If you can get through the basics of PHP then you’ll have a solid foundation on backend development. It’s knowledge you can use for WordPress coding or even to build your own webapps.

But developers nowadays often use open source frameworks like Laravel. This is by far the most comprehensive framework for PHP development and guaranteed to help you create your own apps, land a job in the industry, or a mix of both!

To get you started with Laravel we’ve compiled the best free video tutorials available on YouTube. They cover a variety of topics on the Laravel environment and will get you up and running in no time.

1. Laravel From Scratch (Multipart)

The Laravel From Scratch series created by Traversy Media is part of their YouTube tutorial library full of great tech and programming videos.

This specific series breaks into multiple parts with part one spanning about 17 minutes long.

It offers a very simple introduction to the topic of Laravel programming and it’s one of the best videos on this topic. You’ll learn about MVC and how Laravel can help with database management, routing, and many similar features.

Give this a shot and see what you think. After 10-15 minutes you’ll know if you want to continue the series or not.

2. Create A Basic Laravel Website

Diving right into the more practical side we have this video spanning well over an hour of quality instruction.

You’ll learn how to install and develop a very simple website running on Laravel. It’s a complete guide for absolute newbies who have never launched or even looked at Laravel before.

Note it does help if you already have a good working knowledge of PHP but you don’t need to be an expert. So long as you understand variables, if/else statements and function syntax you should be OK.

OOP and classes can get tricky but you can learn that stuff as you go.

3. How to Build a Blog with Laravel

I’m a big fan of practice projects when learning new frameworks.

Practice projects force you to pick up the fundamentals, solve problems, and learn as you go along.

That’s why you should definitely save this video series teaching you how to develop an entire blogging platform from scratch on Laravel.

Let it be known this is no easy task. It requires a lot of attention to detail, but it’s also one of the best ways to bring yourself from a novice Laravel coder to a truly competent programmer.

So far this video series totals 47 videos which average between 10-30 minutes long. It’ll take you a while to get through this playlist.

But for the price of free you cannot beat this type of quality education.

4. Bootstrap 4 and Laravel 5.5

In the past we’ve shared guides on Bootstrap and none of them compare to the detailed instruction of this video.

It’s a full 20 minutes teaching you how to work with the newer Bootstrap 4 framework on the frontend, mixed with a Laravel 5.5 setup on the backend.

This is probably one of the more popular choices for a technology stack on the web. Especially for building quick PHP apps without reinventing the wheel.

Anyone who’s new to Bootstrap (and wants to learn) will really like this video. Plus you’ll find quite a few more like this in the suggestions pane.

5. Laravel 5.5 API

In Laravel 5.5 the team updated their API resources with a bunch of handy endpoints for developers. And in this video you can dig into the newer API along with some of the classic features that beginners may not know about.

The entire tutorial works around dummy data so it’s a great way to practice your coding knowledge without any worry about the content.

Best of all the tutorial code has been released on GitHub making it fully accessible to anyone for free.

6. Custom Login

Sessions and PHP authentication can be some of the toughest subjects to crack.

Thankfully Laravel makes it so much easier; if you know what you’re doing. And that’s the goal of this 15-minute video teaching you how to develop a simple user login feature on Laravel.

You’ll learn how to define custom user roles and even how to terminate sessions properly. A great little intro to this fairly complex subject.

7. Vue with Laravel 5.4 and Elixir

Another popular framework to use alongside Laravel is Vue.js. This works on the frontend as a JavaScript framework and it’s one of the best choices for PHP devs because of the syntax.

If you’d like to really push your knowledge try this video covering Vue, Laravel, and Elixir.

Note this does require some understanding of all 3 libraries so it’s not great for absolute novices. But once you understand the basics you can work through these lessons pretty fast.

8. Point Of Sales System With Laravel, Vue and Stripe

Building an ecommerce UI is super tricky and it’ll challenge you as a developer. It’s also one area worth learning if you’re serious about coding.

With this free video you’ll learn how to develop a POS system running on Laravel and Vue.js. The payments all work through the Stripe API which is free for testing purposes.

Note this is a multi-part series so it may take a few days or weeks to get through it all. But I guarantee you’ll learn a ton if you follow it to completion.

And if you ever get stuck you can find the full source code right here on GitHub.

9. How to Deploy a Laravel App

Once you’ve developed a full PHP app on Laravel you may want to get it live online. But deployment isn’t as easy with Laravel compared to a CMS like WordPress.

That’s why this quick tutorial can show you how to launch a sweet Laravel app online in just about 7 minutes.

It is by far the most detailed and valuable asset for any developer who wants to launch on a VPS. This video uses Digital Ocean and Linode but can work with almost any VPS setup.

10. Deploy Laravel With Elastic Beanstalk

Amazon’s Web Services offers dozens of features, most of which go far beyond simple hosting. Their Elastic Beanstalk is one such example which helps to deploy apps quickly to the web.

If you’ve never worked in the AWS ecosystem and want to get started then check out this handy video. It’ll teach you the basics of Elastic Beanstalk and how you can use it to launch a Laravel application online.

Just note this is a very basic video so it won’t cover everything. It has just enough to get you comfortable deploying through AWS.

11. Idea to Prototype in 105 Minutes with Laravel

Developer Matt Stauffer released a really fun video showing you how to conceptualize, design, and code a working Laravel app in under two hours.

That’s a truly impressive feat and it’s one that every developer can learn from.

It’s one reason why I recommend this video to people serious about coding in Laravel. It’ll help you work under pressure and push through creative blocks.