CodeIgniter Development · Oxford · Oxfordshire · Based in Gravesend
CodeIgniter Development in Oxford, Oxfordshire
Lean, fast CodeIgniter web applications and APIs for Oxford and Oxfordshire businesses, plus expert support, modernisation and rescue of existing CI3 and CI4 systems you still rely on. Built properly, maintained long-term, delivered by a UK team you actually speak to.
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CodeIgniter is for lean, fast builds and the systems you already run.
CodeIgniter is a lightweight PHP framework. Where a heavyweight framework brings a large ecosystem and a lot of structure, CodeIgniter brings speed, a small footprint, and very little configuration to fight through. That makes it an excellent tool for getting a focused web application or API built and working quickly, without the overhead of a framework designed for far larger problems. When the scope is modest and the priority is shipping something solid fast, CodeIgniter often earns its place.
It also happens to be the framework a great many existing business systems were built on over the past fifteen years. A huge amount of the PHP quietly running real companies today is CodeIgniter, and a lot of it is CodeIgniter 3, whose official support has now ended. That is where much of our work sits: supporting, securing, modernising and rescuing CI applications that businesses depend on but can no longer easily get help with. For Oxford and Oxfordshire, where so many organisations run bespoke tools built years ago by people who have since moved on, that combination of fast new builds and dependable legacy support is exactly what CodeIgniter is for.
Lean web apps, built fast
When you need a focused application working quickly and Laravel would be overkill, CodeIgniter's small footprint and minimal configuration let us build and ship solid software fast, without dragging a large framework along for a modest problem.
Legacy CodeIgniter rescue
Inherited a CI3 or CI4 application whose original developer is long gone? This is our speciality. We audit it honestly, stabilise it, secure it, and get you back in control of software you depend on but can no longer easily get help with.
Lightweight REST and JSON APIs
CodeIgniter is well suited to clean, fast APIs that serve a mobile app, a front end, or a third-party integration without ceremony. When you need an endpoint that just works and is easy to maintain, the lean approach pays off.
Internal tools and admin panels
Order trackers, booking systems, internal dashboards, data-entry tools, and the unglamorous back-office software that quietly runs an operation. CodeIgniter builds these quickly and keeps them simple enough to maintain without a large team.
CI3 to CI4 migrations
CodeIgniter 3 is past its supported life. We plan and run careful migrations to CodeIgniter 4, preserving the business logic that often lives only in the old code, so a system you rely on moves onto a modern, supported footing without a risky big-bang rewrite.
Ongoing support and maintenance
Bug fixes, security patches, small enhancements, and the steady care a working application needs to keep earning its keep. We pick up existing CodeIgniter systems on a retainer or as-needed basis so you are never stranded without support.
Honest modernisation calls
Sometimes a CodeIgniter app should be kept and improved; sometimes it has outgrown the framework and a move to Laravel is the right long-term decision. We assess your specific system and tell you which, rather than defaulting to whatever bills the most hours.
Laravel vs CodeIgniter vs WordPress
We build in Laravel, CodeIgniter, and WordPress. We are not going to recommend one over the others just to win a project. The right framework depends on the problem, and picking the wrong one is one of the most expensive mistakes a project can make. Here is an honest comparison of when each is the right choice, including where CodeIgniter genuinely is the best fit.
| Situation | Laravel | CodeIgniter | WordPress |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lean web app, fast turnaround, modest scope | Can be overkill | ✓ Best fit | Depends on content |
| Supporting or rescuing an existing CodeIgniter app | Not applicable | ✓ Best fit | Not applicable |
| Lightweight REST or JSON API | Workable, heavier | ✓ Best fit | Not suited |
| Complex application with deep business logic | ✓ Best fit | Possible, gets strained | Not suited |
| Multi-tenant SaaS with heavy background jobs | ✓ Best fit | Manual effort | Not suited |
| Content-led site with editorial workflow | Possible but heavy | Not suited | ✓ Best fit |
| Small footprint, minimal configuration overhead | Larger by design | ✓ Best fit | Plugin-dependent |
| Large, structured team on one growing codebase | ✓ Best fit | Workable | Hard to govern |
CodeIgniter shines when you want something lean built quickly, or when you have an existing CI system that needs supporting and modernising. If your project is genuinely complex and long-lived, Laravel may suit better, and if it is content-led, WordPress probably wins. If you are not sure which applies, describe the problem and we will tell you what we would reach for and why, even if the honest answer is that CodeIgniter is not it.
