Evidence before claims.
Regression tests and repeatable measurements are part of the source.
Run the checks
composer validate --strict
composer audit
composer check-platform-reqs
composer verify
php bin/icom benchmark 10000What the suite covers
Route methods and parameter encoding, dependency injection and circular references, scoped isolation and reset, middleware ordering, safe error responses, input parsing and body limits, CSRF expiry and tampering, validation edge cases, PDO injection resistance and rollback, cache integrity/TTL, rate-limit locking and encryption tampering. Version 0.8 adds operational snapshots, cache/migration readiness, coordinated migration races and worker bounds/signals. Version 0.7 adds module lifecycle, route group, scaffolder, AST boundary, cursor pagination and tenant-aware example checks. Version 0.6 added PHP policy checks, compiler/runtime diagnostic failures and cross-runtime state fixtures. Version 0.5 added outbox/scheduler rollback, concurrency, idempotency, retention and process-exit checks. Version 0.4 added OIDC claims/callback/replay tests and account UI verification; version 0.3 added TOTP/recovery/reset replay tests, explicit tenant boundaries and actual MariaDB concurrency checks to the existing auth, queue, event, Redis and Doctrine suite. Optional integrations print explicit skips when their dependencies or server are absent. The release process also checks the live HTTPS site and desktop/mobile playground interactions.
Interpret the microbenchmark
The CLI benchmark warms one application and dispatches an in-memory GET route repeatedly. It reports elapsed time, p50/p95 latency, requests per second and peak PHP allocation. It excludes network, TLS, database, Composer bootstrap, real client concurrency and the production middleware stack. It is not a public throughput figure and cannot establish superiority over Laravel or Symfony.
A fair comparison
Use the same machine, PHP build, OPcache settings, server/runtime, workload, payload and middleware for each framework. Measure cold starts, warmed JSON routes, database reads/writes and realistic error/auth paths. Report p50/p95/p99, CPU, memory, error rate and concurrency; publish application source and command lines. No comparative benchmark has been run for this preview.
Current reference points
The current continuation references ThinkPHP 8.1.4 and Laravel 13.31.0, verified on 2026-09-10. Earlier architecture references also include Symfony 8.1. ICOM takes these as design references, not evidence of feature parity. See the official release notes and worker-state guidance below.