The first difference is the name "CakePHP" !== "Zend Framework" (just kidding). Let's get started. To save me some keystrokes, I will just call CakePHP CP and Zend Framework ZF.
- CP is just a framework while ZF is a framework and much like Symfony has reusable libraries.
- ZF has more community support than CP.
- ZF is built by the people who actively work on PHP. Zend.
- ZF is a mile faster than CP.
- ZF is more extensible than CP.
- ZF is more object oriented.
- With ZF, you use what you need and discard everything else.
- ZF has a lot of modules. I mean a lot, look through their Github account, they have hundreds of packages to choose from.
- ZF lets you choose your own database implementation.
I think I should stop here, going further would only hurt CP. The question should be why choose ZF over CP 😜
But F*ck em both, use Laravel. Laravel rules. Laravel is faster, better community, better code, better everything. Just saying.