implement book search and member registration.
  3. Create issue and return logic with due date checks.
  4. Add a fine calculation if needed.
  5. Build reports for overdue books.

What you will learn: Transaction workflows, record relationships, date calculations.

5. Simple Blog Platform

Overview: A basic blogging site with posts, categories, and comments.
Key features:

  • Create, edit, publish posts
  • Categorize posts and show recent posts
  • Comment system for readers
  • Admin dashboard for content management

Difficulty: Beginner–Intermediate
Suggested stack: PHP, MySQL, TinyMCE (rich text editor), HTML/CSS
Steps to build:

  1. Set up posts, categories, comments, and users tables.
  2. Build post creation form with a text editor.
  3. Show blog homepage with post summaries and category filters.
  4. Add commenting with validation and moderation.
  5. Implement a simple admin panel.

What you will learn: Content management basics, text handling, user interactions.

6. Online Polling / Voting System

Overview: Create polls for users to vote on topics and view poll results.
Key features:

  • Create polls with multiple choices
  • One vote per user (using sessions or login)
  • Display real-time results with percentage bars
  • Poll history and results archive

Difficulty: Beginner–Intermediate
Suggested stack: PHP, MySQL, HTML/CSS, AJAX (optional)
Steps to build:

  1. Create tables for polls and choices.
  2. Build voting logic that checks if a user already voted.
  3. Store votes and compute totals for results.
  4. Display results visually, using simple CSS bars or charts.
  5. Add admin pages to create and close polls.

What you will learn: Preventing duplicate actions, basic chart display, AJAX optional for better UX.

7. Contact Management System (Address Book)

Overview: An online address book to store and manage contacts.
Key features:

  • Add contact details: name, phone, email, address
  • Search and filter contacts
  • Group contacts (family, friends, school)
  • Import/export contacts (CSV)

Difficulty: Beginner
Suggested stack: PHP, MySQL, HTML/CSS
Steps to build:

  1. Create a contacts table and group table if needed.
  2. Build forms for adding and editing contacts.
  3. Implement search using SQL LIKE.
  4. Add CSV import and export functions.
  5. Add validation for phone and email.

What you will learn: CRUD, search, data import/export.

8. E-commerce Product Catalog (Basic)

Overview: A simple product listing and shopping cart without payment integration.
Key features:

  • Product pages with images and descriptions
  • Shopping cart to add/remove items
  • Admin panel to add products and categories
  • Order summary (no payment) saved in database

Difficulty: Intermediate
Suggested stack: PHP, MySQL, HTML/CSS, Sessions for cart
Steps to build:

  1. Create tables for products, categories, and orders.
  2. Build product listing and detail pages.
  3. Implement cart using PHP sessions.
  4. Save order summary to database when user checks out.
  5. Create admin pages to manage products.

What you will learn: Session handling, working with images, building a product workflow.

9. Event Registration System

Overview: Users can view events, register, and organizers can manage attendees.
Key features:

  • Event listing with date and details
  • User registration for events
  • Admin view of attendee list and export option
  • Email confirmations (optional)

Difficulty: Intermediate
Suggested stack: PHP, MySQL, PHPMailer (optional for emails)
Steps to build:

  1. Create tables for events and registrations.
  2. Build event pages with registration form.
  3. Save registrations and prevent duplicate sign-ups.
  4. Admin dashboard to view and export attendees.
  5. Add email confirmations using PHPMailer (optional).

What you will learn: Form processing, email integration, data export.

10. Simple Job Board

Overview: Post job listings and allow students to apply with resumes.
Key features:

  • Post jobs with description and requirements
  • Job search and filter by category/location
  • Candidate can upload resume and apply online
  • Employer/admin panel to manage listings

Difficulty: Intermediate
Suggested stack: PHP, MySQL, HTML/CSS, File upload handling
Steps to build:

  1. Create tables for jobs and applications.
  2. Build forms for job posting and job application.
  3. Handle file uploads safely (limit file types/size).
  4. Show job listings and application status.
  5. Add admin features to deactivate filled jobs.

What you will learn: File uploads, security checks, search filters.

