Laravel Tutorial for Beginners (Laravel 13)

This free Laravel tutorial takes you from zero to a working web application with Laravel 13, the current major version, released on March 17, 2026. It is a series of 31 step-by-step lessons. Each lesson builds on the last and covers one concept you will use in a real project, from routing and Eloquent to queues, APIs and tests.

We wrote the series for PHP developers who are new to Laravel and for developers who are switching from another stack. Every lesson uses practical examples that you can copy, run and change. All code examples have been updated for Laravel 13.

Laravel 13 at a Glance

Here are the facts you need before you install anything, taken from the official Laravel 13 release notes.

What is Laravel?

Laravel is a modern PHP framework used for web application development. It follows the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architectural pattern and is designed for ease of use, maintainability, and performance.

Laravel gives you routing, a database layer, authentication, queues, email, and testing tools out of the box. That makes it a good fit for custom websites, online stores, RESTful APIs for mobile apps, internal tools and SaaS products, from small projects to large enterprise applications.

What You Need Before Starting

You do not need to be a PHP expert, but you need the basics. Make sure you are comfortable with PHP variables, arrays, functions, and object-oriented basics such as classes and methods. If you are starting from zero, the free PHP Fundamentals course from the Laravel team (10 short video lessons) is a good first step.

Your machine needs four tools:

• PHP 8.3 or newer. Laravel 13 does not run on older PHP versions.

• Composer, the PHP package manager.

• The Laravel installer, which creates new projects with the laravel new command.

• Node and npm (or Bun), to compile your CSS and JavaScript with Vite.

The fastest way to get all of them is Laravel Herd on Mac or Windows, or the one-line php.new script on Mac, Windows or Linux. The first lesson in this series walks through the full setup.

How to Install Laravel 13

If you already have PHP and Composer, follow these four steps from the official installation guide.

Step 1: Install the Laravel installer

Step 2: Create a new application

The installer asks which starter kit you want. Pick "None" if you want to learn the framework from the ground up, as this series does.

Step 3: Install frontend packages and start the dev server

The composer run dev command starts the Laravel development server, a queue worker and the Vite development server in one terminal.

Step 4: Open your app

Open http://localhost:8000 in your browser. Laravel 13 uses SQLite by default and runs the first migrations for you, so you already have a working database. To use MySQL or PostgreSQL, change the DB_ variables in your .env file and run php artisan migrate.

You may see composer create-project laravel/laravel in older tutorials. The official docs now use the Laravel installer.

We explain every tool and every setting for Mac and Windows in Laravel for Beginners: Installing on MacOS and Windows.

Your Laravel Learning Path, Step by Step

Work through the lessons in this order. Each stage adds one layer on top of the last, so you always build on code you already understand. The series explains each concept based on the latest Laravel 13 version.

Stage 1: Foundations

• Installation on MacOS and Windows - Set up PHP, Composer and your local development environment.

• The MVC Pattern - Learn how the Model (data), the View (presentation) and the Controller (logic) split your application into three connected parts.

• Routing - Send each URL to the right controller or view.

• Blade and Breeze - Build pages with Blade templates, components and slots.

• Collections - Map, filter and sort data with readable, chainable methods. You will love these!

Stage 2: Databases and Eloquent

• Migrations - Keep your database schema under version control, so the whole team shares the same structure.

• Seeders and Factories - Fill your database with realistic test data.

• Model Relationships and Eloquent ORM - Read and change data with Eloquent, and connect models with hasMany, belongsTo and more.

• Query Performance and Debugbar - Find the N+1 query problem and fix it with eager loading and the with() method.

Stage 3: Forms, Users and Access Control

• Form Requests and Validation Rules - Keep controllers clean and make sure only valid data gets through.

• Middleware - Inspect each HTTP request before it reaches your code. Think of it as a security guard at the door.

• Authentication and Authorization - Add registration, login and password reset.

• CSRF Protection - Learn how Laravel blocks forged form submissions.

• Policies for Authorization - Decide who can view, edit or delete each model.

• Roles and Permissions with Spatie - Add roles such as admin and editor with the spatie/laravel-permission package.

• Policies vs Roles and Permissions - Learn when to use each approach, and when to combine them.

Stage 4: Background Work and Notifications

• Events and Listeners - React to actions in your app, such as a new sign-up, without tangling your code.

• Queues - Move slow tasks to background jobs so your pages stay fast.

• Task Scheduling - Replace many cron entries with one schedule written in PHP.