How we approach a CodeIgniter project
Whether we are building something lean and new or taking over a system someone else wrote years ago, CodeIgniter rewards clear thinking up front. The framework's speed is a real advantage, but it does not excuse a project that was scoped badly or a rescue that skipped the diagnosis. Here is what we pay attention to, and the stages the work actually moves through.
Understanding the real requirement
Most briefs describe a solution someone has already half-designed. We dig into the underlying problem first, because the leanest, fastest CodeIgniter build is the one that solves the actual need and ignores the things you never really required.
Honest audit before any rescue
For existing CI applications we start with a proper code and security audit. You get a frank assessment of quality, technical debt and risk before any work is committed, so decisions are made on facts rather than guesswork or hope.
Sound data architecture
The database schema is a decision you live with for years, in lean apps as much as large ones. We design it deliberately, and when inheriting a system we map the existing model before changing it, so nothing breaks quietly.
Security taken seriously
Older CodeIgniter applications often carry real security risk, especially unsupported CI3. Input validation, query safety, authentication and sensible data handling are part of how we build and how we harden what we inherit.
Maintainable by anyone competent
We follow CodeIgniter conventions and keep the codebase readable, so you are never locked into a single developer. If you bring the work in-house or hand it to another team later, the code makes sense to them.
A clear path forward
For legacy systems we always set out the options: keep and improve, migrate CI3 to CI4, or move to another framework entirely. You get a recommendation with the reasoning, not a default answer dressed up as advice.
From first conversation to long-term support
We run CodeIgniter projects in clear stages so you always know where things stand, what is being decided, and what comes next. Because you deal directly with Rob and Jason rather than an account manager, there is no layer of translation between what you ask for and what gets built or fixed. This is the same process whether you are in Oxford, London, or anywhere else in the UK, and whether it is a fresh lean build or a rescue.
- Discovery, or audit for existing systemsFor a new build we get to the bottom of what the application needs to do and who uses it. For an existing CodeIgniter system we run a proper code and security audit first. Either way the output is a clear picture and a fixed-price proposal based on what we actually find.
- Scoping and the right approachWe agree the leanest sensible scope for a new build, or the right route for a legacy system: stabilise, secure, modernise, migrate CI3 to CI4, or rebuild. The decisions that determine cost and longevity get made deliberately, with you, up front.
- Build or remediation in working incrementsWe develop against a staging environment you can access throughout, so you see real progress rather than waiting for a single big reveal. On rescues we work in safe, reversible steps so a system you depend on keeps running.
- Testing and quality assuranceTests around the logic that matters, plus thorough manual testing of the workflows your users actually follow. We test the awkward edge cases and, on inherited systems, confirm we have not disturbed behaviour you still rely on.
- Deployment and go-liveA controlled deployment to production with a clear plan and sensible rollback, with particular care where an existing live system is being changed or replaced. Going live should be an event you have rehearsed, not a leap of faith.
- Handover and ongoing maintenanceDocumentation, access, and a straightforward handover, followed by whatever ongoing support arrangement suits you, from occasional changes to a regular retainer. We keep CodeIgniter applications patched, secure and supported for the long term.
We build PHP software to be depended on for over a decade.
CoreCRM, our own CRM product, has been in continuous production use since 2011, built and maintained on Laravel through multiple framework versions. It is direct evidence that we build software designed to be maintained and relied upon for the long haul, not just for the length of a single project. That same discipline, around data integrity, security and long-term maintainability, is exactly what we bring to CodeIgniter work, whether we are building something lean and new or rescuing an application someone else left behind.
A Kent team trusted with national back-office work
Telegraph Media Group, Hearst Communications, CDS Global, AX Paris, Motel Rocks
These are not the typical clients of a regional development agency. They are the kind of businesses that usually work with large London firms. They work with us because the technical depth is there and the overhead is not, and because they get the founders directly rather than a managed account. Distance has never been the issue: most of our work has been delivered remotely for years.