11. Hostel/Room Allocation System

Overview: Manage rooms, students, and room assignments for a small hostel.
Key features:

  • Add rooms and room capacity
  • Register students and assign rooms
  • View current occupancy and vacant rooms
  • Request transfer option for students

Difficulty: Intermediate
Suggested stack: PHP, MySQL, HTML/CSS
Steps to build:

  1. Create tables: rooms, students, allocations.
  2. Build student registration and room allocation logic.
  3. Track occupancy counts and show vacancies.
  4. Implement transfer requests workflow.
  5. Add admin views to manage rooms and allocations.

What you will learn: Business logic for allocations, constraints, and updates.

12. Complaint / Help Ticket System

Overview: Users create tickets for issues and admins update status until resolved.
Key features:

  • Create a ticket with issue details and priority
  • Admin can change status (open, in progress, closed)
  • Ticket history and comments
  • Email notifications (optional)

Difficulty: Intermediate
Suggested stack: PHP, MySQL, HTML/CSS, PHPMailer (optional)
Steps to build:

  1. Set up tickets and ticket_comments tables.
  2. Build user form to create a ticket and view status.
  3. Create admin interface to manage and comment on tickets.
  4. Save the history and timestamps.
  5. Optionally send notification emails.

What you will learn: Status workflows, threaded comments, notifications.

13. Online Recipe Book

Overview: Users can add, search, and save recipes with ingredients and steps.
Key features:

  • Add recipe with ingredients, steps, and images
  • Search by ingredient or title
  • Save favorite recipes to personal list
  • Rating or commenting system (optional)

Difficulty: Beginner–Intermediate
Suggested stack: PHP, MySQL, HTML/CSS, File uploads for images
Steps to build:

  1. Create recipes, ingredients, and favorites tables.
  2. Build add recipe form with multiple ingredient inputs.
  3. Implement search and filter options.
  4. Allow users to save favorites and rate recipes.
  5. Show recipe detail pages with steps and images.

What you will learn: Handling arrays from forms, file uploads, search features.

14. Expense Tracker

Overview: Track daily expenses and show monthly summaries and charts.
Key features:

  • Add expense with category and amount
  • View daily, weekly, and monthly summaries
  • Filter expenses by category or date range
  • Export data to CSV (optional)

Difficulty: Beginner–Intermediate
Suggested stack: PHP, MySQL, HTML/CSS, Chart library (optional)
Steps to build:

  1. Create expenses table with date, amount, category.
  2. Build forms to add and edit expenses.
  3. Use SQL GROUP BY to generate summaries.
  4. Display charts using a chart library or simple HTML/CSS.
  5. Add export to CSV feature.

What you will learn: Aggregate SQL queries, date filtering, data visualization basics.

15. Quiz Maker with Question Import

Overview: A tool where teachers can import questions (CSV) and create quizzes quickly.
Key features:

  • Import questions from CSV into a question bank
  • Create quizzes by selecting questions from the bank
  • Automatic scoring and result storage
  • Student attempt history

Difficulty: Intermediate
Suggested stack: PHP, MySQL, HTML/CSS, CSV parsing
Steps to build:

  1. Create question_bank, quizzes, and attempts tables.
  2. Build CSV upload and parsing to add questions.
  3. Create quiz builder UI to select questions.
  4. Handle student attempts and scoring.
  5. Show attempts and analytics for teachers.

What you will learn: File parsing, dynamic quiz creation, analytics.

16. Simple CRM for Small Business

Overview: Track customers, leads, and interactions for a small shop.
Key features:

  • Add customers and record interactions
  • Lead status tracking (new, contacted, closed)
  • Notes and follow-up reminders (simple)
  • Search and filter customers

Difficulty: Intermediate
Suggested stack: PHP, MySQL, HTML/CSS
Steps to build:

  1. Create customers, leads, and interactions tables.
  2. Build pages to add and view customer details and notes.
  3. Provide lead status update options and filters.
  4. Add simple reminders (date field) for follow-ups.
  5. Create basic reports on leads and conversions.

What you will learn: Building a small business workflow, data filtering, status changes.

17. Portfolio Website with CMS

Overview: A personal portfolio where the student can update projects and blog posts via an admin panel.
Key features:

  • Add and edit projects, images, and descriptions
  • Add blog posts and categories
  • Simple contact form for visitors
  • Public portfolio display and admin editing

Difficulty: Beginner–Intermediate
Suggested stack: PHP, MySQL, HTML/CSS, TinyMCE (optional)
Steps to build:

  1. Create projects, posts, and contacts tables.
  2. Build public pages to display projects and posts.
  3. Create an admin area to add/edit content.
  4. Implement contact form that stores messages.
  5. Style the portfolio to look neat and professional.

