> Laravel... doesn't seem to have been developed in tandem with a real-world project
> other Laravel add-ons, some of which are paid services
These other services are what you're looking for - that's how Taylor and the team dog-foods Laravel.
While I don't object at all to the claim that small PHP projects can easily be done w/out a major framework, it's worth noting that both many components of these frameworks (including Laravel) can be incorporated into a smaller project ad hoc.
> other Laravel add-ons, some of which are paid services
These other services are what you're looking for - that's how Taylor and the team dog-foods Laravel.
While I don't object at all to the claim that small PHP projects can easily be done w/out a major framework, it's worth noting that both many components of these frameworks (including Laravel) can be incorporated into a smaller project ad hoc.