CodeIgniter has its place in that mix wherever a lean, fast build or the support of an existing PHP system is what a project actually needs. We work fluently across PHP frameworks and choose the right one for the job, then maintain it properly over the long term, which is precisely what a CodeIgniter system needs from whoever looks after it.
- Telegraph Media Group: custom operational software built on PHP, maintained and extended over years
- Hearst Communications: bespoke systems development for a global publishing operation
- CDS Global: multi-year PHP development engagement on business-critical operational software
- AX Paris: bespoke ERP-style back-office connecting Shopify to warehouse and despatch workflows. Case study.
- Motel Rocks: integration middleware connecting Shopify to Oracle NetSuite and 3PL providers. Case study.
Working with Oxford and Oxfordshire businesses
Oxford is one of the most research- and knowledge-intensive economies in the country, built around its two universities, a dense cluster of publishing and academic organisations, world-leading life sciences and biotech at sites like the Harwell and Milton Park campuses, and a strong base of high-tech engineering across Oxfordshire, including the motorsport and advanced-engineering corridor. That mix produces a lot of organisations running bespoke software: research data tools, membership and subscription systems, portals, internal operational apps, and integrations between systems that were never designed to talk to each other.
A great deal of that software was written in PHP, and a meaningful share of it in CodeIgniter, often years ago, by developers who have since moved on. Those systems still do real work, but getting them supported, secured and moved onto a modern footing is a genuine problem. That is precisely the work we do, alongside building new lean applications quickly where a heavier framework would be overkill.
We are not local to Oxford, and we are not going to pretend otherwise: Gravesend is around 110 miles away. What we offer instead is a genuinely senior UK team, working entirely in-house with no offshore arm, available to you directly rather than through layers of account management. In practice the distance changes nothing about the quality of the work. Most of our projects, including for national clients, are delivered remotely with regular video calls and a shared staging environment. We come over to Oxford for a kick-off workshop or a key milestone when being in the room genuinely helps, and otherwise keep the overhead, and your costs, sensibly low.
How to choose a CodeIgniter developer in Oxford
Whether you end up working with us, a local Oxford agency, or a freelancer, these are the questions worth asking before you commit, especially if you are handing over an existing system. The answers tell you a lot about what you are actually buying.
Who actually writes the code?
Some agencies pitch with senior people and deliver via juniors or offshore teams you never meet. Ask directly who will write or fix your application and who you call when something breaks. At Dev Partners it is the founders and an in-house UK team, with no offshore.
Are they comfortable with legacy CI?
Plenty of developers want only greenfield work. Rescuing an old CI3 application is a different skill: reading unfamiliar code, finding undocumented logic, and changing things safely. Ask for examples of inherited systems they have stabilised, not just things they have launched.
Is the framework choice honest?
A developer who recommends CodeIgniter for everything, or who insists you must rewrite everything in Laravel, is selling rather than advising. The right partner tells you when CodeIgniter fits, when it does not, and why, in plain terms.
Do they audit before quoting?
Quoting a fix or a migration without looking properly at the code is guesswork. Ask whether they start with an audit, what it covers, and whether you get an honest view of security and technical debt before committing to larger work.
What does ongoing support look like?
A working application needs steady care: security patches, small fixes, version support. Ask how they handle CI3 versus CI4, what a support or retainer arrangement actually costs, and how quickly they respond. Vague answers here become expensive later.
How do they scope and price?
A low headline figure that grows through change requests is not a bargain. Ask how they scope, whether you get a fixed price, and what is and is not included. We scope carefully and quote a fixed price based on what we actually find.
What our clients say
20 clients. A few of their words.
A well-rounded team, ensuring a full suite of expertise & resource is always available. CDS Global have seen the successful completion of major projects over the years where Dev Partners' ability to grasp the underlying business needs to provide a future-proof solution has been invaluable.
