In fairness, PHP prior to v7 was either a dumpster fire or a dirty bomb depending on how far back you go. When folks called it a fractal of bad design, it 100% deserved it, and folks rightly went looking elsewhere to solve their problems.

PHP is a phenomenally better language today, and folks really should take another look, but let's not pretend it was always anywhere near as good as it is today. Not by a long shot.

Also, don't judge NodeJS based on the React ecosystem. The sheer mass of APIs and wrappers needed to get a React-based system running is no one's fault but the React community. Stockholm Syndrome at its finest.