There world of web development is dominated by the two most popular development languages. Many web applications are based on either Microsofts ASP.NET or its opens source rival PHP. Before hiring ASP Net developers or PHP programmers one must decide which of the options will be best for their particular project. There are a number of factors that determine the choice of the development language: the cost of the software and its availability, the needs and goals of one's business, the primary purpose of the web application, quality and usability requirements and even one's attitude to open source products. This article aims at providing a picture of the upsides and downsides of the two options.

Active Server Pages or ASP.net is a proprietary programming language used to create dynamic web content. ASP allows using such databases as Access and SQL to create feature rich websites with incorporated applications that are generally employed in web development. By hiring ASP Net developers you get dynamic content with standard Visual Basic and C# based applications and ActiveX Data objects used to access and alter database.

ASP.Net based applications meet a number of requirements. One of the advantages of ASP.Net is that it allows monitoring and handling on-page events in a way that ensures full legitimacy of all user-entered information. There are other useful features embracing all aspects of web services conducted via proxy servers including the process of encoding/decoding information and creating dynamic web applications.

ASP.Net is part of Microsoft's heavily advertised .Net programming languages family. There are regular updates and service packs provided by the official support service that extend the number of options available to .Net developers making the product an even more appealing solution for web development needs. When hiring asp net development you can inquire about other options available in the ASP.Net platform and their practical value.

The major alternative to ASP.Net is PHP, which is an Open Source programming language tailored to create feature rich dynamic website content and facilitating the usage of databases. Open Source means that there is no official owner of PHP, and just like most Open Source products it is distributed free of charge making it particularly appealing to individual developers. However, there are also commercial service packs provided by such companies as Zend, but most of the support and development for PHP comes from the developers' community. Strange as it may seem, absence of the official support doesn't make it difficult to find necessary updates for PHP. Just like ASP.Net, PHP operates at the server level facilitating the creation of dynamic web content with inbuilt web applications and features.

Both ASP.Net and PHP are great options with virtually the same level of functionality. The quality of the end product will mostly depend on the skill and expertise of the developer. Whether you will pick hiring ASP Net developers or PHP programmers, you need to make sure that they will be able to meet your demands, as for the software, both the platforms are more than capable of doing it.