We have worked with Jason & his team to develop our Shopify store, and the experience was outstanding from start to finish. The design is clean, modern, and perfectly aligned with our brand identity, while the build is fast, responsive, and easy to manage on the backend. They clearly understood our vision and delivered a store we're genuinely proud of. Highly recommend to any brand looking for a top-quality Shopify partner.
After ongoing issues and delays with our previous developers, we brought in Rob & Jason at Dev Partners to take over all our websites and bespoke software. What a breath of fresh air, fully focused, excellent pre-launch designs and clear communication throughout. Highly recommended.
BPC Energy Ltd turned to Dev Partners for a complete turnkey solution, and they exceeded our expectations. The team handled everything from project management to development and support with real care and attention. They understood what we were aiming for, stayed on top of every detail, and always delivered on schedule with excellent quality.
Working with Dev Partners to redesign and modernise our WMS system: the whole process has been thoroughly professional from the outset and a delight to work with. Cannot recommend enough.
Great agency. Have used Dev Partners for several years and they have built 20+ sites for us, in addition to taking on our legacy websites, upgrading and maintaining. Easy to work with and some great practical ideas to improve our digital offerings.
Jones Hire have been working with Dev Partners on several projects, which have been very successful. They linked our catering database to a new improved website so clients can easily place and update orders, created a custom warehouse picking app to fulfil all our challenging requirements, and are currently developing a custom transport app to streamline our loading and delivery process.
We have been trying to reinvent our website for over 5 years, trying to make it convert and failing each time. Spoke to Rob at Dev Partners, the team helped create our new site and the improvement was instant.
We have been working with Rob and the team for about 10 years now. Dev Partners helped us build a completely bespoke CRM from scratch which manages our daily business and is always well maintained. We have been able to use the system and roll it out in our new franchise branches.
We collaborated with Dev Partners on the front end of a fairly complex telemarketing platform. Rob and Jason took the time to properly understand the moving parts, asked the right questions, and delivered a clean, intuitive interface that's made the system far easier for our team to use.
I have been working with the team at Dev Partners for the last 3 years and we have always been impressed with the speed in which they act on things for us, along with the honest open communication. The team are a valuable and vital part of our supply chain.
We've had a program for our business in the electronic security sector that Dev Partners developed and keep up to date. They've never let us down, always there when needed. Thanks Rob and the team.
Dev Partners have been working with us for just over 2 years. They have significantly upgraded and redesigned our existing web platforms, and always deliver a first class service.
Dev Partners helped us build an event website. The team were very knowledgeable, easy to work with and quick to deliver a high quality product.
Working with Dev Partners has been an exceptional experience. Their team is highly skilled, professional, and committed to delivering results. What truly sets them apart is their communication and transparency; we always felt informed, supported, and confident.
We've worked with Dev Partners a few times to support us on bespoke web build tasks. They're very easy to work with, approachable, and explain the detail in a way that's understandable. A great partner for technical issues at sensible prices.
Excellent customer service backed up with solid experience. As a media business we have had five websites built by Dev Partners. I would certainly recommend them.
Found Dev Partners and they were great, nothing too much trouble. They managed to help us with integrating our old existing system with Shopify.
I've worked with Rob and his team off and on for many years and have always found them to be professional, knowledgeable, and best of all, they listen to their clients and deliver what is required.
We have worked with Dev Partners for 7 years and can highly recommend them for their expertise and excellent customer service.
CodeIgniter development in Oxford: questions answered
The questions Oxford and Oxfordshire businesses ask us most often about CodeIgniter projects and legacy support.
Yes. Dev Partners is based in Gravesend, Kent, and we work with businesses across the whole of the UK, including Oxford and the wider Oxfordshire region. CodeIgniter development and support are delivered remotely as standard, and the distance makes no difference to the quality of the work.
You deal directly with the founders, Rob and Jason, throughout the project. We travel to Oxford for a kick-off workshop or key milestones when it genuinely adds value, and otherwise keep the overhead low.
CodeIgniter is a lightweight, fast PHP framework with a small footprint and very little configuration overhead. It is an excellent choice when you need a lean web application or API built quickly, where the full weight of Laravel would be overkill.