• Sending Emails - Send notifications and rich emails through a fluent API that supports many mail services.

• Localization - Translate your app with language files for a global audience.

Stage 5: Build an API

• API Resources - Turn Eloquent models into clean JSON responses.

• API Routes with Laravel Sanctum - Protect your endpoints for SPAs, mobile apps and token-based clients.

• Cookie-based Session Authentication - Authenticate a single-page app and test the flow with Postman or Insomnia.

• API Token Authentication - Issue and check API tokens with Sanctum.

Stage 6: Structure, Testing and Debugging

• Service Providers - Register services and third-party tools when your application boots.

• Helper Functions - Use the built-in helpers and write your own.

• Custom and Built-in Commands - Automate tasks with Artisan commands.

• Error Handling - Show detailed errors in development, safe pages in production, and log everything.

• PHPUnit and PEST Tests - Test your application with expressive, readable tests.

Stage 7: Ship a SaaS

• Laravel Spark with Stripe and Paddle - Add subscription billing to your app.

Laravel 13 Starter Kits

A starter kit gives you login, registration, password reset and email verification on day one. When you run laravel new, the installer asks which kit you want. Laravel 13 has four official starter kits:

All four kits use Laravel Fortify for authentication. Each kit also has a WorkOS AuthKit option that adds social login, passkeys and SSO.

Breeze and Jetstream are not in the Laravel 13 starter kit list. Our Blade and Breeze lesson is still worth your time, because it teaches Blade templates, components and slots, which every Laravel developer uses. Our team did the initial work on a React port of Breeze, and Taylor Otwell, the creator of Laravel, thanked us for it in public.

If you are new to Laravel, start with no starter kit, or with the Livewire kit, so you learn PHP and Blade first. Pick React, Svelte or Vue when you already know that frontend framework.

What's New in Laravel 13 for Beginners

Laravel 13 is a small upgrade with few breaking changes, so the concepts in this series still apply. These are the changes you will notice as a beginner:

• PHP 8.3 minimum. Check your version with php -v before you install.

• Laravel AI SDK. One API for text generation, tool-calling agents, embeddings, images and audio.

• JSON:API resources. First-party API responses that follow the JSON:API spec. They are a good next step after our API Resources lesson.

• Request forgery protection. The CSRF middleware is now called PreventRequestForgery, and it also checks where each request comes from. Our CSRF lesson explains the basics.

• Queue routing. Set the queue and connection for each job class in one place with Queue::route().

• More PHP attributes. For example, #[Middleware] and #[Authorize] on controllers, and #[Tries] and #[Timeout] on queued jobs.

You can read the full list in the Laravel 13 release notes.

What You'll Be Able to Build

By the end of this series you will have the foundations to build:

• REST APIs consumed by mobile apps or frontend frameworks like React and Vue

• Full-stack web applications with authentication, roles, permissions, and queued background jobs

• Internal tools and admin dashboards using Blade templates and starter kits

• SaaS applications with scheduled tasks, email notifications, and Stripe billing via Laravel Spark

Is Laravel Hard to Learn?

If you know basic PHP, Laravel has a gentle learning curve. The framework is designed to be readable: Eloquent queries, Blade templates, and route definitions all read almost like plain English. Most developers build their first working Laravel app within a few days of starting.

Laravel also has some of the best documentation of any web framework. This series is structured to teach concepts in the order you encounter them in a real project, so each post builds directly on the last.

How Long Does It Take to Learn Laravel?

With consistent practice, a few hours per week, most developers get comfortable with the core concepts in 4 to 6 weeks. Working through the seven stages above in order, with hands-on coding alongside each post, is a realistic path to get there. Laravel's large community and excellent official docs mean you are never far from an answer when you get stuck.

Free Resources to Use Alongside This Series

• Laravel Learn - Two free official video courses: Getting Started with Laravel (13 lessons, about 120 minutes) and PHP Fundamentals (10 lessons, about 71 minutes).

• The official documentation - The reference for every feature in this series.

• Laracasts - Video tutorials that the Laravel docs point beginners to.

• Laravel Boost - If you code with an AI agent such as Cursor or Claude Code, Boost gives the agent Laravel docs that match the package versions in your project.

Conclusion

Install Laravel 13, then follow the seven stages in order. By the end of Stage 3 you can build a full application with users and permissions. By the end of Stage 5 you can power a React, Vue or mobile frontend with your own Laravel API.

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