What you will learn: Content management, file uploads, public vs. admin access.

18. Weather Dashboard (API)

Overview: A small app that fetches weather from a public API and displays it nicely.
Key features:

  • Search weather by city name
  • Show temperature, humidity, and description
  • Save favorite cities for quick access
  • Simple responsive design

Difficulty: Intermediate (API work)
Suggested stack: PHP, cURL or file_get_contents for API calls, HTML/CSS
Steps to build:

  1. Choose a free weather API (signup may be required).
  2. Build a simple form to request weather by city.
  3. Fetch API data in PHP and parse JSON.
  4. Display the weather data and save favorites in a table.
  5. Add caching for API responses to reduce calls.

What you will learn: Working with external APIs, JSON parsing, caching basics

19. Online Survey System

Overview: Create surveys, collect responses, and analyze results.
Key features:

  • Create multi-question surveys with different question types
  • Collect anonymous responses or track by user
  • View response summaries and charts
  • Export raw responses

Difficulty: Intermediate
Suggested stack: PHP, MySQL, HTML/CSS, JavaScript (for dynamic forms)
Steps to build:

  1. Build tables for surveys, questions, and responses.
  2. Create admin pages to add questions and define types (text, radio, checkbox).
  3. Build responsive forms that match the question types.
  4. Save responses and compute summary stats.
  5. Export responses or view charts.

What you will learn: Dynamic form generation, storing diverse response types, analysis.

20. Daily Journal / Notes App

Overview: A private journal where users can write and manage daily notes or study logs.
Key features:

  • Create daily journal entries with title and content
  • Search notes and tag them with topics
  • Edit and delete notes
  • Option to export selected notes

Difficulty: Beginner
Suggested stack: PHP, MySQL, HTML/CSS
Steps to build:

  1. Create notes table with user_id, title, content, date.
  2. Build a simple editor and save notes to the database.
  3. Implement search and tag filters.
  4. Allow editing and deletion of notes.
  5. Optionally add export functionality.

What you will learn: Simple content storage, text handling, search and filters.

Must Read: 30 MBA Marketing Project Ideas 2026-27

Tips to make your PHP project stand out

  1. Write clear README — document how to run your project and what technologies you used.
  2. Keep code clean — use comments and simple naming. This helps during presentations.
  3. Use GitHub — push code and keep commits clear. An active GitHub profile looks good.
  4. Add simple styling — your project will look more professional with a little CSS or Bootstrap.
  5. Validate inputs — always check user input for safety and correctness.
  6. Secure file uploads — limit file types and sizes. Rename uploaded files to avoid conflicts.
  7. Handle errors — show user-friendly messages and log technical errors.
  8. Test thoroughly — test different user flows and edge cases.
  9. Add small extras — features like search, sorting, and export can improve usefulness.
  10. Write a demo script — prepare a short walkthrough to show the project in class or interviews.

How to present your project

  • Prepare a short slide (3–6 slides) showing the purpose, key features, tech stack, and screenshots.
  • Show the code structure briefly — explain main files and folders.
  • Demonstrate the project live (local server) or deploy it to free hosting (some hosts offer free PHP hosting).
  • Explain what you learned and any problems you solved.

Final checklist before submission

  • Does the project run without errors on a fresh setup?
  • Is the database schema included (SQL file or migration script)?
  • Are instructions clear for how to install and run the app?
  • Did you test main features and fix bugs?
  • Is user data handled safely and validated?

Conclusion

Working on PHP Project ideas helps you become a confident web developer. The 20 projects in this article cover a range of skills from beginner to intermediate — from a To-Do List to an Event Registration system and a small CRM.

Each project teaches important real-world concepts: database design, form handling, session management, file uploads, API usage, and simple admin workflows.

Pick a project that excites you. Start small, build the core features first, and then add improvements. Keep your code organized, and document everything.

After completing one or two projects, you will notice your confidence grow and your understanding of PHP and web development will become much stronger. Good luck — and enjoy building!

John Dear

I am a creative professional with over 5 years of experience in coming up with project ideas. I'm great at brainstorming, doing market research, and analyzing what’s possible to develop innovative and impactful projects. I also excel in collaborating with teams, managing project timelines, and ensuring that every idea turns into a successful outcome. Let's work together to make your next project a success!

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