It is also the framework a great many existing business systems were built on, so a large part of our CodeIgniter work is supporting, maintaining, modernising and rescuing CI3 and CI4 applications that companies still depend on. For very complex new applications Laravel may suit better, and for content-led sites WordPress; we will tell you honestly which fits.
Lean custom web applications, internal tools and admin panels, REST and JSON APIs, lightweight customer-facing portals, and quick-turnaround business systems where speed and simplicity matter. Just as importantly, we take on existing CodeIgniter applications that need supporting, extending, securing or migrating from CI3 to CI4.
Oxford and Oxfordshire have a deep base of research, publishing, education, life sciences and high-tech engineering businesses, many of which run on bespoke PHP systems that are exactly the kind of software CodeIgniter was used to build.
Yes, and it is one of the things we are asked for most. We take over existing CodeIgniter codebases regularly, including older CI3 applications whose original developer is long gone. We start with a proper code audit and give you an honest assessment of the quality, security and any technical debt.
From there we work to whatever scope makes sense, whether that is stabilising what exists, securing it, modernising it, or planning a managed migration. We tell you the honest state of what you have before committing to any work.
Often, but not always, and not blindly. CodeIgniter 3 reached the end of its official support, so a CI3 application carries growing security and maintenance risk over time. CI4 is a modern rewrite with namespaces, improved structure and better long-term support.
A migration is worthwhile when the application is genuinely business-critical and expected to live for years. Sometimes a careful upgrade in place is right; sometimes a staged rewrite makes more sense; occasionally a move to Laravel is the better long-term call. We assess your specific application and recommend the option that actually serves you, not the one that bills the most hours.
It depends on the work. A lean CodeIgniter app or API built from scratch can start from a few thousand pounds because the framework is fast to build in. Support and rescue work usually begins with a fixed-price audit, after which we scope the actual fixes or modernisation against what we find.
A full CI3 to CI4 migration of a large application costs more. We scope carefully and give you a fixed-price proposal based on what is really there, rather than an estimate designed to win the work and adjust later.
Almost all of our project work is delivered remotely, and that has been true for years across our entire client base, including national names. The quality of a CodeIgniter application, or the success of a rescue, has nothing to do with where the developer is sitting.
We run regular video calls, share progress on a staging environment you can access, and stay reachable directly. Oxford is around 110 miles from Gravesend; we travel over when a workshop or milestone genuinely benefits from being in the room, and otherwise keep the overhead, and your costs, low.
No. Dev Partners has been a 100% UK in-house team since we were founded in 2008. There is no offshore arm and no subcontracting of the build. The people who scope your project are the people who write the code and the people you can call when something needs attention.
For Oxford clients that means you get a genuinely senior UK team without the cost structure of a large London or regional agency.
Yes. We work across both. We build new lean applications on CodeIgniter 4, the current modern version, and we support, maintain and secure existing CodeIgniter 3 applications that are still in production.
Where a CI3 system needs to keep running, we keep it safe and working; where it makes sense to move forward, we plan and run the migration to CI4. Either way, staying on a maintainable, secure footing is a managed routine rather than a problem that builds up silently.
CoreCRM is our own CRM product, built on Laravel and in continuous production use since 2011. It is relevant because it is direct evidence that we build and maintain serious PHP software over the long term, not just for the length of a project.
The same discipline around data integrity, multi-user access and long-term maintainability that keeps our own product reliable is what we bring to CodeIgniter work, whether that is a new lean build or rescuing an application someone else left behind.
CodeIgniter project or legacy system in Oxford or Oxfordshire? Talk to us.
Describe the problem and we will tell you whether CodeIgniter is the right tool and what it would involve.
A lean new build, a fast API, or taking over and rescuing a CodeIgniter system that already exists; we give you an honest view on approach and cost before any work starts. You speak directly to the founders, not an account manager, and the team building it is fully UK-based and in-house.
We can also help with:
- Lean CodeIgniter web applications, built fast
- Support and rescue of existing CI3 and CI4 systems
- CodeIgniter 3 to CodeIgniter 4 migrations
- Lightweight REST and JSON API development
- Security audits and hardening of legacy PHP apps
- Ongoing CodeIgniter maintenance and support retainers
We reply to all enquiries within one working day.
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