Top 10 Laravel Packages Every Developer Should Know in 2026

Laravel's ecosystem is one of its greatest strengths. With thousands of packages available, finding the right tools can dramatically speed up your development process. This guide covers the essential Laravel packages every developer should have in their toolkit.

Why Use Laravel Packages?

Benefits:

• ⚡ Save Development Time - Don't reinvent the wheel
• 🛡️ Battle-Tested Code - Community-vetted solutions
• 🔧 Easy Maintenance - Regular updates and bug fixes
• 🤝 Community Support - Active maintainers and documentation
• 💰 Cost-Effective - Free, open-source solutions

1. Laravel Debugbar

What it does: Provides a powerful debugging toolbar for Laravel applications.

Installation:

composer require barryvdh/laravel-debugbar --dev

Features:

• View all database queries
• Monitor request/response times
• Inspect routes and views
• Check memory usage
• View logs in real-time

Why you need it: Essential for development. Helps identify performance bottlenecks, N+1 query problems, and debug issues quickly.

GitHub: barryvdh/laravel-debugbar
Stars: 15,000+

2. Laravel Telescope

What it does: Official Laravel debugging and monitoring tool.

Installation:

composer require laravel/telescope
php artisan telescope:install
php artisan migrate

Features:

• Monitor requests and exceptions
• Track database queries
• View queued jobs
• Monitor cache operations
• Analyze application performance

Use Case: Perfect for both development and production monitoring. More comprehensive than Debugbar.

GitHub: laravel/telescope
Stars: 4,500+

3. Spatie Laravel Permission

What it does: Manages user roles and permissions with an elegant API.

Installation:

composer require spatie/laravel-permission
php artisan vendor:publish --provider="Spatie\Permission\PermissionServiceProvider"
php artisan migrate

Usage Example:

// Assign role
$user->assignRole('editor');

// Check permission
if ($user->can('edit post')) {
    // User can edit post
}

// In Blade
@can('edit post')
    <button>Edit</button>
@endcan

Why it's essential: Most applications need role-based access control. This package makes it simple and intuitive.

GitHub: spatie/laravel-permission
Stars: 11,000+

4. Laravel Sanctum

What it does: Simple API authentication for SPAs and mobile apps.

Installation:

composer require laravel/sanctum
php artisan vendor:publish --provider="Laravel\Sanctum\SanctumServiceProvider"
php artisan migrate

Perfect for:

• Building SPAs with Vue/React
• Mobile API authentication
• Simple token-based auth

Example:

// Issue token
$token = $user->createToken('mobile-app')->plainTextToken;

// Protect routes
Route::middleware('auth:sanctum')->group(function () {
    Route::get('/user', function (Request $request) {
        return $request->user();
    });
});

GitHub: laravel/sanctum
Stars: 2,500+

5. Laravel Excel (Maatwebsite)

What it does: Import and export Excel and CSV files effortlessly.

Installation:

composer require maatwebsite/excel

Example:

// Export
Excel::download(new UsersExport, 'users.xlsx');

// Import
Excel::import(new UsersImport, 'users.xlsx');

Features:

• Export collections to Excel
• Import Excel to database
• Queue large exports/imports
• Multiple sheet support
• Custom styling

GitHub: SpartnerNL/Laravel-Excel
Stars: 12,000+

6. Spatie Media Library

What it does: Comprehensive media management for Laravel.

Installation:

composer require spatie/laravel-medialibrary

Features:

• Associate files with Eloquent models
• Generate thumbnails automatically
• Organize media in collections
• Store files locally or on cloud (S3)
• Responsive images

Example:

$post->addMedia($request->file('image'))
     ->toMediaCollection('images');

// Get media
$post->getFirstMediaUrl('images', 'thumb');

GitHub: spatie/laravel-medialibrary
Stars: 5,500+

7. Laravel Cashier (Stripe/Paddle)

What it does: Handles subscription billing with Stripe or Paddle.

Installation:

composer require laravel/cashier

Features:

• Subscription management
• Invoice generation
• Trial periods
• Payment methods
• Webhooks handling
• Metered billing

Example:

// Create subscription
$user->newSubscription('default', 'price_premium')
     ->create($paymentMethod);

// Check subscription
if ($user->subscribed('default')) {
    // User has active subscription
}

GitHub: laravel/cashier
Stars: 2,300+

8. Laravel Livewire

What it does: Build reactive, dynamic interfaces without leaving PHP.

Installation:

composer require livewire/livewire

Example:

// Component
class Counter extends Component
{
    public $count = 0;

    public function increment()
    {
        $this->count++;
    }

    public function render()
    {
        return view('livewire.counter');
    }
}

<!-- View -->
<div>
    <h1>{{ $count }}</h1>
    <button wire:click="increment">+</button>
</div>

Why it's revolutionary: Build SPAs without writing JavaScript. Perfect for developers who prefer PHP.

GitHub: livewire/livewire
Stars: 20,000+

9. Laravel Horizon

What it does: Beautiful dashboard for monitoring Laravel queues.

Installation:

composer require laravel/horizon
php artisan horizon:install

Features:

• Real-time queue monitoring
• Job metrics and statistics
• Failed job management
• Retry failed jobs
• Monitor throughput

Perfect for: Applications heavily using queues and background jobs.

GitHub: laravel/horizon
Stars: 3,700+

10. Spatie Laravel Backup

What it does: Backup your Laravel application to various storage services.

Installation:

composer require spatie/laravel-backup

Features:

• Backup database and files
• Store on multiple disks (S3, Dropbox, etc.)
• Schedule automatic backups
• Notifications on success/failure
• Clean up old backups

Example:

// Manual backup
Artisan::call('backup:run');

// Schedule in kernel
$schedule->command('backup:run')->daily();

GitHub: spatie/laravel-backup
Stars: 5,500+