ioncube Encoder Protects Your PHP Code

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This entry is part of a series, PHP Development Tools for Linux and Windows Desktop»

With the growing number of “employers” trying to trick you out in all possible ways, a freelancer needs a tool to protect his/her work from being stolen. ioncube Encoder is one of the competable tools available on the commercial market to help you with this.

ioncube Encoder

http://www.ioncube.com/

What it is generally:

A computer program which converts a file containing php code into an unreadable byte stream, versions available for Windows (with GUI) and Linux (command line, server-installable)

What it can do:

encode php files without a possibility to convert them back
obfuscate php code
encode for special server environment (IP, domain, etc)
being installed to server, generate licenses for your php applications on the fly to allow e-commerce

Who needs it:

php developers to protect the code produced
site owners to protect site engines from being stolen and installed on other sites

How much it costs:

from around 200 to around 400 for a single installation, discounts available for different configurations
considerably cheaper than other commercial encoders
if you cannot afford it, you work is not worth of being encoded

Alternatives:

Zend encoder from Zend packages (comparison in one of the following posts in this series)

Product experience 5 oft of 5. ~ Excellent!
Shopping experience 4.5 out of 5. ~ Almost excellent!

Other questions you might ask:

yes, it has considerably better compression and production benchmarks than other commercial and freeware encoders
yes, encoding with ioncube is one-way only, and no sane decoding is possible
yes, it has M$ Windows GUI and has no Linux GUI
yes, it runs from Linux command line and may be involved from Linux command line in real time
yes, you might limit scripts to running on dedicated MAC, IP or host name (special version required)
yes, I will write more information, tutorials and howto-es on its features and usage in my blog, just stay tuned
yes, please ask your questions, I will surely answer them if I know the answer